In October 2017, The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) published revised Initial Education and Training Standards for Pharmacy Technicians (IETs). These Standards will ensure that pharmacy technicians have the right knowledge and skills for current and future workforce requirements at point of registration with the GPhC. A copy of the IETs are available to view here.

The qualification has been created to additionally support:

• the required skill mix and service transformation required to support various policy drivers including Five Year Forward View, Community Pharmacy Forward View and the Medicines Value Programme, Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care: A Strategy for Scotland and Supporting prudent prescribing to obtain the best outcomes from medicines for patients in Wales – All Wales Medicines Strategy Group Five-year Strategy 2018–2023
• the requirement from employers not to limit training pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians to the hospital and community pharmacy sectors only
• the service and workforce requirements of a pharmacy technician that will register in 2021 as defined by the IET, with a focus on the roles pharmacy technicians are undertaking in integrated care models for example GP and Care Homes
• being a single qualification, including the underpinning knowledge requirements to reflect the IET person centric standards
• reflect any apprenticeship policy requirements as determined by the Institute for Apprenticeships
• transferability of pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians across the home countries is critical, in recognition of this, Awarding Organisations and Subject Matter Experts from England and Wales have developed this qualification in collaboration.
• there is a single point that defines the initial education and training standards required for registration as a pharmacy technician with the GPhC. In order to standardise criteria and support consistency across the home countries for patients and employers, this qualification development has also been shared with colleagues in the home countries.

Skills for Health have been commissioned by Health Education England to facilitate the collaborative development of a new qualification to meet the IET Standards for pharmacy technicians. Skills for Health have been working with subject matter experts and educational Awarding Organisation to develop the qualification which will be made available in England and Wales in 2019.

Skills for health have today 2nd July 2018,  published a consultation to gather feedback  on the content of the qualification. The consultation closes at 12pm on Monday 30th July 2018, the consultation can be  accessed here.

Consultation responses will be analysed by the Awarding Organisations and amendments made before the final draft of the qualification is submitted to the GPhC and Ofqual for approval

APTUK recognises the significant  importance of the development of this new qualification . It is imperative that the qualification meets the GPhC standards as published in the revised IETs,  as the qualification will be the basis for  pharmacy technician training for the next 5-10 years. The contents also needs to be reflective of  the changing demands being placed on the pharmacy technician workforce. Therefore, we are strongly urging pharmacy technicians  and  their employers to engage with this consultation, as this is your chance to contribute to the design and delivery of the new qualification. APTUK will be providing a response to the consultation based on the views of its members and we will be engaging with members in the near future regarding this. APTUKs' consultation response will be published on the APTUK website in due course.