Bagged and Checked Supervision Changes Now Live!
Published: 8th January 2026
You may be aware that, as part of a modernisation of UK pharmacy legislation, there are several changes in the works with regards to supervision and the roles of the Responsible Pharmacist (RP) and Superintendent Pharmacist (SP). The revised legislation has now made its way through the necessary processes and has been passed into law.
Most of the changes will not come into effect until the 10th of December 2026, but one important step forward was officially enabled from the 7th of January. This allows pharmacists to authorise - when absent or treated as absent - the handing out of checked and bagged prescriptions.
Each pharmacy business will have to carefully consider whether and how they will adopt this change - with supporting guidance from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) made freely available to all here to support implementation.
You can also can read more at the GPhC's website here.
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Pharmacists can now authorise the handing out of checked and bagged prescriptions when absent or treated as absent.
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This change was enabled on 7th January 2026.
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No, most changes will come into effect on 10th December 2026.
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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has published free guidance to support implementation.
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Visit the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) website for full details.
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