A total of 1,500 requests from pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to be removed from the register were processed between October and December 2018.* This is an increase on the 1,066 requests in the same period the previous year, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) said in documents published ahead of a council meeting in London today (February 7).

“Following the introduction of revalidation for this year’s peak renewal cohort, we have received an increase in applications for voluntary removal from registrants to avoid the requirement to provide CPD for the period ending October 2018,” the GPhC said.

“It is both expected and understood that revalidation may have been a factor for some to make the decision to leave the register, particularly if a registrant had been maintaining registration but no longer practising,” the GPhC added.

The first cohort submitting CPD entries for the GPhC’s revalidation process had to do so by the registration renewal deadline of October 31.

Out of the 42,162 registrants expected to begin the revalidation process by this date, the GPhC has informed 3% (1,745) of its intent to remove them from the register unless they submit “representation” or an appeal, the regulator said.

However, 95% (39,910) have completed all the requirements, it added.

During the launch of revalidation, from April to October 2018, the GPhC contact centre received 28,007 emails and 64,000 calls, “close to double the usual traffic” compared with the same period in 2017, it said.

Call levels have since returned to normal, the GPhC added.

*The GPhC has since clarified to C+D that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians due to submit CPD articles between October and December may have asked to be removed from the register at any point during the previous renewal year.

C+D’s in-depth Update Plus modules now come with revalidation-ready logsheets, to take the hassle out of submitting your CPD