The Human Medicines (Authorisation by Pharmacists and Supervision by Pharmacy Technicians) Order 2025 approved

These legislative changes introduce flexibilities concerning how medicines are prepared, assembled, dispensed, sold and supplied within pharmacy services, and more specifically who oversees and is professionally accountable for these processes. This follows a government consultation on proposals to modernise medicines legislation governing which tasks must be undertaken by a pharmacist, or under the supervision of a pharmacist, in a community pharmacy, hospital or other relevant settings. 

These changes will enable: 

• pharmacists to authorise any competent member of the pharmacy team to hand out ‘checked and bagged prescriptions’ in their absence (from 7th January 2026) 
• pharmacists to authorise pharmacy technicians to carry out or supervise other staff to carry out the assembly, dispensing and sale or supply of medicines (from 10th December 2026) 
• pharmacy technicians to supervise the preparation, assembly and dispensing of medicines in hospital aseptic units (from 10th December 2026).  

From the 7th January, pharmacists will be able to authorise any competent member of the pharmacy team to hand out prescriptions in their absence that have been checked and are ready to go to the patient without any further intervention from the pharmacist.  

These are referred to as ‘checked and bagged prescriptions’ which are prescription only (POM) or pharmacy (P) medicines which have been checked for clinical appropriateness and accuracy and dispensed by or under the supervision of a pharmacist and are ready for sale or supply.  

We have published a pharmacy guide which will help pharmacy teams understand the changes, identify the medicines or scenarios that may require pharmacist intervention or escalation before being handed out, establish appropriate safeguards to manage any risks, and update SOPs to support patient safety.  

The other changes will come into force on 10th December 2026. This one-year transition period will allow time for the pharmacy regulators and professional leadership bodies to develop and publish supporting professional standards and guidance.  

We are currently updating the Quality Assurance of Aseptic Preparation Services (QAAPS) standards and further information about this update can be found here.  

The GPhC will develop and introduce new regulatory standards for Superintendent Pharmacists and Responsible Pharmacists, and Rules for Responsible Pharmacists, to support the implementation of the new legislation. The GPhC have published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) with further information about the changes.  

Please contact our Professional One-to-One Support Service if you have any questions about these changes.