The General Pharmaceutical Council has said it will consult on new initial education and training standards for pharmacy technicians later this year.

Ahead of its council meeting tomorrow (April 18) when the issue will be discussed, the regulator’s chief strategy officer and deputy registrar Mark Voce said it would review the standards in light of the Government’s decision to allow pharmacy technicians to supply and administer medicines under patient group directions and its consultation on supervision.

That consultation proposed enabling pharmacists to authorise pharmacy technicians to carry out or supervise others carrying out, preparing, assembling, dispensing, selling and supplying medicines.

Voce said the GPhC wanted to make sure the standards “are equipping trainee pharmacy technicians for the developing roles and responsibilities created by legislative and service changes”.

Currently, pharmacy technicians in England and Wales need to complete at least Level 3 in the National Qualifications Framework and Level 6 in the Scottish Qualifications and Credit Framework.

“In recognising the aim to expand the workforce, we will need to ensure that specific requirements in the standards (such as the numbers of hours of learning) do not stifle potential innovation in the development of different and innovative pathways while simultaneously ensuring that we do not water down the necessary standard,” he said.

Voce also said the legislative changes on supervision also raised “important points in relation to education and training for those who are currently registered.”

He said the standards will need to not only ensure pharmacy technicians have “relevant experience and qualifications” but clarify they are “not expected or pressurised to work beyond their scope of practice.”

“As registered professionals, pharmacy technicians have an essential role to play in the delivery of services and should be empowered to embrace new and additional responsibilities,” Voce said.

“As with any situation, the relevant experience and qualifications need to be considered so that they are not expected or pressurised to work beyond their scope of practice. We expect our standards to include appropriate references to this and we will be exploring the issues further as part of our post-registration assurance of practice Advisory Group.”

Pharmacy technicians “well prepared” 

The consultation comes in the wake of research commissioned by the GPhC and carried out by the Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies at the University of Manchester and the consultancy service ICF which looked at whether the 2017 standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians have affected professional practice.

The study involved 142 recently registered pharmacy technicians as well as qualitative interviews with 21 employers and supervisors of trainees, recently registered pharmacy technicians in various sectors and representatives from six different course providers.

“Its primary purpose was to examine whether the 2017 standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians have made a difference to the skills and performance of pharmacy technicians in comparison to the previous 2010 standards,” the GPhC said.

“It examined how the standards have affected the experiences of newly qualified pharmacy technicians, employers, and course providers.”

The research found 72 per cent of pharmacy technicians felt “well prepared” for practice while 24 per cent felt “prepared.” It also found 82 per cent of pharmacy technicians in community pharmacy and 64 per cent in hospital pharmacy felt “well prepared” for practice.

The vast majority – 96 per cent – felt the course covered person-centred care, professionalism and professional knowledge and skills “well” while 94 per cent of recently registered pharmacy technicians surveyed continued to stay in the profession.

Eighty-six per cent of respondents agreed “the most important motivation for aspiring pharmacy technicians was to work in a job with good career opportunities”.