The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland has launched a consultation on a raft of proposals to reform education and training and end its automatic recognition of pharmacists who trained in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

Opening its consultation yesterday, the PSNI said its “blanket recognition has become inappropriate” because “not all pharmaceutical societies across the world serve as regulators” in the way the PSNI does.

The PSNI also said the proposal “clarifies” that it does not automatically recognise qualifications obtained outside the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

“The (blanket recognition) predates the Pharmaceutical Society NI’s current regulatory role and operating such a mechanism would require much greater systems of scrutiny and assurance for mutual recognition arrangements to be safe and appropriate,” the PSNI said.

It said ending recognition of pharmaceutical societies in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia would remove “any potential confusion…as to what arrangements are currently in place” for pharmacists from those countries.

The consultation, which closes until April 2, is also collecting views on changing the regulations to allow foundation training year placements to take place in hospital, community and general practice settings.

The PSNI is consulting on proposals to remove the requirement that pharmacists undergo two years of post-qualification practice before registering as an independent prescriber and allowing an educational supervisor to have more than one trainee.

Other proposals include allowing a maximum of three years for trainees to pass the common registration assessment and register with the PSNI and removing the requirement for six months of employment after a second failed attempt.