Consultation begins on Section 60 Order of the Health Act 1999
The “Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order 2006” will
replace the Pharmacy Act 1954 |
Consultation on the draft Section 60 Order of the Health Act 1999 is finally under way, following its publication last week by the Department of Health. When finalised, the “Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians
Order 2006” will replace the Pharmacy Act 1954. The draft Order
sets out the proposed changes to the regulation of pharmacists in Great
Britain. Among those welcoming the arrival of the draft Order, is Tony
West, president of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, who told Hospital
Pharmacist that there would be detailed consideration given to its provisions
at the forthcoming guild meeting during their joint spring conference
with the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association in May.
Several proposed powers are contained in the draft Order, including a
provision for specialisation. This would allow the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society to decide what areas of practice require specialist training
and to annotate the Register to indicate those who have acquired specialist
status. Independent prescribing is likely to be an early example of this
power being used.
Mandatory continuing professional development for those on the “practising” register
is also introduced, as is a new disciplinary committee with the power
to introduce a wider range of sanctions (such as restrictions on practice,
rather than just reprimanding or removing a pharmacist from the register)
than currently exist.
Changes to the regulation of pharmacy technicians in England and Wales
is also covered by the draft Order. However, responsibility for regulating
pharmacy technicians in Scotland may pass to the Scottish Parliament,
rather than the Society.
Darren Leech, president of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK
said: “I cannot see the logic behind the current proposal and I
hope the department will listen to the concerns we will raise in our
response.”
Concerns raised by the Society’s Council include a requirement
in the draft Order that, when an allegation is referred to a fitness
to practise committee, it must also be notified to ministers and to the
employer of the person concerned. They also want the draft Order’s
definition of the Society’s main purpose to acknowledge and reflect
the Society’s Charter.
Another point of note is that the Department of Health is seeking pharmacists’ views
on whether to abolish the link between professional registration and
membership of the Society.
Speaking to Hospital Pharmacist, Colin Ranshaw, a hospital pharmacist
on Council, said that one of the main implications of the Order for hospitals
will be whether all those currently working as technicians will be required
to register if they want to continue in their current job (even if they
will not be able to call themselves a “pharmacy technician” if
they do not register) given that a requirement to be a registered pharmacy
technician is not generally part of technicians’ employment contracts.
Comments on the
draft Order can be sent to the Society, to help formulate
its response (by 4 May) or to the Department of Health (by 19 June 2006).
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Hospital Pharmacist