Gisela Abbam has been re-appointed as chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for another term, until 2029.

This was announced today at a GPhC committee meeting, following a re-appointment process overseen by two council members at the end of their terms: pharmacist Elizabeth Mailey and layperson Jayne Salt.

As part of the process, the two council members oversaw a 360 degree appraisal, reviewed a statement from Ms Abbam and then had the re-appointment approved by the GPhC Council. The process was also scrutinised by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), who advised the Privy Council that it complied with PSA rules and standards.

Ms Abbam said she was 'delighted' to be re-appointed as chair 'and to continue to lead the important work being carried out at the GPhC'.

'I understand that there are significant ongoing challenges for pharmacy and we will continue the listening exercise to provide whatever support we can.  Patients and their carers have been impacted by issues such as medicines shortages, pharmacy teams are facing both workplace and financial pressures, and collective well-being has been affected,' she added.

And she said she would 'ensure that the GPhC continues to use all of its regulatory levers and influence to make a positive difference'.

'Major reforms to health and social care are currently being discussed across England, Scotland and Wales. I aim to make sure pharmacy and pharmacy regulation is at the heart of those discussions, to ensure patients and the public get safe and effective care and have confidence in pharmacy now and in the future,' Ms Abbam added.

Council member Ms Mailey said that in her first term as chair, since 2022, Ms Abbam had 'effectively led the council to help us drive forward our aims and has brought a real focus on how the GPhC can support pharmacy, and the whole pharmacy team, to deliver improved care for patients and the public'.

'I am delighted that Gisela has been reappointed for a second term, so Gisela can continue to provide clear leadership as the GPhC finalises and implements its strategy for the next five years,' she added.

GPhC considers whether ‘high-stakes’ end of assessment training ‘acceptable or necessary’

At today's council meeting, minutes from previous committee and sub-committee meetings were submitted for approval.

These included discussion over whether 'high-stakes' end of assessment training was either 'acceptable or necessary'.

At a GPhC Quality and Performance Assurance Committee meeting in 2024, more work was requested to explore the impact of this on trainees, the minutes revealed.

And a suggestion was made to set a long-term objective 'to ensure that the quality assurance of training was at a standard that negated the need for the assessment in the future'.

Academic staffing capacity needs to be taken into account with drive for more pharmacist training places

The minutes from previous meetings also revealed the need for academic staffing capacity to be considered as NHS England has set out plans for increased pharmacist training places over the coming years.

This had come up as the Quality and Performance Assurance Committee discussed an intervention that had been made by the GPhC at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), prompted by a lack of pharmacists as senior staff.

The minutes noted that the committee had considered whether the GPhC should specify a level that was expected of the staffing. But it was recorded that the GPhC did not have the necessary legal powers that would be required to do this and could not legislate for all situations that might cause this issue, such as resignations.

GPhC to prioritise inspections of online and long-time uninspected pharmacies

Minutes released this week from the 12 December 2024 council meeting revealed plans to prioritise inspections of new pharmacies within six months for online pharmacies and one year for bricks and mortar premises, because of 'observed differences in compliance rates'.

Meanwhile, recommendations were made to the council to:

  • Divide the inspection sample between inspectors and teams, to ensure that the highest priority inspections (such as first inspections and re-inspections) were completed first and workload could be more efficiently managed;
  • Include a fixed proportion of the oldest last-inspected pharmacies in every sample
    period;
  • Suggest that where a new registration is only due to a change of address, the inspector may choose to defer the first inspection or carry out parts of it remotely, depending on regulatory history and risk.

GPhC plans to tackle 70 out of 500+ FtP cases this year

A draft annual plan also revealed that the GPhC expects to triage around 6,000 concerns, close 4,000 cases post investigation and close 70 fitness to practise (FtP) proceedings in the coming financial year.

This comes as 514 cases were open in Q3 of 2023/24, above the target of 474.

In September 2024, the healthcare super-regulator said the GPhC had not met its standards relating to timeliness of FtP investigations for the sixth year in a row.

The GPhC 2025/26 budget set out that 'specific expenditure' has been identified over the next two years to 'increase throughput' of investigations 'and push through ageing cases'.

'This has been the main reason for the increase in both committee and associate costs as well as legal costs in the next budget year,' it said.