By now, some of you will have successfully submitted your first reflective account alongside your other revalidation records. Depending on when you joined the register, you may be submitting your first reflective account to us up until October 2020.
As part of your revalidation, you have to submit a reflective account record, alongside a peer discussion, and four continued professional development (CPD) records.
To give you the opportunity to think about the content of your second reflective account, we are now announcing that we have decided to keep the same three standards from last year. This means that you should choose one or more of the following three standards to reflect on for both the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 revalidation cycles:
- standard 3 - pharmacy professionals must communicate effectively
- standard 6 - pharmacy professionals must behave professionally
- standard 9 - pharmacy professionals must demonstrate leadership
We have retained these standards because:
- keeping the same standards for a second year will enable you to build on the experience you have developed in the first year and to incorporate feedback from the first year
- there is still a real need to focus on communication, professional behaviour and leadership in pharmacy practice
- these three standards are closely linked, so it is easier to provide a single reflective account on all three if you think it is appropriate to do so
Reflective account
In your reflective account, you will need to:
- tell us briefly about your area of work (the setting of your practice and your main roles).
- tell us briefly about the typical users of your service(s)
- tell us how you meet one or more of the standards for pharmacy professionals we have selected for that year
- give a real example(s) taken from your practice to illustrate how you have met the selected standards
Exceptional circumstances
Please remember that if you cannot make your submission deadline because of exceptional circumstances, you should tell us as soon as possible to avoid being asked to carry out remedial measures. You can inform us by filling in an exceptional circumstances form in myGPhC – click on the ‘tell us why you can’t submit’ link on the revalidation page.
Exceptional circumstances include sick leave, maternity leave, and military postings but there may be other possible reasons. Usually, if you have a good reason, you will still be able to renew your registration without submitting your records.
If you cannot submit all your records, we may still be able to accept the records that you can complete. If there are gaps in your records, they should not be more than 12 months apart. In some cases, we may be able to give you an extension so that you can submit all your records at a later date.
You can find out more in the revalidation framework.
How we are improving revalidation
We are always looking for ways to make sure you have all the information you need to complete and submit your revalidation. We continue to raise awareness of the revalidation requirements and share resources, including by taking part in a range of events, such as the APTUK conference, RPS seminars and the Pharmacy Show 2019.
Before the third cycle of revalidation, we will be considering the most effective way for registrants to demonstrate their reflections across all standards over a period of time; the importance and relevance of particular standards at a given point; and how registrants can take responsibility for identifying their own areas of reflection.