The National Pharmacy Association agrees with proposals to retain the ‘one-pharmacy rule’ for Responsible Pharmacists – it said in response to a GPhC consultation on draft standards for RPs and Superintendent Pharmacists, which closed this week.
Currently a Responsible Pharmacist can only be responsible for one pharmacy premises at any given time.
The association also backed the current maximum two-hour absence period, which allows pharmacies to remain open during short absences, preventing unnecessary closures and inconvenience for patients. On the other hand, increasing the hours could lead to remote supervision and reduce patient access to a pharmacist, the NPA’s formal submission warned.
On the question of minimum requirements to become a Superintendent, the NPA is concerned that timed served is not a guarantee of suitability for the role. Instead it supports competency-based requirements such as evidence of leadership skills.
There is no reason to set minimum requirements for a pharmacist to become a Responsible Pharmacist. The NPA argues that every pharmacist qualifies with the professional ability to act as an RP.
The NPA also sought more guidance from the GPhC on how the new authorisation rules which come into play at the end of the year will work. These rules will allow a pharmacist to delegate formally a range of tasks to a registered pharmacy technician - freeing up the pharmacist to focus on more clinical tasks whilst expanding the duties of technicians.
NPA Director of Corporate Affairs, Gareth Jones, said:
“Changes to authorisation could mark a radical change to community pharmacy practice from the end of this year. So it is important to get the standards in fit shape for securing patient safety, while also facilitating a multiplicity of business models and an ever-expanding range of clinical services.”
The NPA’s response also calls for clarity on authorising controlled drugs and notes that existing standards do not cover the use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.
