describes how we will improve the way we
manage concerns about pharmacy
professionals, to help us to achieve our Vision
2030. Our governing council agreed the final
strategy in their meeting in June 2021 following
a major public consultation.
The strategy explains how we will take action to protect patients when needed, while promoting and encouraging a learning culture that allows pharmacy professionals to deal with any concerns and go back to practising when this is appropriate.
It describes the steps we will take to improve our processes to address the concerns of the public and patients, ensure fairness and meet standards. We have developed an action plan to help us deliver the strategy and are now putting this into action.
We had particular challenges during the pandemic in carrying out our fitness to practise work. We:
received high numbers of concerns during this time
could not deal with investigations as quickly as usual, and
soon had to move to having remote hearings
Some of the improvements we had planned to make to how we manage concerns started later than we expected. This was because we needed to respond quickly and effectively to the challenges and pressures of the pandemic.
Some of the improvements we had planned to make to how we manage concerns started later than we expected. This was because we needed to respond quickly and effectively to the challenges and pressures of the pandemic.
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) found that the GPhC met 15 out of 18 of its Standards of Good Regulation during 2020/21.
We met all the standards across four PSA categories:
General standards – these include equality, diversity and inclusion, and the way we:
provide information
apply policies
respond to public inquiries and other independent reports, and
work with stakeholders to protect patients and the public
Guidance and standards
Education and training
Registration
Three out of the five standards within the Fitness to Practise category were not met.
The PSA report, which covers 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2021, recognised that we responded and adapted well to the COVID-19 pandemic across the organisation. It acknowledged that we had made efforts to deal with the previous concerns about Fitness to Practise raised in the 2019/20 performance review, and that improvements had been made.