Paper-based alternative to interview for some overseas registrants
The Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has approved an alternative to interview by the Society's Adjudicating Committee for some overseas pharmacists seeking to register in Britain.
At the August
Council meeting, the Council approved a detailed paper-based
initial assessment application procedure for European Economic Area and
Swiss national applicants who do not qualify for automatic recognition
of the qualification under EU directives. The new procedure, recommended
by the Adjudicating Committee and
the Education Committee, would be an alternative to, rather than a replacement
for, the present interview.
The Council also committed the Society to providing an applicant with
a reasoned decision within three months of receipt of a complete application.
And it agreed that the Society should consider all applications in accordance
with the general EU principle of proportionality.
Presenting the recommendations, the Society’s head of accreditation,
Damien Day, said that the first recommendation affected only a small
number of overseas applicants. There was a concern whether the Society
would actually have the right to interview such applicants once a new
EU directive comes into force in October 2007. The directive required
the Society to arrange some form of adaptation or test that filled the
gaps in their knowledge and skills. There would also be a requirement
to evaluate them within three months, which was a tight turnaround when
one had to arrange interviews.
Mr Day said that the draft written application procedure was extremely
thorough. It looked at every item in the MPharm syllabus and every item
in the preregistration year. The Society would expect a narrative explaining
precisely how each item was met. Any that were not met would be made
a requirement of the adaptation.
The new procedure was probably more rigorous than an interview, said
Mr Day, simply because it asked for more information than one could reasonably
find out in the average interview.
Finally, applicants would pay a fee that would ensure that the exercise
was cost-neutral to the Society.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal