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Patients and the public
How the establishment of the GPhC will benefit patients and the public
Increasingly, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are taking on a wider role in delivering services in healthcare, science, industry and other settings. It is essential that patients and the public continue to have confidence in the profession's ability to deliver a safe, high-quality service as these developments take place.
For this reason, ensuring public health, safety and wellbeing is the key objective of the new pharmacy regulator, the GPhC. The GPhC will work to achieve this objective by setting clear standards and by monitoring on a regular basis.
The GPhC will:
- set standards for conduct, ethics, proficiency, education and training, and for continuing professional development (CPD)
- maintain a register of all qualified pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
- monitor professionals' fitness to practise and deal firmly and fairly with complaints
- review CPD records on a regular basis
- set standards for pharmacy owners and superintendent pharmacists and inspect pharmacy premises.
The public will benefit from knowing that public protection and patient safety are paramount, and that registered professionals, pharmacy owners and premises are fit to safely deliver a wider range of services.
In addition, the 14-member Council will be split equally between lay people and professionals, leading to greater openness and transparency. Council members will be independently appointed, rather than elected.
The GPhC will be fully accountable to its stakeholders through a statutory duty to consult. The public will be invited to respond to any consultations on policy matters.
Finally, the GPhC will further develop its patient and public involvement policy and structures once the Council and Chief Executive are appointed. For more information, go to the Patient and public involvement section.
The Department of Health is currently setting up the GPhC and there is likely to be a statutory consultation on the standards in autumn 2009, parliamentary timetable permitting. In the meantime, patients and the public can feed in their views via the feedback form or by taking part in a poll.
For more information on what the GPhC will mean for patients, read a patient's view or view our short film clips:
Ruth Marsden, National Association of Links
Ian Flack, Council for Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations
Individuals
What the GPhC will mean for individual patients and members of the public.
Organisations and groups
What the GPhC will mean for organisations and groups that represent patients and the public.