Skills for Health have announced that the new qualification for Pharmacy Technicians has been submitted to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Commissioned by Health Education England (HEE), the development has brought together seven Awarding Organisations to collectively develop a new Level 3 Diploma for the pharmacy technician workforce. The qualification development commenced in March 2018 and a consultation was held in July 2018. The final qualification was submitted to the GPhC at the end of February 2019 in the first part of a two stage recognition process. Awarding Organisations will attend a qualification recognition event at the GPhC on 11th April.

A successful stage 1 outcome will allow the Level 3 Diploma in the Principles and Practice for Pharmacy Technicians qualification to be submitted to Ofqual by the Awarding Organisations, after which each Awarding Organisation will have their qualifications recognised individually by the GPhC.

The qualification has been developed to meet the GPhC Initial Education and Training Standards (IET) for Pharmacy Technicians published in October 2017 and will support education providers with developing models of delivery to meet local workforce requirements across sectors. This qualification will be delivered over a two-year period to meet the requirements of the statutory regulator and is planned to be available to learners from 1st February 2020.

A news item can be found on the Skills for Health website here.