A report commissioned by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has found that there are variations in the training pharmacy technicians receive in different settings, with trainees based in hospitals expressing greater satisfaction with their training experience and facilities provided than those in community pharmacy.

Pharmacy technicians are involved in preparing and supplying medicines and products to customers. Although the position became a registered profession 2010, it has played an important part in pharmacy for several decades. The report, which was carried out by the University of Manchester’s Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies (CPSW), looked at the training received by technicians in England, Scotland and Wales.

Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive of the GPhC said: “The role of pharmacy technicians and the knowledge and skills required of them continues to evolve and as the regulator we need to make sure that standards for education and training keep with this evolution.

“This report is providing us with valuable information around the strengths and weaknesses of the current system of education and training of pharmacy technicians, and the approval mechanisms which it underpinned by. It will support our ongoing work to ensure high quality training experience and in particular will feed into the review of our pharmacy technician education standards.”

The report can be read in full here.