Revalidation for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians gets the green light for implementation

We will introduce revalidation for pharmacy professionals from 30 March 2018, after our governing council approved the framework for revalidation and agreed the timetable for its implementation. This decision means that all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Great Britain will have to demonstrate that they are regularly reflecting on their learning and practice and keeping up to date.

Once revalidation has been fully implemented, pharmacy professionals will have to complete and submit four CPD records, a record of a peer discussion and a record of a reflective account every year.  They will be asked to explain in each record how what they have done has benefited people using pharmacy services, to make sure improving the care people receive is at the heart of the process.

GPhC Chair Nigel Clarke said: “Revalidation is a significant step-change for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and I am delighted that the Council has given the go-ahead to implement this important process. We believe that the introduction of revalidation will further assure users of pharmacy services that pharmacy professionals will provide them with safe and effective care throughout their careers.

“We have been working towards this goal alongside a range of groups, professionals, employers and patients for a number of years to make sure we can collectively bring revalidation forward in a robust and evidence based way. Going forward we will continue to work collaboratively with these groups as we make revalidation a reality.”

In response to feedback received through the consultation, the Council has agreed to take a number of actions to further improve the framework for revalidation and to support pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to meet the new requirements.

These include strengthening guidance within the revalidation framework, and producing new guidance and supporting information to further explain some parts of the process, including peer discussion and the reflective account. The final framework is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

At the meeting, Council members emphasised the GPhC’s commitment to and importance of continuing to work collaboratively with other pharmacy organisations throughout implementation, including on how they can support registrants to locate appropriate peers and engage with the process in the most meaningful way.

The Council also committed to evaluating how revalidation is working in practice once it is implemented to better understand its impact and how it should develop going forward. You can read the council paper on revalidation which includes our response to the feedback received through the consultation on our website.

What happens next?

All registrants will receive tailored information and guidance from February 2018 onwards to explain what they will need to do and when.

The following overall timetable for implementation has been agreed by the Council:

1. A new online portal will be made available to registrants to record their revalidation records in from March 2018.

2. In 2018, the first group of registrants with a registration expiry date of 31 December 2018 will be asked to submit four CPD records when renewing their registration.

3. In 2019, the first group of registrants with a registration expiry date of 31 December 2019 will be asked to submit their full six records for revalidation (four CPD records, a record of a peer discussion record and a reflective account) when renewing their registration.

We will be giving regular updates about revalidation in future issues of Regulate.