The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) will develop a “one route” one-year process for pharmacists trained overseas to register in Great Britain following “feedback” on its previous proposals, it announced today (August 6).
The regulator said that the new process would “include both university study and in-practice training” and would shorten the time required for an internationally trained pharmacist to register in Great Britain from two years to one year.
But it stressed that internationally trained pharmacists would “still all need to pass the registration assessment”.
Read more: GPhC proposes new three-tier system to register overseas pharmacists
The GPhC said that pharmacists trained in the European Economic Area (EEA) or a European Free Trade Association (EFTA) country can currently apply for recognition of qualification.
The recognition of EEA qualifications has been extended until September 2028 but “depending on decisions made by the government”, after this date EEA-qualified pharmacists may also need to use the forthcoming “one route” system, it added.
“Concerns about fairness”
GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin said that shortening the time required for an international pharmacist to register from two years to one year would “significantly reduce the burden for internationally qualified pharmacists and help to increase the pharmacist workforce in the long-term”.
Rudkin added that the GPhC’s initial plan - a three-tier system based on the “similarity” of a would-be pharmacist’s country of origin - had produced “concerns…about the fairness of the original proposals”.
He said that the regulator is “committed” to equality and diversity and wants to ensure that all its “proposals and policies protect the public and maintain standards in ways that are demonstrably inclusive and equitable”.
Read more: GPhC to hold ‘confidential’ discussions on racism, registration and FtP suicides
The regulator said that its next step would be “developing the detail” of its proposal and “drafting updated standards for the education and training of internationally qualified pharmacists ahead of full public consultation”.
It added that it anticipated that the consultation would launch in 2025, but that there will be no changes to the overseas pharmacists' assessment programme (OSPAP) course until September 2026 “at the earliest”.
The GPhC will also “consider” a “shorter” route to registration for internationally qualified pharmacy technicians “based on prior learning” later this year, it said.
OSPAP oversubscribed
Proposing the scrapped three-tier system in February, the GPhC noted that demand for OSPAP places is high, with 1,644 OSPAP applications submitted since 2021.
The papers noted that the waiting list for people wanting to take an OSPAP course is “several hundred” people long.
The regulator added at the time that there is a “lack of capacity” among the universities that offer the course, with just four currently offering the OSPAP: Aston University, the University of Brighton, the University of Hertfordshire and the University of Sunderland.
Read more: University boosts overseas pharmacist course places by 75% amid huge demand
In July last year, C+D exclusively revealed that Aston University had increased OSPAP places by 75% for its 2023/24 intake - from 40 to 70 places - because of “unprecedented demand”.
And in November 2022, C+D revealed that places on OSPAP courses were full for the next two years.
