Pharmacists in training will have to continue to take the licensing exam online until at least 2029, according to a contract document from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
The Pharmacy Regulatory Authority published a tender on 5 August 2024 seeking “high value online professional aptitude examination providers” to deliver the examination at examination locations across the UK between January 2026 and December 2029.
The document states that the provider on the £4 million contract must provide “a secure computer-based exam for candidates on two agreed dates at exam locations across the UK; a secure platform that manages exam questions in multiple formats; exam booking services; candidate support services; proctoring services; invigilation services (where required); reporting services and other associated services”.
The test was first administered online at Pearson Vue test centres across the UK in March 2021, after being postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, tests were administered on paper.
In August 2021, the GPhC exclusively revealed The Pharmaceutical Journal that the online tests will be offered until 2024 and that BTL will be commissioned to conduct the exams.
However, since the assessment is now carried out online, technical difficulties have regularly occurred during the registration assessment.
For the July 2021 exam, which took place at Pearson Vue centres, the GPhC said that “several candidates” who took the exam from home may have been unable to take the exam due to “internet connection issues”.
Following the first session offered by BTL in June 2022, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association reported that its members had informed them of “significant issues”, including “poor communication on the day of the session, technical and equipment issues and failure to make reasonable adjustments”.
Candidates taking the exam at the London Highbury test centre in June 2024 took the second part of the exam three hours later than planned “due to a severe power outage affecting large parts of Highbury,” the GPhC said in a statement.
Data shows that in June 2024, 2,776 candidates across the UK sat the GPhC and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland exam, giving an overall pass rate of 75% – the lowest in five years.
The new contract tender comes after the GPhC said it plans to “approve a longer-term approach to registration assessment” as part of its annual plan in 2024/2025.
This includes launching a consultation “on longer-term proposals for a registration assessment with a view to the June 2026 assessment”.
In a statement to The Pharmaceutical JournalThe GPhC stated: “The registration assessment requires long-term planning and the current contract expires in 2025.”
“We are therefore undertaking a procurement process to provide certainty around the provision of the registration assessment while we consider the future of the assessment.”
In August 2024, the GPhC announced that it was considering a one-year pathway to registration for overseas-trained pharmacists instead of the current two-year programme.
The regulator reiterated that all candidates must continue to pass the registration exam.
