In an announcement today (March 25), the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) said it wants “to understand the experiences of clinical training over the last 12 months and preparations around sitting the registration assessment”.

The research will help “feed into the GPhC’s work on educational reform to the initial education and training of pharmacists”, the regulator added.

It has commissioned Keele University to conduct the research, which will include “a short research interview” asking pre- and prov-regs, tutors and supervisors for “their overall experience of clinical training under pandemic conditions”, the GPhC explained.

Pre- and prov-regs will also be asked how well-equipped they feel to work as a fully registered pharmacist in the future, it added.

Dr Katie Maddock, head of Keele’s school of pharmacy and bioengineering and leader of the research, told C+D this afternoon that this is “an excellent opportunity to gain understanding of what it has been like for provisional registrants working under pandemic conditions, including their views around working safely and feeling equipped to work as fully registered pharmacists upon passing the examination”.

The university aims to deliver the results of its findings to the GPhC in July, Dr Maddock added.

The regulator added: “All target participation groups should look out for an email from the GPhC on how to get involved.”

Last week, 2,670 pre- and prov-regs sat the first ever online registration assessment over two days. In the lead up to the exams, some candidates reported the booking process as “chaotic”, with some claiming they were either wrongly booked into afternoon sittings, or told to travel hundreds of miles to find a test centre with space.