A “one route” one-year process for pharmacists trained overseas to register in UK would be “unfair for the UK”, a quarter of polled C+D readers have said.

Last week (August 6), the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPHC) revealed revised its plans for the registration of internationally trained pharmacists following “feedback” on its previous proposals.

The regulator said that the new process would “include both university study and in-practice training” and would halve the time required for an internationally trained pharmacist to register in Great Britain from two years to one year.

Read more: UPDATED: GPhC proposes ‘one route’ for overseas pharmacist registration

Previously, it had proposed a three-tier system though which pharmacists trained in “similar” countries like Australia, New Zealand and Ireland could register after 3-4 months, according to new proposals from the GPhC.

But in a C+D poll conducted last week, some respondents had concerns about the new plans.

 

Respondents split

 

When asked how they felt about the proposals between August 2–5, C+D’s 159 respondents were split.

Just over half (52%) said that the “one route” plan was “good for the UK”.

But a quarter (25%) of respondents answered that the proposals were “unfair for the UK”.

Read more: GPhC proposes new three-tier system to register overseas pharmacists

And 5% said they thought the process was still “too long”. Meanwhile, 18% said they hadn’t made up their mind on the proposal.

C+D approached the GPhC for comment.

 

“Ridiculous”

Reacting to last week’s news, commenters on the sector’s reddit forum Pharmacy_UK were similarly split.

One redditor said “there is already an oversupply of pharmacists which leads to ridiculously low rates of pay”.

“If any international pharmacists want to work in the UK then they should realise it's not rewarding in retail at least,” they added.

Read more: GPhC to hold ‘confidential’ discussions on racism, registration and FtP suicides

Another raised concerns that an influx of pharmacists could mean “we’ll have to deal with the cut in salaries whilst also having to deal with inflation buying basic goods”.

But another commenter said as a “French qualified pharmacy technician who wants to work in the UK to be with [their] fiancé…we’ve been dreaming about this for so long”.

Reflecting on the proposed regulation changes, they added that “this situation is making our dream feel impossible,” they added.

Read more: University boosts overseas pharmacist course places by 75% amid huge demand

Last week, 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.