Council has approved ACP’s new Standards of Practice for Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians (SPPPT) and Standards for the Operation of Licensed Pharmacies (SOLP). Both sets of standards will take effect on February 1, 2025. The approval comes after approximately two years of research, development, and consultation with regulated members, interested parties, and members of the public. All comments received were reviewed carefully, analyzed, and resulted in valuable changes to the original DRAFTS circulated for consultation. This process has made the proposed standards even better.
Both sets of standards were written with person-centred care at the core, focusing less on transactional care (such as dispensing medications) and more on the ongoing patient care process. The standards are structured into domains that each focus on a particular area of providing care or operating a pharmacy.
To help regulated members prepare for the new standards, ACP has developed an ongoing series of Link articles to provide background information about some key concepts and changes the new standards introduce:
- New structure (February 21, 2024),
- Person centredness (March 5, 2024),
- Treating people with respect and dignity (March 19, 2024),
- Patient assessment and providing care (April 16, 2024),
- Supervising unregulated employees (April 30, 2024),
- Applying the draft standards according to your role (May 14, 2024), and
- Evidence-informed pharmacy practice (June 11, 2024).
ACP will continue to publish more in our “Learning the standards” series throughout the summer and fall. In September, the college will host a series of ACP Connect events focusing on the SPPPT, followed by another series of events in the spring of 2025 focusing on the SOLP. Watch your inbox this summer for more details. Also look for the next two issues of Full Scale (in the fall and winter), which will take a deeper dive into the standards and will support regulated members in meeting the college’s expectations once the standards take effect.
The standards documents will be posted to the ACP website in the next few weeks. ACP will notify regulated members once the standards are available. All regulated members are expected to review the standards and familiarize yourselves with them in preparation for implementation on February 1, 2025. Until then, the current standards remain in force.
Remember, these are your standards. Regulated members contributed heavily to their development, and ACP would like to thank everyone who participated in the process. These standards would not have been possible without the high level of engagement we experienced through our consultation process, resulting in a wide range of perspectives that contributed to the final product.
