Updated: GPhC revalidation site ‘up and running' but delays possible

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)'s revalidation website myGPhC is now 'up and running' but pharmacists may experience delays, the regulator has said, following technical issues that were preventing many pharmacists from being able to submit their revalidation.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) at 4:03pm today, the GPhC added that it was 'still monitoring the situation and trying to fix the issue as a priority'.

And it apologised for the inconvenience caused, saying that it would continue to provide updates.

myGPhC is currently up and running, but you may experience delays. We are still monitoring the situation and trying to fix the issue as a priority. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will continue to provide updates.

— GPhC (@TheGPhC) October 30, 2023

Over the last few days, as the 31 October deadline looms for many, pharmacists took to social media to share their frustrations with the myGPhC website which has been crashing.

Lots of stressed out pharmacists trying to complete their renewal and revalidation but having problems with @TheGPhC site crashing over the weekend.

Yes people should not leave it to the last few days, but they rightly also have an expectation that a site of this importance can…

— Mohammed Hussain (he/him) 💙 (@DigitalPhamcist) October 29, 2023

Some have called for the deadline to be extended, adding that many pharmacy professionals would not have time to monitor the status of the website during the working day.

The GPhC acknowledged the issues, saying that it would continue to update pharmacists.

We are aware that some registrants are experiencing issues with myGPhC and are working to resolve this ASAP. We're sorry for any inconvenience, and will post any further updates as soon as we can.

— GPhC (@TheGPhC) October 30, 2023

While a further update is expected imminently, the GPhC posted on X this afternoon that it was ‘working to resolve with issue with myGPhC’.

Meanwhile, in response to The Pharmacist asking whether the deadline would be extended, a spokesperson said that the GPhC’s priority was to resolve the issue ‘as soon as possible’, but that it would also be in touch with those who had been affected.

A page on the GPhC website instructs pharmacists who are unable to submit their revalidation to use a 'tell us you can't submit' button on myGPhC to request an extension or a reduction in the number of entries that they are required to submit.

But it does not make any reference to what pharmacists should do if they are unable to access the myGPhC website.

And it says: 'We will only grant extension requests for short term and unexpected events which prevent you from submitting your completed entries on time, not for circumstances where you have not carried out learning activities.'

Update: The GPhC later announced that it would be extending the revalidation deadline for pharmacists due to submit this month.