Pharmacy Law, Ethics, Professionalism and Governance in the GPhC Assessment

Scope and time budget

Law items reward exactness. The question usually names the Act or Regulation, or implies it, and asks what a pharmacist must or may do. The right answer often depends on one number: 28 days, 6 months, 30 days. Our UK law and guidelines guide lists the verified numbers and marks the ones to confirm.

What is tested

• Professional standards. The GPhC Standards for pharmacy professionals, duty of candour, raising concerns, professional integrity and fitness to practise.
• Consent, capacity and confidentiality. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 principles, best interests, sharing information and safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
• Medicines classification. POM, P and GSL, and who may supply what, under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
• Emergency supply and PGDs. Supply at the request of a patient or prescriber and the conditions for patient group directions.
• Prescription requirements. What makes a prescription valid, repeat prescriptions, and what a pharmacist may amend.
• Controlled drugs. Schedules under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, prescription writing, validity, storage, registers, destruction and record-keeping.
• Pregnancy prevention programmes. Valproate, isotretinoin and similar medicines with specific supply conditions.
• Responsible pharmacist and premises. The responsible pharmacist regulations, supervision, registered pharmacy standards and the dispensing process.
• Labelling and storage. Patient information, cold chain, expiry, waste and returned medicines.
• Governance. Clinical governance, audit, quality improvement and learning from incidents.
• NHS services. Pharmacy First, the New Medicine Service and the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service.
• Public health and policy. Smoking, alcohol, obesity and screening, NHS structure and professional communication.
• Equality. Reasonable adjustments and the Equality Act 2010 in practice.
• Conscientious objection. Duties around termination of pregnancy services and signposting.

UK guideline anchors

• Schedule 2 and 3 prescriptions. Total quantity in words and figures, a defined dose, date, prescriber address and signature. Dental prescriptions state for dental treatment only.
• Validity. Schedules 2, 3 and 4: dispense within 28 days of the appropriate date. Schedule 5: 6 months.
• Quantity. Exact quantity for Schedules 1 to 4. The plus or minus 10% allowance applies only to Schedule 5.
• Repeats. Schedule 2 and 3 cannot be on repeats. Schedule 4 and 5 repeats are valid for 12 months from signing, with first dispensing within 28 days and 6 months respectively.
• Amendments. Minor errors on Schedule 2 and 3 paper prescriptions only, in ink, with name, date, signature and GPhC number.
• Valproate. No new starts under 55 years unless two specialists document the need, and a pregnancy prevention programme for those who could become pregnant.
• Pharmacy First. Seven pathways with age and sex eligibility, such as sore throat from 5 years and urinary tract infection in women aged 16 to 64.

How to answer a law scenario

1. Identify the instrument. Is it the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 or a GPhC standard? Naming the source narrows the options.
2. Find the deciding fact. A schedule, a date, a quantity, an age or a missing word usually decides the answer.
3. Ask what the pharmacist may do. Supply, refuse, amend, refer, record or report. Remove options that go beyond the role.
4. Prefer the safe, lawful route. When two options are lawful, choose the one that protects the patient and keeps a record.

Professionalism and ethics in practice

Professionalism items are about judgement. They ask what you do when a colleague's performance puts patients at risk, when an error has reached a patient, or when a patient declines advice. The GPhC framework places the duty to act on a colleague's health, performance or conduct in the low-weighted band, but it is an area where wrong answers are easy to spot, since the safe route is usually to raise the concern through the right channel and be open with the patient.

Capacity questions follow the five principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005: assume capacity, support decision-making, an unwise decision does not prove incapacity, act in the person's best interests when they lack capacity, and choose the least restrictive option. Confidentiality questions turn on whether disclosure is justified, with consent, in the public interest or required by law, and on disclosing no more than needed.

Governance topics in brief

Clinical governance, audit and quality improvement are low-weighted but short to learn. Know the audit cycle (set a standard, measure, change, re-measure), the difference between an incident and a near miss, the value of reporting and learning without blame, and why a safe culture improves outcomes. Registered pharmacy standards cover governance, staff, premises, services, equipment and medicines supply. A common exam shape is a premises or process lapse, with a question asking which standard is affected or which first action is best.

Three typical traps

1. The old-handout trap. Controlled drug and valproate rules changed in recent years, so notes from before 2024 can give the wrong answer.
2. The word trap. A prescription that says as directed fails the dose requirement for Schedule 2 and 3. Read for exactly what is missing.
3. The scope trap. A pharmacist may do some things and not others. When the option goes beyond the pharmacist's role, or beyond the regulation, it is wrong however sensible it sounds.

How to revise it

1. Build a one-page number sheet. 28 days, 6 months, 12 months, 30 days, 14 days and the Pharmacy First ages.
2. Learn by scenario. For each rule, write a short scenario of the kind a counter might present, and say what you do and why.
3. Name the source. Practise attaching the Act or Regulation to each rule so that you can use the wording in the question.
4. Read the standards. Skim the GPhC Standards for pharmacy professionals and link each standard to a real incident type.
5. Recheck before the exam. Legislation and guidance are updated, so open the primary source in the last fortnight.

Read the UK law and guidelines guide next, then see the clinical evaluation domain, where law meets prescription review. Back to the hub.