The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) today (July 19) announced that it is recruiting for a chief pharmacy officer (CPO), a new position on its senior leadership team.
It said that the CPO will be a GPhC-registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician and will be the most senior pharmacy professional in the regulator’s executive, reporting to CEO Duncan Rudkin.
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The CPO will represent the regulator on professional issues in public and lead its pharmacy inspection and regulatory oversight team, as well as provide “professional leadership” across the GPhC, it added.
It said that they will be “responsible for ensuring that all the GPHC’s work is informed by relevant evidence and data”.
“Face and voice of pharmacy regulation”
The GPhC is looking for a pharmacy professional with proven success as a senior leader and experience “using data and insight to influence strategy, policy, and operations”, according to the job advertisement.
“The postholder will provide the professional face and voice of pharmacy regulation across the profession as a whole and to the public”, it said.
The deadline for applications is August 7, but the GPhC told C+D that the start date for the new role will depend on the recruitment process.
GPhC inspections
In the Professional Standards Authority’s (PSA) most recent annual monitoring report, published in September, the regulator’s regulator flagged “concerns” about the GPhC’s “remit and approach to pharmacy inspections”, questioning whether the regulator was “sufficiently” addressing risks.
The PSA said that it would be monitoring the GPhC’s response.
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In January, the GPhC announced that it had suspended carrying out pharmacy inspections due to “ongoing winter pressures”.
And in February, the government confirmed that it would be giving the GPhC powers to set its own practices without seeking parliamentary approval.
