The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has pledged to review training for technicians to address the variety of roles they do.

Action was needed because their roles varied widely between the hospital and community sectors, GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin told C+D in an exclusive interview on September 13.  

The GPhC survey of 30,000 pharmacists and all 22,000 technicians, launched last month, would help the regulator take a "good look" at the problem, Mr Rudkin said. The survey asks respondents about their working lives and day-to-day responsibilities; the closing date is yet to be confirmed.

The survey will ensure we have education, training and revalidation that ensure technicians are fit for the future, said GPhC chief Duncan Rudkin	More on technician regulation GPhC working lives survey will inform future       regulation and practice Technicians hit back over pharmacist PGD snub RAF technician struck off for theft
	"We thought let's actually move beyond anecdote and find out what people are saying about pharmacy technicians so we [have] education, training and revalidation that ensure technicians are not just fit for now, but for the future," he told C+D.

GPhC chair Bob Nicholls highlighted discrepancies between some technicians' roles and their capabilities at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society conference on September 8. "I've seen some fantastic technicians releasing the pharmacist [from dispensing] and yet, in some communities, I don't think their abilities are matched by the jobs they do," he argued.  

In August, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists suggested technicians could expand their role to conducting PGDs, but the idea faced opposition from pharmacists.