DoH establishes pharmacy regulation oversight group

The Department of Health (DoH) has announced the establishment of a Professional Regulation and Leadership Oversight Group (PRLOG) which will seek to aid health ministers in their efforts to establish a new regulatory body for the pharmacy industry.

Known as the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), this body will act purely as a regulator for the industry, while a separate organisation analogous to the Royal College will provide leadership for pharmacists, according to earlier government proposals.

The establishment of the PRLOG follows the recommendations of the Lord Carter of Coles-chaired working party report on the industry and will look to identify how leadership can best support the GPhC through the establishment of a Royal College-type body.

Dawn Primarolo, minister of state for public health, said: “The practice of pharmacy is changing.

“It is becoming much more clinical in nature and initiatives such as prescribing of medicines by pharmacists are helping pharmacy to play its full part in a reformed NHS.”

She added that this transformation is to be welcomed, while calling for support from the industry in order to lay out standards for the pharmacy profession and safely develop professional care in this area.

In March 2007, public health charity PharmacyHealthLink claimed that an expansion of services available at high-street pharmacies – including the offering of diagnostic tests – will help to relieve the burden on the NHS.