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Compulsory pharmacy technician registration
If you can register do so
Dr Allan Tennant reports
25th of June 2009
On the 1st of July 2009 pharmacy technician registration in the UK will become mandatory.
There will be a two year "grandparenting" period to make the transition easier for those not already voluntarily registered with the Society. The grand-parenting period means those people with relevant work experience or vocational qualifications will have the ability to register formally as pharmacy technicians until 30 June 2011.
The regulation will be by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
What does this mean in dispensing practice?
Many dispensers working in surgeries have previously worked in the pharmacy sector and have the relevant experience to be grandparented. If they do not register within the next two years they will lose the recognition for their past experience.
This recognition allows the dispenser to go back into pharmacy if they so wish too.
Many practices are opening pharmacies in their surgeries now and may wish to do so in the future. The dispensers who are recognised as pharmacy technicians will be vital to any new pharmacy and they can go on to become registered checkers to free up the time for pharmacists to work on clinical, patient centred work.
Jeanne Wood, Dispensary Manager at Mortimer Medical Practice in Herefordshire told DDA Online, "If we could encourage everyone that is a pharmacy technician to register it would be great as I know I would have been pretty annoyed if after all these years I could now not call myself a pharmacy technician and would be regarded by others as second best because I was not registered. Our PCT pharmacist helped me to register.
"With the new qualification only a registered pharmacy technician will be able to train as assessors and be expert witnesses. So in essence I feel everyone who can register should, as it is both valuable to themselves and their practice.
The DDA Board will be discussing this issue this week. We hope to be able to develop means to help with registration.
The RPSGB website has information on Pharmacy technician registration
The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK