Technician registration delayed until GB agreement
Pharmacy technicians in England and Wales will not be covered by the Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order 2007 (Section 60 Order) when it comes into force. Implementation of other aspects of the Order is expected later this month.
The Government has decided that rather than have statutory regulation
of technicians in England and Wales and no regulation in Scotland it
is preferable to have no regulation at all until the Scottish Parliament
agrees to the same rules.
During a short
debate on the Order in
a Grand Committee of the House of Lords last week, Government health
spokeswoman Baroness Royall of Blaisdon said: “In order to make
sure that the regulation of [pharmacy technicians] happens consistently
across Great Britain, we do not propose to commence the provisions of
this Order which relate to the regulation of pharmacy technicians until
the amendments to its scope are in place.”
She added that the Minister for Health in Scotland had agreed in principle
with an amending Order — to be introduced later this year and which
will require approval by both the Westminster and the Scottish Parliament — to
extend the scope of the Order to encompass pharmacy technicians in Scotland.
The Order was subsequently formally accepted by the House of Lords.
Janet Flint, head of support staff regulation at the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, said: “We are delighted to hear that agreement has been
reached in principle to introduce an amending Order later this year to
extend the statutory regulation of pharmacy technicians across all of
Great Britain. We hope very much that the provisions relating to pharmacy
technicians can be brought into force with as little delay as possible
and we are looking forward to working with the Government to facilitate
implementation at the earliest opportunity.”
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