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APTUK - Principles and guidance for the mobilisation of the pharmacy technician workforce returning to practice or patient facing roles in support of the COVID 19 response.

APTUK have produced this guidance for those who have previously been an accredited Final Accuracy Checking Pharmacy Technician or/and a Medicines Management Pharmacy Technician and maybe returning to these roles.

Please note that this guidance varies in its recommendations to what would normally be considered appropriate requirements and expectations of a formerly accredited individual due to the current workforce requirements associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is intended to provide a flexible approach to support a changing work environment to enable pharmacy technician skills to be utilised.

Pharmacy technicians are registered professionals and will make a professional judgement around their competence and practice.

The document below is written as enablers.

Return to Practice Guidance for Pharmacy Technicians - COVID-19 March 2020

Principles underpinning the guidance are as follows -

·     the competence demonstrated through previous formal assessment of the individual in a prior accreditation programme

·     the duty to follow the 'Standards for Pharmacy Professionals'

·     the professional judgement of the individual and their Responsible Pharmacist /Chief Pharmacist to mutually agree when it is appropriate to practice autonomously

The combination of these elements supports a framework for individuals to return to these roles safely and effectively and to provide a timely response to the needs of the service.

These principles are for application across the UK however it is recognised that each home country may have different resources to support the implementation of any return to practice guidance.

Pharmacy technicians are well positioned to assist in this pandemic, and we would urge employers to support in a proportionate and safe way