The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is extending changes to its revalidation requirements in recognition of the continuing pressures linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and in particular the Omicron variant, that pharmacy professionals are facing this winter.
Pharmacy professionals who have registration renewal deadlines on or before 31 May 2022 will only need to submit a reflective account for revalidation and will not need to submit the other five revalidation records.
These changes to revalidation requirements were first introduced in March 2020 in recognition of the pressures on pharmacy professionals during the pandemic. The changes were then extended until at least 1 March 2022, and the GPhC committed to keeping the situation under review.
The extension will continue until at least the 1 June 2022. Our current intention is that full revalidation will not resume until the emergency powers for the pandemic introduced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care are removed, but we will continue to keep this under active review.
We will give pharmacy professionals a minimum of three months’ notice of when full revalidation requirements will be reintroduced, to give pharmacists and pharmacy technicians a reasonable amount of time to get their records ready for submission.
You may find the myGPhC system will not let you submit your reflective account until you make a declaration about a peer discussion. You do not need to submit a peer discussion, so please tick 'yes' on the declaration to over-ride this.
What standards do I need to reflect on?
Pharmacy professionals are still expected to reflect on one or more of the following three standards when completing their reflective account:
standard 3 - pharmacy professionals must communicate effectively
standard 6 - pharmacy professionals must behave professionally
standard 9 - pharmacy professionals must demonstrate leadership
We encourage pharmacy professionals to reflect on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic when completing their reflective account, although this is not essential.
What should I do if I cannot submit the entries that are required?
If you do not feel able to submit the reduced submission of one reflective account by your revalidation submission deadline, you will need to complete an exceptional circumstances request on your myGPhC account.
We will only consider exceptional circumstances if you can provide evidence to show you have not been able to practise between 10 – 12 months of your registration year.