The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7406 p767
24 June 2006

Society summary

Draft new Rules affecting registration

At the beginning of next month, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will launch a consultation on proposed Rules relating to fitness to practise and registration. This article, the second of three prepared in the Secretary and Registrar's Office, looks at the draft Rules covering registration

When the Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order is made under Section 60 of the Health Act 1999, new Rules will be required to underpin the Society’s work. This article focuses on the Rules on registration, which will apply to both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Areas covered include applications for registration, retention in the Registers, moving between different parts of the Registers, and removal from and restoration to the Registers.

Some of the changes will affect only prospective members and registrants and will be of interest only to applicants for registration and those who are looking to recruit new registrants and members. However, other changes will affect all current members and registrants.

As with other health regulators, and in line with the Society’s duty to protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public, under the new Rules the Registers will include information about members’ and registrants’ fitness to practise. Adverse findings of a fitness-to-practise committee (conditions on registration, suspension, warnings or erasure) will be available when anyone does a Register search.

Fee collection timetable

For pharmacists, another important change relates to the timetable for fee collection. Under the new Rules the fee must be paid before the year begins. (For technicians already registered with the Society there will be no change because their fee cycle already operates to this timetable.) The requirement for payment by 31 December means that payment notices will be dispatched in late September. The removal of non-payers will become automatic, replacing the protracted process involving the Council considering a list of names and instructing the Registrar to remove the names of non-payers months after the fee fell due.

Members have become acquainted in recent years with making an annual declaration, but under the new Rules failure to complete a declaration will leave members and registrants open to removal from the Registers. Members and registrants will also have to make a declaration to confirm they are covered by adequate and appropriate indemnity arrangements.

The Rules in relation to retention on the Register are likely to be implemented in 2007 for the 2008 fee.

Registration certificates

The Order imposes new requirements on what must appear on registration certificates. They will have to state in which part of the Register a member or registrant is registered, Part 1 being the practising part and Part 2 the non-practising part. Pharmacy technician certificates of registration already state Part 1 or Part 2. When the Order comes into force those on the voluntary Register of Pharmacy Technicians will be transferred to the statutory Register. The Society may be obliged to issue them with new certificates and it may take the opportunity to redesign the technician certificate.

As drafted, the Order makes it an offence for non-practising pharmacists to possess and display registration certificates that do not state that they are registered in Part 2 and are non-practising. This will require the return or destruction of their certificates and, where requested, the issue of new certificates. Rules have yet to be drafted in this respect, but it is likely that non-practising pharmacists will be asked to make a declaration that their certificate has been put beyond use and asked to submit a request for a new certificate of registration (non-practising), if requiring one. The charge for a replacement certificate will be about £20.

The Rules also require the registered name of a member or registrant to be the name by which the person is known professionally and the registered address to be the home address.

Managing the Registers

Voluntary removal from the Register will require completion of an application form for the first time. This will enable the Society to be sure that members and registrants requesting to be removed from a Register are doing so for honourable reasons, rather than to escape fitness-to-practise proceedings, as may have occurred in a few cases under the current system.

Under the new Rules the Society’s procedures will be more robust in terms of moving members and registrants from Part 2 to Part 1 of a Register. This will require submission of an application to practise and payment of a fee set by the Council (probably equivalent to the current upgrade fees for members). Information on continued good standing, good health and adequate indemnity cover will also be required.

To move back onto a Register after not being on it for more than 12 months, whether removed voluntarily or for non-payment of a fee, former members and registrants will have to submit information as though making a first application for registration. Applicants for restoration may be required to undertake additional education and training. Those removed by the Disciplinary Committee will be unable to apply for restoration for five years from the date of removal from a Register.

The annotation of the Register to indicate supplementary and independent prescribers will be covered in the Rules. The arrangements are likely to reflect current arrangements, ie, an application must be made on a prescribed form, accompanied by a fee and evidence of successful completion of an accredited programme and relevant training.

The Rules place a general duty on current and prospective members and registrants to advise the Registrar of any changes to their situation in respect of their registration or application for registration. They also require members and registrants to keep their registered address and contact details up to date.

Registration applications

Currently, some applicants are asked to submit photographs with their applications to assist in proving their identity. The new Rules require every applicant to submit a photograph countersigned by a notary or health care professional. The Rules also require applicants to submit their passports (or certified copies).

Similarly, applicants must authorise the Society to undertake a Criminal Records Bureau check if it is deemed necessary (if they are not European). Where applicants have previously obtained a standard or enhanced certificate from the CRB in order to be entered onto an NHS list, then a certified copy of this is also required. Where the applicant has obtained the MPharm degree in the UK, the Rules also require the awarding university to confirm that nothing adverse is known about the applicant.

Again, applicants for registration will have to make a declaration that they have adequate and appropriate insurance arrangements.

For the first time certain decisions made by the Registrar as specified in the Order, when qualifying conditions are met, are appealable to a registration appeals committee. Costs will be incurred by the Society in this process of hearing any appeals and appellants may be assigned those costs, which could be substantial.

The new Rules explicitly permit the Registrar to correct the Registers when fraudulent or erroneous entries are believed to have been made. A notice of intention to erase will be sent to the person who it is alleged should not appear on either of the Registers, and then removed if no representations are received.

Compared to how the Society currently manages the Registers, the proposed Rules will clearly affect every member and registrant. The consultation on the registration and related Rules is your opportunity to influence how the Society will manage access to and maintenance of the Register of Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians. Have your say.