Pharmacist migrating from India to UK.

You are a pharmacist that has graduated in India and you are looking to become a registered pharmacist in the UK.

In short, Indian pharmacy degrees are not directly accepted by the UK you will need to do a 1-year University-based conversion course called the OSPAP, after this, you will need to do the “pre-reg exam” and then you will become licensed to work by the GPhC (see below).

Overview

  1. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the regulator of pharmacists and pharmacies in the UK, this is similar to the FDA in India.
  2. Classification – as you have obtained your degree outside of the European Union, you will be classified as an “overseas (non-EEA) qualified pharmacists” and will be required to take a few additional steps.

Steps to registering in the UK via the GPhC

  1. Apply for the Overseas Pharmacists Assessment Programme (OSPAP) – a postgraduate diploma provided by the Universities of Aston, Brighton, Hertfordshire, Kingston – London and Sunderland. See the map below for precise locations.
  2. Undertake the Fitness to practise evaluation – this is a document submission where you need to prove to the GPhC that you are not a criminal etc.
  3. Take the Pre-registration training program – this is a 52-week in-pharmacy training programme conducted in England, Scotland or Wales. Once complete, you must be signed off as satisfactory by your pharmacist tutor-employer.
  4. Sit the GPhC registration assessment – this is a clinical knowledge exam, the failure rate is between 10-30% each year.

The only providers of OSPAP courses are:

  • Aston University
  • University of Brighton
  • University of Hertfordshire
  • University of Sunderland

The closest to the capital, London used to be Kingston however they are no longer accepting applicants, therefore the second closest is (as shown on the map below) Hertfordshire in the north or Brighton, by the sea in the south.