The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) today (February 5) launched a consultation on a raft of education and training reforms.
These include allowing newly qualified pharmacists to practise as independent prescribers (IPs) straight away and scrapping “blanket recognition” offered to pharmacists who trained overseas.
The eight-week consultation, open from today until April 2, asks stakeholders their thoughts on “historic provisions” that currently list “a number of countries with special recognition for their pharmaceutical societies by the PSNI”.
Read more: GPhC proposes new three-tier system to register overseas pharmacists
Currently, the PSNI’s general regulations list these “special” countries as Great Britain, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
“Since not all pharmaceutical societies across the world serve as regulators in the manner that the PSNI now exists, this blanket recognition has become inappropriate,” consultation documents said.
“Insufficient assurances are in place to adopt such recognition,” it added.
Read more: UPDATED: GPhC proposes ‘one route’ for overseas pharmacist registration
The regulator said that the proposal would “reflect the PSNI’s policy of mutual recognition between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, noting existing provisions afforded by the EU Exit regulations”.
It added that the change would also clarify that it “does not automatically recognise qualifications obtained outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland”.
Training reform
The PSNI’s consultation also proposed a number of education and training reforms.
It lists regulation changes allowing foundation year training to “take place in hospital, community and GP settings”, allowing supervisors “to have more than one trainee” and “enabling newly qualified pharmacists to prescribe as IPs from their first day of registration”.
The regulator also proposed changing “regulations to allow a maximum of three years to pass the common registration assessment and register with the PSNI”.
Read more: Aim for all new pharmacists to prescribe under GPhC-approved plans
“Currently, trainee pharmacists who have successfully completed their foundation training year and wish to sit the common registration assessment have an 18-month period in which to do so,” it said.
It also suggested the removal of a requirement “for six months of employment after a second failed attempt”.
New online pharmacy regs
Meanwhile, the PSNI this week (February 3) welcomed new General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) rules banning online pharmacies from prescribing based on online questionnaires alone.
The NI pharmacy regulator said that it had “noted…calls for stricter regulations for pharmacists, including in-person consultations for certain medications such as weight loss drugs”.
Read more: New online pharmacy regs ‘effective immediately’ amid weight loss risks
“Additionally, there were calls to ensure that financial targets do not influence clinical prescribing decisions,” it added.
“Following [the new GPhC guidance], we will be making updates to our prescribing standards and guidance for internet pharmacy services and code to ensure, where possible, alignment across the UK,” it announced.
The GPhC guidance sees new expectations for British pharmacists to “independently verify” information provided by patients before prescribing high risk drugs.
