Independent prescribers

All newly qualified pharmacists by 2024, will also be independent prescribers. Statutory educational bodies UK-wide provide funded IP places for community pharmacists.

Read more

Clinical placements

Direct clinical training where student fully participate in tasks (not simply observation) is expected from pharmacy students in the UK.

Find out more

Foundation Year

Formerly pre-registration year, the Foundation Year Training is now required for pharmacy students. This supports cross-sector placements.

Recruit now

Change is coming to how you recruit and train your pharmacist pre-registration student

The way you recruit for your pharmacist pre-registration student (foundation) is changing. Now referred to as the foundation pharmacist programme, the only route for recruitment is through Oriel.

As part of our commitment to you, we have prepared some further information to help you prepare. Information applicable for England only.

 

Representing You

In January 2021, the Pharmacy regulators (GPhC & PSNI) launched the new Initial Education and Training Standards for Pharmacists (IETP). The NPA continues to work with key stakeholders across the four nations in the implementation of these standards.

 

What is the NPA doing?

The NPA advocate on behalf of independents with education bodies and regulators to ensure that independent community pharmacy is not disadvantaged in change to workforce qualifications, skills and training pathways. We also work closely with members to ensure they are aware of changes and can respond to the opportunities available. We provide support to members modifying their business model by providing workforce training to meet future requirements.

 

What should I be doing?

Watch the recordings:

Important changes to the structure of the Pharmacist Foundation (pre reg) year – implications from January 2024

Part 1 of the HEE & NPA Workforce webinar series (originally aired 8 June 2023)

Look through the slides

 How the MPharm degree is changing and the undergraduate training opportunities for Community Pharmacies

Part 2 of the HEE & NPA Workforce webinar series (originally aired 22 June 2023)

Look through the slides
Opportunities around independent prescribing in community pharmacy

Part 3 of the HEE & NPA Workforce webinar series (originally aired on 6 July 2023)

Look through the slides

 Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists (IETP) Reform

Part 4 of the HEE & NPA Workforce webinar series (originally aired on 23 November 2023)

Look through the slides

 

Members can ensure that they benefit from any changing funding, undergraduate recruitment programmes and new staffing models by attending NPA Briefings and reading updates published. We also ask that you contribute to consultation responses when asked, as it enables the NPA to represent the views and issues that our members experience.

In 2021, the GPhC published the new initial education and training standards for pharmacists. This means that the way that employers engage with pharmacy students is changing.

Throughout June & July 2023 we held three webinars to further understand the implementation of these standards, which will begin to take affect from next year.

NPA members were able to ask questions of Nick Kaye, Helga Mangion and colleagues from the NHSE WT & E (former HEE) and share their views.

Nick Haddington and Atif Shamim from the NHS shared details around the new foundation education reforms, the new mandatory Oriel programme and an update on independent prescribing within community pharmacy.

If you have any questions please contact Independentsvoice@npa.co.uk

 

Workforce Crisis:

We know NPA members are continuing to face a growing crisis in the recruitment and retention of community pharmacists and skilled support team members. Following a call to NPA members to share their experiences we have now begun to have conversations with key stakeholders across the UK.

Thank you to everyone who responded to our call on sharing their experiences regarding this important issue . we are still continuing to collate evidence.

If you have yet to respond and are worried about workforce and retention in your pharmacy, please email any concerns to us independentsvoice@npa.co.uk, or directly to your respective Country Representative Manager.

If you prefer to talk over the phone, please let us know and we will arrange a suitable time with you to discuss the issues.

 

Inclusion of Pharmacists on the Shortage Occupation List:

The NPA has been submitting evidence to the Migrations Advisory Committee (MAC) since 2018. We have attended stakeholder engagement events hosted by MAC, where we have outlined issues surrounding the community pharmacy workforce. We have also petitioned the Home Office in September 2019 following the first shortage occupation list, which did not include community pharmacists. After successful campaigning and petitioning, both verbally and in writing, we were pleased to see pharmacists making an appearance on the shortage occupation list. We continue to have conversations with the Home Office on how we can continue to address the workforce crisis.

