The General Pharmaceutical Council has told provisionally registered pharmacists they will no longer be able to practise from January 31 next year when the provisional register closes.

At its council meeting today, the regulator said it would contact prov-regs to make them aware of the deadline and what they need to do to continue practising.

The GPhC set up the provisional register in July last year to help alleviate the pressure on besieged pharmacies that served large numbers of patients during the pandemic as GPs closed their doors. The June and September registration assessments last year were also postponed which presented the GPhC with logistical challenges.

It said it was “taking forward a programme of communications to current provisionally-registered pharmacists” and this would be aimed at three groups; provisionally-registered pharmacists who passed the assessment in March or July but have not applied for full registration; provisionally-registered pharmacists who are about to sit the assessment in November; and provisionally-registered pharmacists who have not passed the assessment and have not applied to sit it in November.

Meanwhile, no end date has yet been set for the temporary register, which was created during the pandemic to allow some pharmacy professionals whose registrations had recently lapsed to practise. The regulator says it will advise those on the temporary register once a termination date has been agreed.