In Scotland, NES PRPS trainees and provisionally registered pharmacists (sitting the GPhC assessment for the first time) who are unsuccessful in their July 2021 General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration assessment are being offered financial and educational support to retake their assessment in November 2021. The move recognises the difficult circumstances for many in training this year.
NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has written to eligible individuals and employers to offer financial support to carry on employing these individuals as a Band 5 employee (or equivalent) until the results of the November 2021 GPhC registration assessment are known.
The Band 5 (or equivalent) employees will also be offered an educational support package to further prepare them for the GPhC registration assessment sitting in November 2021. This includes online assessment style questions and peer support sessions with protected study time.
Professor Anne Watson, Pharmacy Dean for Scotland at NES said:
“We want to support people as much as possible. Offering this package will hopefully take away some of the financial uncertainty and allow individuals to focus on doing the best they can in their exams.”
The move is part of a wider range of support for pharmacy training at many levels, including extra support for pre-registration exams and guidance on the new Foundation Training year which is being introduced.