The PDA (Pharmacists’ Defence Association) has released the highly-anticipated second chapter of the Pharmacy Technicians Report that assesses the current roles and capabilities of pharmacy technicians in the UK.
The existence of a register of pharmacy technicians can’t be relied upon in isolation to protect the public, but must be underpinned by a suitably structured career framework linked to pay banding at a significantly higher level than is currently the case in community pharmacy if pharmacy technicians are to be able to support the roles of pharmacists, recommends the PDA’s report.
The recommendations come after the study of 50 months of General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) disciplinary hearings of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians that show that over the period only 22 per cent of pharmacy technicians attended their professional disciplinary meetings as compared to 77 per cent of pharmacists who attended theirs when called to do so.
The report argues that the threat of the ‘ultimate sanction’ – the removal from the register – is an important public safeguard providing the necessary regulatory traction to ensure that any healthcare professionals have due regard for the consequences of their actions, performance, and behaviours, not only in their work, but also in their general activities.
However, the prospect of removal from the register can only influence behaviours and standards of practice if it can bring about significant loss of income, career damage, and loss of reputation or status. If registrants do not have an income, career, and reputation, or status that they believe is worth protecting, then regulatory traction is reduced and the protection afforded to the public by regulation will be diminished.
The second chapter of the Pharmacy Technicians Report can be downloaded here.
