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Registration
Q. Why are there no provisions for a non-practising register?
Q. What happens if I am on the RPSGB non-practising register now and wish to join the GPhC register in the future?
Q. As an overseas pharmacist currently on the RPSGB practising register, will I be able to remain on the practising register of the GPhC?
Q. I am an overseas pharmacist currently on the RPSGB non practising register, will I be able to remain on the GPhC register?
Q. I have voluntarily retired from the RPSGB register. If I want to apply for registration once the GPhC is up and running, will I have to make a new application (e.g. will I have to submit all the relevant information again as if it were a first-time application), or will my former registration with the RPSGB be taken into account in any way?
Q. Why are there no provisions for student registration in the Pharmacy Order?
Q. Is it the case that only patient facing pharmacists and pharmacy technicians need to register with the GPhC?
A. The legislation reflects the view that the GPhC should only register those who are appropriately qualified, fit to practise and have met continuing professional development requirements. As a result, the GPhC will not have non-practising register. Pharmacists and former pharmacists who do not wish to register with the GPhC could nevertheless join the professional leadership body.
A. If you are not on the RPSGB's practising register (Part 1) when regulation transfers to the GPhC (the date when regulation will transfer to the GPhC will be announced nearer the time), your registration will not transfer automatically to the GPhC and you will cease to be GB-registered. You could then apply for registration with the GPhC, as a new applicant, subject to meeting the GPhC's registration requirements. We are currently consulting on the GPhC's draft rules, including registration rules, so please do have a look at these and send in your views.
We are encouraging current non–practising/overseas RPSGB registrants to consider whether they need to move to the practising register of the RPSGB prior to the transfer of regulation to the GPhC, as if they do so they will transfer automatically to the GPhC register. Information on how to move to the practising part of the RPSGB’s register can be found here http://www.rpsgb.org/registrationandsupport/registration/#up.
A. The Order states that a person is not entitled to be registered with the GPhC if they do not intend to practise in Great Britain, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. However, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working overseas will be able to register with the GPhC as long as they pay the normal registration fee and intend to return to practice in GB/IoM/CIs in the future.
There are also provisions within the Order that will ensure that all practising registrants are transferred to the GPhC. At the point of transfer of regulatory functions from the RPSGB to the GPhC, your practising registration status will be automatically transferred across.
A. The Pharmacy Order 2010 states that, to be entitled to register with the GPhC, a person must intend to practise in Great Britain, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. As a result there are no specific provisions for overseas fees in the draft GPhC 2010 Fees Rules. Instead, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working overseas will be able to register with the GPhC as long as they intend to return to practice in GB/IoM/CIs in the future, and they pay the normal registration fee.
Those paying the RPSGB's current overseas fee are placed on its non-practising register. However, the GPhC, unlike the RPSGB, will not have a non-practising register. If you are not on the RPSGB's practising register (Part 1) when regulation transfers to the GPhC (the date when regulation will transfer to the GPhC will be announced nearer the time), your registration will not transfer automatically to the GPhC and you will cease to be GB-registered. You could then apply for registration with the GPhC, as a new applicant, subject to meeting the GPhC's registration requirements. We are currently consulting on the GPhC's draft rules, including registration rules, so please do have a look at these and send in your views.
We are encouraging current non–practising/overseas registrants to consider whether they need to move to the practising register of the RPSGB prior to the transfer of regulation to the GPhC, so that they will transfer automatically to the GPhC register. Information on how to move to the practising part of the RPSGB's register can be found here http://www.rpsgb.org/registrationandsupport/registration/#up.
A. The draft Rules currently contain no specific provisions in respect of an application for GPhC registration from someone who was formerly on one of the RPSGB registers but was not on the RPSGB's practising register when regulation transferred to the GPhC — in other words, such a person would have to submit a new application. The GPhC is currently consulting on its draft rules, including registration rules so please do have a look at these and send in your views.
A. Most regulators do not have a system of undergraduate student registration in place. It is the Government's view that education and training providers are ideally placed to identify and deal with student fitness to practise by carrying out pre-education checks to discover any factors which might either indicate prospective students' unsuitability for training as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, or which might identify areas where they may need extra support.
A. No, anyone who wishes to practise as a pharmacist or pharmacy technician and use the restricted titles 'pharmacist' or 'pharmacy technician' must be registered as such on the GPhC register. Registration with a regulatory body confirms that an individual is fit to practise. There are many examples of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians whose roles do not include delivery of care to individual patients or services directly to members of the public, however their roles do impinge on patient safety, often very significantly through signing off patient group directions, releasing batches of products, setting local and national policy for the use of medicines for example. Indeed many employers require registration as a safeguard to ensure that the individual is up to date, bound by a code of conduct and/or ethics and is fit to practise in their chosen field e.g. academia, industry etc. Many organisations require certain functions to be performed by registrants and others require a registrant to be accountable for delivery.
The definition of practising in the Order reflects this breadth of practice and is as follows:
'....if whilst acting in the capacity of or purporting to be a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician, that person does any work or gives any advice in relation to the preparation, assembly, dispensing, sale, supply or use of medicines, the science of medicines, the practice of pharmacy or the provision of healthcare'.
Maintenance of registration will also ensure that you are kept up to date with the regulatory developments within the profession. This is of particular importance as the GPhC's functions include:
- Setting standards of education and training, continuing professional development and conduct
- Ensuring those standards are met, through the accreditation of education and training, and assessment of applicants for initial, renewed and restored registration
- Registration of qualified, competent practitioners
- Operating fitness to practise procedures to protect the public.
Involvement of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the education of prospective registrants and within the pharmaceutical industry and other non-patient facing jobs is an essential element in the development of the pharmacy profession in these areas.