Pharmacy rebalancing orders: Governance changes taken forward
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published plans to amend current pharmacy legislation on dispensing errors and clarify how registered pharmacies are governed.
The rebalancing medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation programme aims to clarify and strengthen the organisational governance arrangements of registered pharmacies, specifically to define and clarify the core purpose of the Responsible Pharmacist and Superintendent Pharmacist roles. It will also give the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) powers to define in professional standards how those roles are fulfilled.
These plans are part of a wider commitment from the Government to pursue legislative change to make better use of the skill mix in pharmacy teams to deliver more clinical services in the community and support wider NHS capacity.
The rebalancing orders can be viewed on the Legislation.gov.uk website:
The Pharmacy (Preparation and Dispensing Errors – Hospital and Other Pharmacy Services) Order 2022
The Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists etc.) Order 2022
The orders will now progress through Parliament and, pending approval by both Houses, would need final approval by the Privy Council before they can commence.
Background
The rebalancing medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation programme was subject to a considerable delay due to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, DHSC has now published its response to a public consultation on the legislative changes first proposed in summer 2018.
PSNC was broadly supportive of the proposals, which we believe should assist the development and delivery of pharmacy services.
