NPA/Skills 4 Pharmacy Apprenticeship

The NPA is pleased to partner with Skills 4 Pharmacy to offer Level 2 and Level 3 pharmacy apprenticeships to NPA members in England. The NPA will refer its members who are interested in an apprenticeship to Skills 4 Pharmacy who will deliver the apprenticeships.

The new apprenticeship package:

  • will provide a dedicated point of contact at Skills 4 Pharmacy
  • will support your student throughout the whole journey right up to qualification
  • is an excellent opportunity to enhance your pharmacy team with minimal cost
  • is designed to upskill your existing team and support them with their professional development
  • enables new members to join and strengthen your team.

Skills 4 Pharmacy

Skills 4 Pharmacy is an experienced Pharmacy Apprenticeship Training Provider dedicated to initiating and developing the careers of Pharmacy support staff and technicians. They manage the recruitment of apprentices, as well as their enrolment and training.

The company is owned and managed by pharmacists ensuring its training courses are perfectly tailored to meet industry needs. They have a team of experienced tutors on hand ready to guide and assist with any queries that may occur during the apprenticeship and to make the student’s learning journey a rewarding experience.

Skills 4 Pharmacy is a trusted provider of apprentices to some of the UK’s leading pharmacy employers – with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Day Lewis Pharmacy, Barts Health NHS Trust and Cohens chemist among them.

 

Level 2 Apprenticeship – Pharmacy support worker

Skills 4 Pharmacy has taken the Level 2 apprenticeship standard and looked at ways to ensure it meets the needs of pharmacy employers and provides flexibility and adaptability.

What the GPhC accredited course includes:

Learners will undertake a blended course which:

  • includes medicines counter assistant and dispensing responsibilities
  • consists of live tutorials delivered by video conferencing, recorded sessions and self-directed study
  • includes work-based learning in the pharmacy under the guidance and supervision of a pharmacist or pharmacist technician
  • collecting evidence of learning and building a portfolio, which will be put forward during end point assessments to demonstrate their competence.

On successful completion of the course, the learner will meet the apprenticeship standard at Level 2.

Course duration: 12 months + 3 months independent end point assessment

 

Level 3 Apprenticeship – Pharmacy technician

The level 3 programme includes an integrated qualification. Learners will be enrolled on the Level 3 diploma in the principles and practice for pharmacy technicians, which meets the GPhC education requirement to register as a pharmacy technician. Students will become a qualified Accuracy checking technician (ACT) as part of this course.

Pharmacists need to be able to delegate to colleagues they know have the knowledge, skills and professionalism to cope with the tasks they are given. The pharmacy technician apprenticeship will develop the role of the pharmacy technician, so that they can deal with routine queries and take added responsibility to enable the pharmacist to spend more time with patients or doing services.

Learners will undertake a blended course which includes similar learning formats to those mentioned above in Level 2.

On successful completion of the course, the learner will meet the apprenticeship standard at Level 3.

Course duration: 24 months + independent 3 months end point assessment

 

Apprenticeships – Earn while you learn

To find out about the minimum wage for apprentices, click here.

Eligibility and application criteria    

  • Employers will receive £1K for taking on any new apprentice aged 16-18
  • Apprentices under the age of 25 and earning below £50k p.a. incur no Employer’s National Insurance liability in their first year of study.

 

Apprenticeships resources

Apprenticeship brochure and course costs
You can read more about the new apprenticeship package and the course costs by downloading the Skills 4 Pharmacy brochure here.

Pharmacy success stories
Read how community pharmacies have benefited from an apprentice here.

Apprenticeship webinar – view the webinar from 22nd November, 2022 on demand here.

Off-the-job training
To find out more about what can be counted in the off the job training rule for apprenticeships, view the NPA’s infographic.

How to apply / enquire about a Level 2 or 3 apprenticeship:

Please complete this form to register your interest / apply for an apprenticeship. Your form will go directly through to Skills 4 Pharmacy and they will contact you within 48 business hours.

If you would like to read what funding is available for apprenticeships, view our Funding table. You can also read our FAQs and to learn more about the benefits of employing an apprentice, view our Little known facts about apprenticeships.

Read more about the partnership with Skills 4 Pharmacy in an InPharmacy article here

If you have any questions, please contact NPA Member Services: email training@npa.co.uk telephone: 01727 800402.