The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (General) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994 (“the principal Regulations”) which prescribe the conditions for the course of pre-registration training and the registration examination required to be passed for registration as a pharmaceutical chemist with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (“the Society”).

Regulations 3 and 4 amend regulations 1 and 8 of the principal Regulations to reflect the creation of the General Pharmaceutical Council (“GPhC”) as the statutory regulator of the pharmacy professions and pharmacy premises in Great Britain in place of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPhS) under Article 4 of the Pharmacy Act 2010. Regulation 3 also provides for definitions of “approved provider”, “the Council” and “the General Pharmaceutical Council” to provide clarity and a definition of “registration examination” to mean any examination or assessment undertaken as part of, or following, the pre-registration training.

Regulation 5(a) substitutes regulation 9(2) of the principal Regulations in respect of the conditions for the pre-registration course of practical training and the registration examination. Regulation 5(b) omits regulation 9(3) of the principal Regulations to remove the provisions allowing for annotation of a qualification as a supplementary prescriber, as this qualification is no longer available. Regulation 5(c) amends regulation 9(4) of the principal Regulations. It removes the requirement in regulation 9(4)(a) of the principal Regulations for a two-year period of registration before annotation of a qualification as an independent prescriber. For the purposes of “independent prescriber” annotation on the register, regulation 5(c) also adds the General Pharmaceutical Council at regulation 9(4)(c) of the principal Regulations, as another acceptable accreditor of independent prescriber training.

Regulation 6 omits regulation 10 of the principal Regulations and removes the current requirement on a person who holds an approved degree to notify the registrar of the date of commencement and other details of his proposed course of pre-registration training before embarking on that training as such notification is no longer required.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 11 of the principal Regulations to reflect the current arrangements for applicants with pharmacy qualifications or registration outside Northern Ireland.

Regulations 8 and 9 substitute Schedules 1 and 2 to the principal Regulations to reflect the revised conditions for the course of pre-registration training and the registration examination in line with the amendments to regulation 9 of the principal Regulations.