The new legislation introduced by governments across Great Britain aims to enable pharmacists to deliver more patient-facing clinical services and enable pharmacy technicians to maximise their contribution to pharmaceutical care through effective use of their skills and expertise.
The legislation, once fully implemented, will allow pharmacists to:
- Authorise any member of the pharmacy team to hand out prescriptions that have already been checked and bagged, even if the pharmacist is not present.
- Authorise registered pharmacy technicians to prepare, assemble, dispense, sell, or supply medicines—or supervise others doing these tasks.
These changes are optional, not mandatory. Pharmacists will decide whether to authorise others to carry out these tasks.
What the GPhC is consulting on
The GPhC is consulting on new regulatory standards for Superintendent Pharmacists (SPs) and Responsible Pharmacists (RPs), and rules for Responsible Pharmacists, which will strengthen pharmacy governance and support the implementation of the new legislation.
Visit the consultation webpage
The GPhC is also consulting on some proposed additions to the standards for pharmacy professionals and the standards for registered pharmacies.
A draft annex to the standards for pharmacy professionals 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.
In the standards for registered pharmacies, the GPhC is proposing to add:
- to Principle 4 of the standards ‘any other product intended for supply or administration’
- a standard on consent
Views are being sought on a variety of broad issues including whether the GPhC should set additional minimum requirements for a pharmacist to become an SP, and whether there should be minimum requirements set for a pharmacist to become an RP. There are also questions on specific issues such as whether people agree with the GPhC’s proposal to continue with the present ‘one pharmacy’ rule whereby an RP can only be responsible for one pharmacy premises at any given time.
Chief Standards Officer at the GPhC, Lynsey Cleland, said:
“Following the introduction of this new legislation, we are working to strengthen pharmacy governance, with a focus on ensuring patients and the public continue to receive safe and effective pharmacy care.
“We are doing this by drafting new rules and standards in order to provide clarity around how pharmacies are organised and managed.
“The consultation asks a wide range of questions around the roles and responsibilities within a pharmacy as well as the safe and effective running of a pharmacy business.
“I would like to encourage anyone with an interest in pharmacy services, whether an individual or an organisation, to take part in the consultation.”
The consultation is open from 17 December 2025 to 25 March 2026.
Notes for Editors
The existing rules for Responsible Pharmacists remain in place until new rules are published.
The GPhC is not seeking views on the pharmacy supervision legislation itself as this falls outside the scope of this consultation.