1 Min In Member News
Organisations from across the community pharmacy sector, who have come together to look into the future “supervision” in community pharmacy, have produced their final report.
Over the course of nine collaborative and positive workshop-style discussions the Supervision Practice Group aimed to provide recommendations to reframe legislation, regulation and professional standards and guidance to achieve a new vision for community pharmacy. The group have produced a report which makes several recommendations on the subjects of:
• the legislation relating to “supervision”;
• the temporary absence of the RP from the pharmacy;
• delegation;
• the preparation and assembly of medicines when the RP is not signed in.
The report can be viewed here. Our recommendations provide a framework on which the Department of and Social Care and the regulators can draft specifically worded revisions to legislation and regulatory standards. These specific legislative and regulatory changes that are proposed by government and regulators will be subject to a full consultation process. Professional standards and guidance can then be updated to reflect these changes and provide further support to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. We would encourage all colleagues to read the whole document to understand our discussions and reasoning for the recommendations made above.
The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) President Claire Steele and Vice President Nicola Stockmann, welcome the report published on the 1st August 2023 by the Supervision Practice Group and said:
"The report was coproduced by a group of community pharmacy, pharmacy technician and pharmacist representative organisations including APTUK. The vision of community pharmacy practice described in the report will enhance patient access to pharmaceutical services, ensure high levels of patient safety, and enable further development of the community pharmacy team.
APTUK look forward to future consultation on legislative changes proposed by the Department of Health and Social Care and will provide a full response informed by members’ views. APTUK would also like to thank the other members of the Supervision Practice Group for their collaborative approach to discussions and to Dr Michael Twigg for his expertise as independent chair"