 

How to become an independent prescriber?

NPA support for Independent Prescribing: guidance and resources

 

Becoming an Educational Setting for the future pharmacist workforce.

NPA members can play a key role in the formation of the new and upcoming pharmacist workforce, and that is through clinical placements. Primarily set for the student to apply much of their theoretical knowledge, the clinical placement provides the opportunity for the pharmacy owner to showcase the role of the community pharmacists in the improvement of ill-health.

Clinical placements will also form the bedrock for effective recruitment and retention of community pharmacists within your locality.

 

How to prepare for a clinical placement?

Check the links below for respective countries:

England Scotland Wales Northern Ireland

 

PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY: Student placements / clinical placements

NPA Insurance Professional Indemnity (PI)/Public Liability (PL) Member policy covers both employees and engagees. We would expect students to work under close supervision of a pharmacist, but we can’t be prescriptive about what activities a student can and can’t undertake.

As the accountable pharmacists, the Responsible Pharmacists and Superintendents Pharmacists will need to risk assess and determine which activities can or cannot be undertaken by students during their time in the pharmacy business. Furthermore, Responsible Pharmacists will ultimately determine what activities students undertake whilst they are in control of a pharmacy.

Contact the NPA Professional Indemnity Insurance team by email membersupport@npa.co.uk  or call 01727 795914 for any further queries or assistance is required.

 

Foundation Training:

 

Latest News

England

 

Training opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians within community pharmacy.

Community Pharmacy Training LIVE NOW | Health Education England (hee.nhs.uk)

Letter to Foundation Students and their tutors from HEE (NHSE).

An invitation from HEE is open to all students to participate in the e-portfolio. 

 

NHS England are making available 10,000 module places which will be delivered by CliniSkills until March 2024.

This exciting new training offer will give community pharmacists the opportunity to build on their existing clinical examination and consultation skills – to assess, treat and manage common health problems.

This offer is available to community pharmacists, including part-time staff and locums working in community pharmacy. For more information, visit the CliniSkills website.

If you are an NPA member and would like to discuss Independent prescribing or any other workforce issues, please email Helga at independentsvoice@npa.co.uk.

IETP Update

IETP Update #17. This update from Health Education England includes post-registration training news, new forum for Pharmacy Technician Professional Practice, NHS-funded training for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. It can be read here.

Funding for another year of independent prescribing courses for pharmacists

Health Education England is offering more independent prescribing courses from March 2023 for pharmacists working across several settings, including locums.

This training enables pharmacists to support patients from diagnosis to prescribing, and to provide advice and follow-up – while also helping them to feel confident and prepared for the new challenges of their role.

Courses will be available between April 2023 and March 2024, with several universities offering multiple dates for cohort intakes. Start dates will depend on the university provider.

Find out more: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/pharmacy/independent-prescribing

ENGLAND ONLY

NHS Digital is running two online sessions to introduce the National Care Record System, the improved successor to the Summary Care Record application. The first session has a pharmacy focus, but both sessions are open to all health and care professionals. 

First session on 2 February – https://crm.digital.nhs.uk/clickdimensions/?clickpage=/s79jd3cee2brqaisbtdya

Second session on 7 February – https://crm.digital.nhs.uk/clickdimensions/?clickpage=/vpwvmxnee2brqaisbtdya

The sessions will include an update of the latest developments, a demonstration of the new product and will explain how users can migrate or get access to NCRS.

Are you interested in becoming an NHS Ambassador? NHS Pharmacy Ambassadors connect the NHS with schoolchildren to explore the breadth of interesting roles available in the pharmacy profession and answer questions about their jobs. They take part in activities such as assemblies, speed networking, career days, and many more, alongside interactive virtual sessions to connect with young people online.

