If you want yourself as a registered pharmacist in Britain (UK) and you have a non-European Economic Area (EEA) qualification. Or a non-EEA national with an EEA qualification other than a UK-recognized registered pharmacist qualification. If you have completed all the education plus all the training requirements to be eligible as a registered pharmacist in the country where you qualified.

I will explain to you all the steps you will need to complete the additional training. Especially the education you will need to carry out in Great Britain (UK) before you are able to apply to register as a registered pharmacist.

What do I need to complete in terms of education and training?

You will require below mentioned four steps to apply to be registered pharmacist.

1. An overseas Pharmacists Assessment Programme which should be passed (OSPAP).
2. Pre-registration satisfactory training of 52 weeks In UK territory.
3. The GPhC registration assessment (Should be passed).
4. Registration as a Pharmacist.

Note that you must apply for registration within 04 years from the date you start your OSPAP course.

Let us now look in detail how to fulfill these four steps.

Step 01 Passing an OSPAP course

OSPAP is a 01-year course which is a full-time postgraduate diploma run by some UK universities. The content of this course makes sure that you will get the right education and training before practicing in the UK as a registered pharmacist. I will discuss the fee and other requirements for this course below.

Applying for OSPAP course

When you will apply to any UK university offering OSPAP they will verify your qualifications and experience for eligibility for this course. Here I will recommend you complete the form of the general pharmaceutical council (GPHC). They will assess your eligibility by charging a processing fee of £687.00. To download the evaluation form click here.

The GPHC will decide that your experience and education meet the eligibility criteria then you can apply for an OSPAP course. There is a requirement that you must start your course within the next two academic years. For instance, if you receive the confirmation of the decision in September 2019 then you must start your course in 2019 or in 2020.

Do not worry if you do not meet the eligibility criteria you must complete one of the qualifications like MPharm to be able to practice as a registered pharmacist. The GPHC will ask you to choose the university where you would like to complete your OSPAP.

I would recommend that you find out about the different courses before you send your form to GPHC for evaluation. You can find a list of universities that offer OSPAP courses by clicking here.

If your qualifications and experience meet the eligibility criteria the GPHC will notify the relevant university you have chosen that you are eligible to apply. The university will then contact you but I would recommend you to get in touch with them yourself once you know the outcome of your application.

Make sure that the university may ask you for more information about your qualifications and experience as the GPHC will only tell them about your eligibility but it does not mean that they must offer you a place.

Apply in good time for your course and training placement

Let me clear to you that there is no deadline for you to submit your application to GPHC, but for your ease, I would recommend you should do it in a good time before the start of the course that you plan to study. Normally national training placement schemes open their applications up to 14 months before placements are due to start.

The course of OSPAP normally starts at the start of the UK academic year, in September or October. To make sure you can apply for courses, you should send your application to GPHC so that they can receive it before 31 July.

English language competency

You will need to provide evidence of your English language competency as part of your application.

The OSPAP course content

As I talked earlier that to pass OSPAP is the first step in becoming a registered pharmacist. Let us see what the OSPAP course content are

• A structured academic assessment of your qualifications
• Attending specific modules
• Completing assessments

Depending on your knowledge and previous experience, you may be exempt from some taught elements, but you will have to complete all the assessments.

If you complete the OSPAP course successfully, this will demonstrate that you have met the UK MPharm graduate criteria, but it will not give you an MPharm (Master of Pharmacy) degree qualification.

To get more information about each course structure and content on the university website.

Step 2: Pre-registration training

Under the supervision of a tutor, trainees spend at least 52 weeks in a GPhC approved training site, developing their practice to meet a range of performance standards. Their progress is guided by and verified by their tutor, using progress reviews.

Both UK-qualified MPharm and OSPAP students must successfully complete the pre-registration training placement. This is necessary to be eligible to sit the registration assessment and meet the criteria for registration.

The placement is currently a paid position and is usually full time. You may be able to make arrangements with your employer about working patterns. Also about working part-time, but you should contact GPhC so they can approve this.

Finding a training placement

Once you have successfully completed your OSPAP, you will be eligible to start your pre-registration training placement.

But you should investigate applying for your placement before you start your OSPAP course, especially if you want to apply to a national scheme.

Trainees are responsible for finding their own training placement and tutor and letting GPhC know the arrangements they have made by applying for entry to the pre-registration scheme. They will assess their application to make sure that they are eligible to start training, and that the arrangements they have made are suitable. They will provide them with the opportunity to meet performance standards.

Your course tutors should be able to tell you more about the pre-registration training placements available near you.

Find out more about finding a training placement on GPhC website.

National training schemes

As well as individual training providers, there are national recruitment schemes for training places.

To get trained in England or Wales, Health Education England operates a national recruitment scheme for all hospital pre-registration placement.

If you wish to train in Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland operates a national recruitment scheme for all pre-registration placements. You can find out more about the scheme and the timeline for applications on their website.

Apply to the individual schemes through the online application portal, Oriel. The Scotland scheme accepts applications in May each year and England and Wales accepts applications in June each year, for placements starting the following year. This means that you may not have started your OSPAP course before you apply for pre-registration training if you want to start training straight after your course.

For example, if you want to complete your OSPAP course in 2019/20 and start training in 2020. You will need to apply for your placement in May or June 2019, depending on which scheme you are applying to.

Find out more about England and Wales application process (including the application timelines and the structure of the interviews) by visiting the ‘Resource Bank’ section on the Oriel website.

Step 3: The GPhC registration assessment

The registration assessment is one of the ways GPhC test. This assessment ensures whether students can apply pharmacy practice or not. It also tests their number sense and that they can perform the calculations needed to practice as a pharmacist.

There are two registration assessments per year, in June and September. The registration assessment consists of two question papers. Candidates must pass both papers at one attempt but can have up to three attempts to pass the registration assessment. The assessment is carried out simultaneously in locations across Great Britain.

Complete a certain amount of training before you are eligible to apply to sit the registration assessment. When you reach these points in your training will affect whether you sit the assessment in June or September.

Step 4: Registration as a Pharmacist

Once you have successfully completed an OSPAP course, 52 weeks of pre-registration training, and the registration assessment. You are eligible to apply to register with GPhC as a pharmacist. Apply through the myGPhC online system. You must apply to be registered within four years of the date you start your OSPAP course.