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The RPB Partner's Forum was held on the 6th February 2019 the Partners' Forum to provide an update to pharmacy partners following the recent public consultation on the:

• draft Pharmacy (Preparation and Dispensing Errors €“Hospital and Other Pharmacy Services) Order 2018
• draft Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists etc.) Order 2018.

The public consultation had received 632 responses, which the Board reported had been considered at length. As a result, the Board indicated that all proposals consulted upon were recommended and are being progressed, apart from minor amendments to the draft Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists etc.) Order 2018, which will be subject to agreement with Parliamentary Counsel.

These changes are in respect of:

• Making clear that the Superintendent Pharmacist duty relates only to the retail pharmacy business (and includes general sale list medicines), and mitigating the possibility of the duty cutting across the duties of other statutory office holders of the body corporate

• Removing €handling€ from the activities that trigger a need for an RP to be in charge of the premises.

The final decision on progressing the draft legislation will, however, be for Ministers and Parliament.

The Partner's Forum provided clarity on what appeared to be some misunderstanding in respect to pharmacy regulation comments that were received in the consultation response. To support this, sessions were delivered on the legal framework for pharmacy regulation and scrutiny arrangements, together with the complementary role of the pharmacy regulators and the pharmacy professional leadership bodies. The importance of the interplay of the roles of the superintendent pharmacist and responsible pharmacist was also raised in consultation responses, and this was also explored in a session at the Partners' Forum.

To bring the proposed legislative changes before Parliament will take longer than anticipated as Government preparations for EU Exit have impacted significantly upon the availability of legal and Parliamentary time. However, the Department of Health and Social Care is committed to making progress in this area as soon as possible.

Ken Jarrold CBE, Chair of the Rebalancing Medicines Legislation and Pharmacy Regulation Programme Board, said,

€We were delighted with the high level of engagement in response to the public consultation on the two draft Section 60 Orders €“with over 60 organisations and 560 individuals making sure that their voices were heard.

We have given very careful consideration to the responses, and we have thought hard about any required changes to the draft legislation that we are looking to progress.

The Board met in October and November of 2018 to reflect on the consultation responses received. After a great deal of consideration, the Board recommended the proposals be taken forward, with some minor changes to the drafting of the second draft Order. These changes will be subject to agreement by Parliamentary Counsel, and then Government Ministers, however, the consultation exercise has clearly €“as expected -played an important role. It is clear that the role of the Responsible Pharmacist and Superintendent Pharmacist are complementary, and we are confident that the proposed changes will strengthen and clarify organisational governance within community pharmacy.

It is apparent, and understandable, from the responses received that some respondents took the opportunity to raise issues and concerns which were not linked to the proposals that we were consulting on. The topic of supervision and remote supervision was one of these. I therefore want to be clear that the Board is focused on progressing the two draft Section 60 Orders that we consulted on, which will not change any of the requirements around transactional governance, and that the Board is not actively considering supervision at this time.

The Government is preparing for the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union €“including the prospect of a no-deal scenario. This means that access to lawyers and Parliamentary time is limited.

Unfortunately, this will impact upon timeframes for the two draft Orders -as it will impact upon the work in many other areas of Government. We have been reassured that officials in the Department of Health and Social Care will seek to progress the legislation as quickly as possible. Whilst the delay is unavoidable, it is important that parity is secured across the sector at the earliest opportunity, with pharmacy professionals working in hospital and other pharmacy services (where the registered pharmacy defence does not apply) being able to rely on the same defences that are available to their colleagues working in registered pharmacies.

I want to thank all those who contributed to the consultation€“and reaffirm my commitment to seeing these important changes introduced, in order to improve safety for users of pharmacy services and enable innovation and development of pharmacy practice.€

Tess Fenn, APTUK Immediate Past President, responding to the Partner's Forum statement, said,

€It is pleasing that progress is being made with the two draft orders. This is particularly so with reference to the draft Pharmacy (Preparation and Dispensing Errors €“Hospital and Other Pharmacy Services) Order 2018, as this seeks to bring the much needed parity to pharmacy professionals, pharmacy technicians and pharmacists, across all pharmacy sectors in respect of inadvertent dispensing error defences. APTUK will continue to review Parliamentary progress and keep members informed of updates.€

The full Partner's Forum statement can be found here. 

Copies of the presentations and supporting documents can be accessed on the Rebalancing Programme Board's website, here:

• Presentation slides
• Paper PF2019/01 €“ Summary of proposals and envisioned change 
• Paper PF2019/02 €“ Pharmacy Regulator Rules/Regulations and Regulatory Standards