A Letter from Duncan Rudkin

Dear colleagues,

We wanted to let you know that we have now decided on our approach to revalidation for pharmacy professionals with registration renewal deadlines between 1 September and 31 December 2020.

In March, we announced that pharmacy professionals who were due to renew their registration between 20 March and 31 August 2020 would not have to submit revalidation records, because of the challenges and pressures on pharmacy professionals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have been reviewing revalidation requirements for pharmacy professionals who are due to renew their registration after 31 August and have now decided on our approach, after careful consideration of the current situation and how that may change in the coming months.

Pharmacy professionals who have a registration renewal deadline between 1 September and 31 December 2020 will only need to submit a reflective account when they renew their registration. They will also need to make the required declarations and pay the fee. They will not need to submit a peer discussion record or any planned or unplanned CPD records.

This approach recognises the importance of resuming revalidation in terms of public assurance, while also taking account of the disruption that will have been caused to any planned learning, as well as the demands that are continuing to be placed on pharmacy professionals during the pandemic.

Pharmacy professionals are still expected to reflect on the following three standards when completing their reflective account:

• standard 3 - pharmacy professionals must communicate effectively
• standard 6 - pharmacy professionals must behave professionally
• standard 9 - pharmacy professionals must demonstrate leadership

We would encourage pharmacy professionals to reflect on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic when completing their reflective account, although this is not essential.

Pharmacy professionals will need to submit their reflective account via myGPhC as usual when renewing their registration; we will be updating myGPhC to reflect this change in requirements.

Any peer discussion or CPD records that have already been completed can be submitted next year if they choose to do so.' They can save these records in myGPhC by moving them to the 'excluded' section before they submit their reflective account record.

Our current intention would be that we will resume revalidation requirements in full after 31 December 2020, but we will keep this under review and provide an update towards the end of the year.

We hope this update is useful and we would be grateful if you could share this through your networks.

Best wishes
Duncan Rudkin
Chief Executive