Monitoring Report - General Pharmaceutical Council 2021/22

We have published our most recent report for the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

Key statistics

• Maintains a register of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies in Great Britain
• 86,250 pharmacy professionals and 13,849 pharmacy premises on the register
• Annual retention fee is £297 for pharmacists, £121 for pharmacy technicians and £365 for pharmacy premises

Key findings

This report covers the period 1 March 2021-30 June 2022.

• The GPhC demonstrated its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in its work as a regulator and an employer with the launch of its new EDI strategy. Activity arising from the strategy this year included its public consultation on draft equality guidance for pharmacies.
• Work continues on the GPhC’s education reforms and we received positive feedback about the way it is engaging with stakeholders in this area. The GPhC adapted its quality assurance process to allow time for education providers to introduce changes arising from the new education standards launched last year. Early feedback about the changes to the process is positive.
• Concerns have been raised about whether the GPhC’s remit and approach to pharmacy inspections sufficiently address the risks in this area. The GPhC is engaging with the concerns and exploring how they can be addressed so we will be monitoring how it responds and manages the risks identified.
• Two separate sets of issues arose with the June 2022 sitting of the registration assessment this year. The delays on the day of the sitting, and the impact on candidates, were concerning but the GPhC is treating them seriously and taking a range of actions to remediate what happened and prevent it from happening again.
• The GPhC completed the action plan it developed to address our concerns about its fitness to practise function. It also launched its new fitness to practise strategy. We recognise the GPhC’s continued commitment to address our concerns and the direction of travel remains positive. However, the timing of activities this year, coupled with the time it takes to demonstrate the impact of changes, means we have not yet seen tangible evidence that our remaining concerns have been addressed. We cannot yet say that Standards 15, 16 and 18 are met.