Following the introduction of new legislation, we are working to strengthen pharmacy governance to provide clarity around how pharmacies are organised and managed to help us to make sure patients and the public continue to receive safe and effective pharmacy care. This includes:
- Clarifying the roles and accountability of Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists, and pharmacy owners.
- Supporting better use of pharmacy teams’ skills so pharmacists can deliver more clinical services in the community and help improve NHS and social care.
About our proposals
We are consulted on:
Draft standards for Superintendent Pharmacists:
- which set out the criteria required to perform the role of a Superintendent Pharmacist and their professional responsibilities, and describe the knowledge a Superintendent Pharmacist must have - and the conduct and performance expected of them - if they are to support the retail pharmacy business and its staff to deliver safe and effective pharmacy services.
Draft standards for Responsible Pharmacists:
- which describe the role and responsibilities of Responsible Pharmacists and set the standards of conduct, ethics, and performance they must meet to support the pharmacy and its staff to deliver safe and effective pharmacy services.
Draft rules for Responsible Pharmacists:
- which set out the duties of Responsible Pharmacists to secure the safe and effective running of a pharmacy business at the premises from which it is carried on. Including specifying:
- a Responsible Pharmacist can only be responsible for one pharmacy premises at a time.
- the maximum period the Responsible Pharmacist may be absent from the premises during the pharmacy’s business hours and the arrangements that must be made in the event of the Responsible Pharmacist’s absence.
- the records that the Responsible Pharmacist must make and keep.
- the role of the Responsible Pharmacist if authorisation takes place in the pharmacy during the time they are signed in.
The existing rules for Responsible Pharmacists remain in place until new rules are published.
Draft annex to the standards for pharmacy professionals:
- which sets out the standards pharmacists must meet, if they decide to authorise pharmacy technicians to carry out certain tasks, and the accountabilities and responsibilities of both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians if authorisation and/or supervision takes place.
We are not seeking views on the pharmacy supervision legislation itself as this falls outside the scope of this consultation.
Draft update to the standards for registered pharmacies
When developing the standards for Superintendent Pharmacists we identified two areas that need immediate updating in the Standards for registered pharmacies. We are proposing to add:
- to Principle 4 of the standards ‘any other product intended for supply or administration’
- a standard on consent
The survey was open from 17 December 2025 to 25 March 2026