The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) temporary register which was expected to close on 30 September 2022 will continue for the next two years following a request from the secretary of state for health and social care.
The temporary register was set up in 2020 after the then secretary of state asked the GPhC to use its emergency powers in order to rapidly register pharmacy professionals to assist in the national response to the Covid-19 emergency.
The UK government has made this decision, which is referenced in its new ‘Plan for Patients’ in England to enable health professionals on the temporary registers to continue to support the health and social care system.
The Government had previously announced that the temporary registers established by the health professional regulators were expected to close on 30 September 2022.
The decision by the UK government to ask the regulators to keep the temporary registers means that pharmacy professionals on GPhC temporary register can continue to practise.
The Council said: “We are writing to all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on our temporary register to let them know that it will now remain open for the next two years.
“We are reminding all pharmacy professionals that they must continue to meet the standards for pharmacy professionals and have the appropriate indemnity insurance in place, if they choose to practise while on the temporary register. Employers must check that any pharmacists and pharmacy technicians they employ are appropriately registered to practise.”
Cat Smith, Labour MP for Lancaster and Wyre