There are two information sessions for prospective ambassadors to be run by the HEE Pharmacy Team on Monday 6 February between 1 – 2pm and 7 – 8 pm.

Details at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkduytrj0vHtL95Vfa7OBs0QFfRfbRHlM7

Funded NHS leadership programs for pharmacy technicians 2023

The deadline to apply for the NHS Mary Seacole and Rosalind Franklin programmes is extended to midnight on Tuesday 17 January 2023.

Programmes start from February 2023, with 55 places on the Mary Seacole programme and 12 places on the Rosalind Franklin programme available for eligible pharmacy technicians.

Find out more on the HEE website.

  • This update from Health Education England includes: IETP innovation and funding changes, e-portolio drop-in sessions new dates, prescribing curriculum review point, OpenAthens, open the door to evidence and knowledge. It can be read here.
  • This update from Health Education England includes: Clinical tariff for pharmacy students; NETS Survey launch; Health and Justice trainee pharmacist short placements; ATMP videos for trainee pharmacists; e-portfolio updates; help for newly qualified pharmacists; clinical examination skills training for community pharmacists; Independent Prescribing training offers. It can be read here.
  • Click here to read a letter from HEE and NHSE to community pharmacy contractors regarding launch plans for the Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2022. You can also visit the HEE website for further details about the survey including Frequently Asked Questions, based on insight from the previous surveys
  • This update from Health Education England includes a foundation training year spotlight on genomics learning, an e-portfolio update and autumn e-portfolio orientation sessions; the newly qualified pharmacist pathway is now live, Prescribing Training Curriculum: Now online. It can be read here.
  • Requesting grandparenting records during the three month period. Read FAQs here. Please note the deadline of 30 September.
    • How many DPPs there are currently in the South West, Thames Valley and Wessex regions and how they break down by geography, sector and profession.
    • The size of the pool of NMPs in these areas with potential to become future DPPs.
    • The views of current NMPs in these areas on taking on the DPP role.GPhC Council agrees new guidance for entry to independent prescribing courses – Read this update from GPhC on new guidance that supports changes to entry requirements for independent prescribing training, which enables pharmacists to begin a course when they have the relevant experience and awareness. The guidance is now being finalised and will be published in October.
  • DPP capacity surveysHEE Pharmacy South are reviewing IP supervision capacity for pharmacist independent trainees, and are asking the following questions:
    • How many DPPs there are currently in the South West, Thames Valley and Wessex regions and how they break down by geography, sector and profession.
    • The size of the pool of NMPs in these areas with potential to become future DPPs.
    • The views of current NMPs in these areas on taking on the DPP role.

Survey 1 – for NMP LEADS/those with organisational oversight of NMPs

https://healtheducationyh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/nmpleadsurvey2022

This survey aims mainly to acquire numerical data on the current pool of DPPs in the area.

Survey 2 – for NMPs themselves:

https://healtheducationyh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/nmpsurvey2022

This survey aims to explore the views of NMPs (including pharmacist prescribers) on taking on the DPP role.

Please fill in these surveys by 2 December. For any queries, please contact NPA Policy Manager Helga Mangion at independentsvoice@npa.co.uk

New guidance for entry to independent prescribing courses

GPhC has published new guidance to support the revised entry requirements for independent prescribing training set out in the revised standards for the education and training of pharmacist independent prescribers. They have summarised the changes in this short guide.

The revised entry requirements mean current registered pharmacists and newly-qualified pharmacists joining the register over the next few years would be able to begin an independent prescriber course when they have the relevant experience and awareness, rather than simply completing a specified period.

Pharmacists will no longer need to have two years of practice and relevant experience in a specific clinical or therapeutic area to enrol in an independent prescribing course. Instead, applicants must now:

  • have relevant experience in a pharmacy setting
  • be able to recognise, understand and articulate the skills and attributes required by a prescriber
  • identify an area of clinical or therapeutic practice on which to base their learning.

