Are You Ready For Revalidation?

GPhC recently announced plans for revalidation to replace the current system of CPD for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians which will form part of the annual renewal process from 2018 but many are asking, what is revalidation?

The GPhC has an obligation to maintain confidence in the profession of pharmacy and registrants must therefore demonstrate safe and effective practice through regular reflection and keeping their knowledge up to date. The new process builds upon the existing CPD framework and requires submission of the following three records:

• CPD entries
• Peer discussion
• Reflective account

Recording CPD entries will be simplified in 2018, with the GPhC requiring just four accounts to be submitted initially, at least two of which will be planned learning and a maximum of 2 being unplanned learning, such as reading a journal article or a professional discussion with a pharmacist colleague.

Peer Discussion is designed to help demonstrate engagement with people who have witnessed how a pharmacy professional works through open discussion, allowing reflection and honesty about performance over the past 12 months. Choosing a peer is down to the individual pharmacist or pharmacy technician but it must be somebody that the profession trusts and respects. It is expected that local and national pharmacy organisations (including training providers) may help facilitate this process.

A Reflective Account is a learning activity from the last 12 months that has focused on one or more of the Standards for Pharmacy Professionals introduced by the GPhC in May 2017. There is plenty of time to complete this part of revalidation however as the GPhC have said they will let pharmacy professionals know which standard(s) they need to focus on in their reflective accounts in advance.

All 3 components aim to establish how people have benefited by using pharmacy services so the GPhC wants to see how pharmacy professionals put learning into practice and what outcomes there have been. Records will be submitted to the GPhC and may be selected at random for review by them, following which feedback will be given and in some cases a period of remediation requested if criteria are not met.

Revalidation will be a condition of registration with the GPhC for all registered pharmacy professionals, whether situated in the UK or not, and applies to everyone regardless of role or number of hours worked. Examples of CPD entries, Peer Discussions and Reflective Accounts have been produced by the GPhC and are available on their website for those working in all sectors, including those in non-patient facing roles. The new recording system for revalidation is expected to be available by March 2018 where records for the past 12 months only will be required initially, not the last 5 years necessary under previous CPD requirements.

Further details are being added regularly to the GPhC website which already includes a useful timeline and series of frequently asked questions. For more information about revalidation visit www.pharmacyregulation.org/revalidation-pharmacy-professionals