Pharmacist Interview Questions

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the regulatory body that maintains the register of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the UK. GPhC registration is a legal requirement to practise as a pharmacist and assures the public that you meet professional standards. To become registered, you must complete pre-registration training, pass the GPhC registration examination, and declare fitness to practise. After registration, you must revalidate every two years by providing evidence of professional development and reflection. Failure to maintain standards can result in fitness-to-practise investigations, suspension, or removal from the register.

Community pharmacists work in retail or independent pharmacies, dispensing prescriptions from GPs, providing minor illness advice, administering vaccines, conducting medication reviews, and engaging directly with the public. Hospital pharmacists work in hospital pharmacy departments, preparing complex medicines (including chemotherapy), checking prescriptions, conducting clinical rounds, advising on dosing in specific patient populations, and managing medication safety systems. Community pharmacy has more patient-facing direct care, whilst hospital pharmacy is more clinically complex with specialised preparation and multidisciplinary collaboration. Both roles are rewarding but require different skillsets.

Common specialist pathways include clinical pharmacology (particularly for hospital-based roles), oncology pharmacy (cancer medicines), and infectious diseases (antibiotic stewardship). Additional qualifications include independent prescribing certificates (allowing pharmacists to prescribe independently), additional qualifications in areas like respiratory or cardiovascular pharmacy, and MBA for management roles. Most specialists complete these qualifications whilst working, often with employer support. Specialist status typically requires 2–3 years post-registration experience plus formal qualification, leading to senior or specialist pharmacist roles with higher salaries.

A structured medication review (SMR) is a detailed assessment of a patient's medications by a pharmacist to optimise therapy, identify side effects, resolve drug interactions, and improve adherence. During an SMR, the pharmacist reviews the patient's medical history, current medications, and recent blood tests, discusses the patient's concerns and goals, assesses adherence barriers, and recommends changes to prescriptions (in consultation with the GP if needed). SMRs are particularly important for elderly patients on multiple medications or those with complex conditions. This service is increasingly provided through community pharmacy across the UK and forms part of the pharmacy integration into primary care.

No, in the UK you cannot legally work as a pharmacist without GPhC registration. You can work as a pharmacy technician (which requires separate HCPC registration but is a different role) or as a pre-registration trainee (for the one-year pre-registration training period before passing the registration examination). Working without registration is illegal and can result in prosecution. Some pharmacy roles in industry (research, regulatory, medical writing) exist for pharmacy graduates without registration, but any direct patient-facing pharmacy work requires GPhC registration.

Pharmacists reduce waste by conducting medication reviews, identifying expired or discontinued medicines, adjusting prescriptions to appropriate quantities, and educating patients on proper storage and disposal. They promote public health through minor illness assessments (preventing unnecessary GP visits), vaccination programmes (flu, COVID-19, shingles), smoking cessation support, and health promotion advice. Pharmacists also contribute to medicines optimisation—ensuring patients take the right dose of the right medicine at the right time—which reduces hospital admissions, adverse drug reactions, and overall healthcare costs. Many pharmacists engage in public health campaigns on antimicrobial stewardship and safe medication use.