Office of Public Sector Information

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order approves Rules of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (“the Society”) that set out various matters relating to the Register of Pharmacists and (once article 21 of the Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order 2007 (“the Order”) comes into force) the Register of Pharmacy Technicians – in particular, application arrangements and provisions regarding appeals against adverse decisions to the Society’s Registration Appeals Committee.

Part 1 contains preliminary matters, including provisions relating to the service of documents. Part 2 deals with the form and keeping of the registers. Amongst other matters it requires the registers to be kept in an electronic format and secure, and contains provisions relating to the recording of fitness to practise matters.

Part 3 contains the detailed provisions relating to applications for registration in, and retention in, the Register of Pharmacists – and for the inclusion and retention of annotations in that Register to denote that the applicant is a supplementary prescriber or an independent prescriber. Applications have to be accompanied by the relevant prescribed fee and must generally be refused if this is not paid. As regards applications for retention in that Register or retention of annotations, a final demand must be sent before the registrant is removed from the Register or his annotation is removed.

Separate provision is made for applications for moving between different parts of the registers and for voluntary removal from them. Applications for voluntary removal will generally be refused where there is an ongoing investigation or there are outstanding proceedings relating to the registrant’s fitness to practise. Registrants are given duties to notify the Registrar forthwith of changes to their name or contact details, and the Registrar is given a discretion to waive fees.

Part 4 contains a procedure for dealing with registration that may have been fraudulently procured or incorrectly obtained, or where the registrant’s fitness to practise was impaired at the time of registration but this was not declared to the Registrar. In these cases, before determining the matter, the Registrar will serve a Notice of Intention to Remove, and the registrant may elect for a hearing (which will be before the Society’s Disciplinary Committee) or for his case to be determined on the papers.

Part 5 contains the appeals procedure for a range of appealable registration decisions, a term defined in the Order: it includes most decisions to refuse to grant applications for registration or for annotations in the register to denote specialisations. Appeals are to the Society’s Registration Appeals Committee. The applicant is required to complete a Notice of Appeal which has to contain specified information, such as the grounds for appeal. There are detailed provisions relating to the submission of evidence and, where an appellant elects for an oral hearing, the procedures for the hearing including the calling of witnesses. There are also provisions relating to the burden and standard of proof to be applied (the civil standard), costs and the availability of transcripts.