The DH today (July 17) announced that it has published “plans to modernise pharmacy supervision rules to allow registered pharmacy technicians to take greater responsibility and enable pharmacists to focus more on frontline patient care”.
It remains unclear what exactly the draft legislation contains but the DH told C+D that it will upload the documents to its website shortly.
It said that the proposals will “[free] up pharmacist time to deliver more clinical services and to help advise patients on prevention” by expanding who can supervise the dispensing of medicines and giving pharmacies “greater flexibility in how they deploy their staff”.
Read more: Q&A: Everything you need to know about pharmacy supervision
“Qualified pharmacy staff could get expanded roles to improve patient access and allow pharmacists to focus more on frontline care,” it added.
The draft legislation “is expected to come into effect by the end of 2025 and the bulk of the measures will have a one-year transition period to allow for the development of professional standards and guidance”, it said.
“Common-sense changes”
The DH said that the measures “will help transition community pharmacy from being largely focused on dispensing medicines to becoming integral to the neighbourhood health service” – as set out in the NHS 10-year plan earlier this month.
The reforms will “modernise pharmacy practice and make better use of the skills within pharmacy teams” by ensuring both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians “can work to the top of their profession”, it added.
Read more: DH ‘committed’ to launching supervision reforms this year
Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said that the reforms are “simple common-sense changes that will help pharmacies run better, saving staff and patient time”.
“Qualified pharmacy technicians can take greater responsibility for routine tasks - this will improve patient experience and help avoid delays in accessing medicines when the pharmacist is not available,” he added.
“Move towards implementation”
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) welcomed the publication of the draft legislation, saying it marks “a significant step forward in modernising pharmacy practice”.
According to the RPS, the legislation will enable:
- Trained team members to “hand out checked and bagged prescriptions”, bringing legislation “in line with current practices” such as home delivery and lock box services
- Pharmacists to “authorise registered pharmacy technicians to carry out or supervise” the preparation, assembly, dispensing, sale and supply of medicines
- Pharmacy technicians to “supervise the preparation, assembly and dispensing of medicines” in hospital aseptic facilities
Read more: Supervision reform proposals could pose ‘risk to patient safety’, DH admits
RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said that the legislation “reflects a more collaborative, team-based approach to pharmacy” and will “help pharmacists focus on patient-facing clinical care while ensuring safety remains paramount”.
The body said it will collaborate with the DH, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK), Pharmaceutical Society NI (PSNI) and the Pharmacy Forum of Northern Ireland “as the pharmacy professions move towards implementation”.
And it added that it will develop “guidance in partnership” for pharmacists on “handing out pre-checked medicine bags in the pharmacy” and “safe and effective models of authorisation of pharmacy technicians”.
New GPhC standards
Speaking at a GPhC event in parliament last month (June 18), pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock said that the regulator will develop new standards for responsible and superintendent pharmacists in community pharmacy.
And he added that the regulator will “shortly commence” a consultation on the education and training standards of pharmacy technicians “to ensure that they too have the skills that are needed for the future”.
Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) chief executive Malcolm Harrison said that the reforms “provide the basis for the greatest evolution in pharmacy practice for 90 years”.
Read more: UPDATED: DH launches long-awaited pharmacy supervision consultation
“The changes have always been intended to develop community pharmacy practice to meet the new challenges it faces and be ready for a more clinical future - this legislation does that, bringing community pharmacy practice into the 21st century,” he added.
And he stressed that the proposals “align with” the 2023 recommendations of the cross-sector Supervision Practice Group, which said that supervision should not mean individual transactions are supervised.
It comes after Kinnock announced in May that the response to the pharmacy supervision consultation will be published “later this year”.
