The governing body of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the Council which is made up of 14 members including the Chair. The Council has equal numbers of lay and registrant members who are appointed, not elected. The Council sets the direction of the regulator, making sure that it is able to fulfil its statutory duties in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
The Council is also responsible for ensuring that systems are in place to enable effective monitoring of the GPhC‘s performance.
Members are appointed by the Appointments Commission to ensure a balance of qualities, skills and experience, and to reflect the diversity of the public and of the pharmacy profession.
Reporting to the Council are three statutory committees which carry out the regulatory functions of investigating and deciding on registrants’ fitness to practice, and conducting registration appeals.
These committees were established by the Pharmacy Order 2010 and are:
If the committee decides not to refer a case to the Fitness to Practise Committee, it may accept written undertakings to improve from the registrant concerned, or issue them with a warning. The committee may also give advice to the person concerned or to any one person or body involved, as appropriate.
Where the committee finds that a person’s fitness to practise is impaired, it will also consider whether to impose a sanction.
In addition to the three statutory committees there are also three non-statutory committees, namely the Audit and Risk Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Appointments Committee.
