The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is “working on the basis” that pre-reg trainees who are eligible “would be able to join the register at the same time as they usually would, in August this year", chief executive Duncan Rudkin said in a letter to trainees and tutors on Monday (April 27).

Trainees joining the register provisionally will need “structured support to manage the transition into practice as a pharmacist,” Mr Rudkin added.

The GPhC is proposing that time spent provisionally registered would count towards both the two years of practice required to become an independent prescriber and “any foundation training that provisionally-registered pharmacists may undertake,” he added.

The proposals come after the regulator’s decision in March to postpone this year’s June and September assessments following the COVID-19 outbreak.

The regulator confirmed to C+D yesterday (April 28) that pre-reg pharmacists who join the register provisionally will still have to sit their assessment at a later date.

Mr Rudkin said the GPhC is “continuing to consider a range of different options for the postponed registration assessments”.

“This includes looking at the format of the assessment, and whether a move to an online sitting would be possible” he explained.

The GPhC will be “sharing further details as soon as possible”, he added.