“The NHS is preparing for the implementation of legislative and regulatory changes specifically related to patient group directions (PGDs),” NHSE chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) David Webb revealed this week (October 14).
During a keynote speech at the Pharmacy Show in Birmingham, Webb told delegates that he was “really delighted to see [PGD] legislation changed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DH)”.
Read more: Pharmacy technicians allowed to supply drugs under PGDs from this month
The legislation, which came into force in June, “means PGDs can become part of pharmacy technician practice”, he added.
“We’re currently working on planning implementation at a national level,” Webb said.
Pharmacy technicians have already been added to the NHS community pharmacy flu vaccination PGD, which is valid from September 1 2024 to April 1 2025, while private services have steamed ahead with pharmacy technician PGD use.
“Inhibit growth”
During a Q&A section of the talk, Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) chair Mark Koziol highlighted the British Medical Association’s (BMA) current efforts to “get their regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), to specify the scope of practice for their physicians associates”.
Koziol said that there is a “similar situation we have in community pharmacy”, adding that “we don’t even know what the current scope of practice is” for pharmacy technicians.
Read more: PDA chair calls on pharmacists to support doctors in scope-creep battle
“Would you support the concept that we need the regulator to specify the scope of practice [and] we may even want to move to separate standards - one for pharmacy technicians, one for pharmacists?” he asked Webb.
The CPhO said that he agreed, adding that “this is a conversation about where we want to practice, the mutual contribution of each of the professions within pharmacy, and I think an understanding of scope of practice is part of that dialogue”.
But he said he would counsel “against being so rigid in the first instance that we inhibit the growth that we can see”.
Scope creep concerns
In a “personal blog” last month, Koziol encouraged pharmacists to contribute to a doctor group’s legal war chest as they challenge their regulator on scope creep from medical associate professions (MAPs).
Also last month, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) chief executive Duncan Rudkin said that the public acceptance of pharmacy technicians is “fragile” as he criticised “toxic and difficult challenges” to debates about expanding pharmacy technicians’ scope of practice.
Read more: ‘Toxic’ debates a ‘threat’ to expanding pharmacy technician role, says GPhC
And in June, the PDA said it was considering legal action over the term “pharmacy professionals” to ensure that patients are not “confused” by the different skills and expertise of a pharmacist and pharmacy technician.
In March, the trade union warned MPs that allowing pharmacy technicians to use PGDs was a safety risk, because pharmacy technicians “underpinning knowledge [is] just too low”.
