It follows a request from new health secretary Thérèse Coffey for UK health regulators to extend their temporary registers until 2024 so that relevant healthcare professionals can "continue to support the health and care system", the GPhC announced this afternoon (September 26).
The GPhC's temporary register was introduced in 2020 as a way for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who had left the profession to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary register was originally due to close on Friday (September 30), meaning that those still on the register can continue to practise after this date.
Read more: GPhC survey: 46% on temporary register unsure about return to pharmacy
The GPhC is writing to all those who are still on the temporary register to let them know about the extension, it said.
It reminded pharmacy professionals that those on the register must still meet the GPhC's standards and ensure they have appropriate indemnity insurance.
Meanwhile, employers should make sure that all pharmacists or pharmacy technicians working for them are registered to practise, it advised.
Although the GPhC temporarily registered more than 3,000 former pharmacists and over 2,000 former technicians by March 2020, C+D reported in May that year that almost half of temporarily registered pharmacy professionals were unsure about going back to work in the sector.