The minimum level of study for pharmacy technicians will increase from level 3 to level 4, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has today confirmed.
The GPhC said the new standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians were approved at its council meeting on July 16.
It added that the decision came after the council “carefully considered the detailed analysis of the 880 responses” received to its consultation, which was launched in October and concluded in December.
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The new standards include several other changes, including:
- final accuracy checking becoming a core competency for trainee pharmacy technicians
- new entry requirements meaning that prospective pharmacy technicians will need a minimum level 2 science qualification (or equivalent)
- more flexible supervised practice to “introduce greater flexibility in how supervised workplace learning is completed”
The GPhC said the updated standards will be published “in the coming weeks”, and it will now “take forward actions” to support their implementation.
“An important step”
GPhC chair Gisela Abbam said increasing the level of study is “an important step in ensuring that newly qualified pharmacy technicians have the knowledge, skills and judgement to prepare them for key developments in practice”.
“These developments include the introduction of PGDs to allow pharmacy technicians to administer and supply certain medicines, and forthcoming legislation to enable them to take responsibility for dispensing and supplying medicines without supervision by a pharmacist,” she added.
And GPhC chief executive Kathie Cashell said that in response to concerns raised about the potential impact of raising the level, the council agreed that “implementation should be phased over a longer period to allow sufficient time for employers, education providers and other stakeholders to prepare for the changes”.
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“While new education and training programmes are expected to begin operating from 2028, full implementation will not be before autumn 2029,” she added.
Cashell stressed that the changes apply only to those training in the future, and that the GPhC is “not planning any new requirements for pharmacy technicians who are already registered, pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians or those due to start their training”.
She said the GPhC recognises that the new standards “will bring challenges for some employers and education providers”, but the regulator is “clear that raising the level of study is necessary to support the future development of the profession and, most importantly, to maintain patient safety and public confidence in pharmacy services”.
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It comes after papers published ahead of the GPhC’s council meeting showed that it was this week seeking approval for the new standards.
The current standards were published almost ten years ago, and the regulator said “considerable developments” since then mean that pharmacy technicians “now contribute far beyond traditional dispensing roles on which the 2017 standards are based”.
