Pharmacy technicians have hailed the change in legislation that permits members of their profession to supply and administer prescription-only medication (POM) under a patient group direction (PGD), which comes into force today (June 26).

President of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) Nicola Stockmann described the change in legislation as a “landmark moment for patient care” and “the culmination of years of work and lobbying”.

Stockmann said the legislation was recognition of pharmacy technicians’ “professional potential”.

Read more: Pharmacy technicians allowed to supply drugs under PGDs from this month

But she reminded pharmacy technicians that they “must complete any training outlined in a PGD” and have a PGD provider organisation deem them “competent and authorised” before they can operate using a PGD.

Stockmann told C+D that the profession is also awaiting the outcome of the pharmacy supervision consultation, which she described as “a significant further expansion of scope of practice”.

Pharmacy technician Alison Hemsworth said on X (formerly Twitter) today that the legislation change is “the most important part of our history after registration”.

Read more: PDA: Pharmacy technician qualification levels ‘too low’ to handle PGDs

And Liz Fidler, a past president of APTUK, said on X that today is a “landmark day for the pharmacy technician profession” as she called on colleagues to “recognise and celebrate the journey”.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) English Pharmacy Board vice chair Brendon Jiang also hailed the change as “a win for pharmacy technicians and the wider world of pharmacy” on X this morning.

 

CPE: “No change” yet

 

Meanwhile, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) yesterday reminded the sector that the legislative change does not mean that pharmacy technicians are “automatically included in existing NHS community pharmacy PGDs”.

It said that there can be “no immediate change” until service provision updates to NHS contracts have been first “considered in negotiations”. 

Updates to NHS community pharmacy PGDs and service specifications will be amended where changes are agreed, it added.

 

Charac PGDs launch

 

With NHS contracts and terms in need of a negotiated update, private PGD providers have stolen a march.

On Monday (June 24), digital platform Charac and training provider ECG announced a new partnership, with “the first end-to-end solution” for digital PGDs in community pharmacies “expected” to launch “at the end of July”.

Charac founder and chief executive Santosh Sahu said that the digital PGDs will allow community pharmacies to book, conduct and record consultations online, “increasing the efficiency of using PGDs”. 

Read more: Private services steam ahead with pharmacy technician PGD use

Pharmacy technicians will “receive PGD training” through the new digital PGD service, which will allow all eligible staff to manage consultations via one single premises-covering PGD, he added.

Sahu predicted that community pharmacies would “significantly benefit” from private PGD use, estimating “an expected minimum revenue of £50,000 a year” for the average pharmacy.

Earlier in June, Pharmadoctor chief executive Graham Thoms also told C+D that his company was “prepared and ready” to provide private pharmacy services under PGDs from June 26.