The new guidance is relevant for both course providers and applicants and gives some specific suggestions and examples. It will support consistency in the way education providers apply the new standards and will help individual pharmacists to understand the relevant experience they would need before enrolling on a course.

Growth of the pharmacy technician workforce in the community pharmacy questionnaire

HEE South has commissioned a project, led by a pharmacy clinical fellow, to explore any barriers and enablers associated with the education, training, and professional development of pharmacy technicians in community pharmacies.

The project seeks to understand the perspectives of pharmacy technicians in the sector, as well as those of community pharmacy managers who are, or have been, responsible for the employment and training of pharmacy technicians.

A questionnaire has been launched and will close on Friday 11 November. All responses will be fully anonymized, and any themes identified will be generic across regions. It is expected it will take 15-20 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

To take part:

  1. Pharmacy technicians: www.healtheducationyh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/community-pharmacy-technician-workforce-feedback
  2. Pharmacy managers: www.healtheducationyh.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/cpemployers22

Free Training Opportunity for Community Pharmacists to Upskill in Mental Health

Supported by HEE, for community pharmacists in London, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, Maudsley Learning is offering:

  • a free day Simulation on 17 November, focusing on promoting mental health and well-being in patients seen by community pharmacists and
  • a free one-day Masterclass on 1 December, covering core skills in psychiatric assessment and management, referral pathways, and updates on the latest evidence-based treatments.

Both courses are available to be booked now. Please contact maudsleylearning@slam.nhs.uk for more details or ask independentsvoice@npa.co.uk
Scotland

  • Requesting grandparenting records during the three month period. Read FAQs here. Please note the deadline of 30 September.
  • GPhC Council agrees new guidance for entry to independent prescribing courses – Read this update from GPhC on new guidance that supports changes to entry requirements for independent prescribing training, which enables pharmacists to begin a course when they have the relevant experience and awareness. The guidance is now being finalised and will be published in October.
  • New guidance for entry to independent prescribing courses

GPhC has published new guidance to support the revised entry requirements for independent prescribing training set out in the revised standards for the education and training of pharmacist independent prescribers. They have summarised the changes in this short guide.

The revised entry requirements mean current registered pharmacists and newly-qualified pharmacists joining the register over the next few years would be able to begin an independent prescriber course when they have the relevant experience and awareness, rather than simply completing a specified period.

Pharmacists will no longer need to have two years of practice and relevant experience in a specific clinical or therapeutic area to enrol in an independent prescribing course. Instead, applicants must now:

  • have relevant experience in a pharmacy setting
  • be able to recognise, understand and articulate the skills and attributes required by a prescriber
  • identify an area of clinical or therapeutic practice on which to base their learning.

The new guidance is relevant for both course providers and applicants and gives some specific suggestions and examples. It will support consistency in the way education providers apply the new standards and will help individual pharmacists to understand the relevant experience they would need before enrolling on a course.

*NPA country representative manager details:

NPA/CCA Community Pharmacy school resource

The NPA/CCA Community Pharmacy – A career choice in Scotland resource includes a PowerPoint presentation, information handouts, activity sheet, and further information on how to become part of the community pharmacy team in Scotland.

The pack describes the role of a community pharmacist, why it is valuable career choice and how to find out more about becoming a community pharmacist. In addition to pharmacists, the resource highlights other community pharmacy roles including Pharmacy technicians, pharmacy dispensers and healthcare assistants.  The pack, developed in consultation with school teachers, provides a number of ways to offer pharmacy information to school pupils at their subject choice stage and when considering careers either in class time or at career fairs.

NPA members in Scotland can use the resource to provide support to schools directly by attending career events, or by signposting the resource to their local schools.

These resources include:

Community Pharmacy – A career choice in Scotland PowerPoint

Community Pharmacy – A career choice in Scotland Handout

Community Pharmacy – A career choice in Scotland Activity Sheet

Community Pharmacy Team Member Information

Pharmacist Information sheet

Community Pharmacist information sheet

Access NPA/CCA Community Pharmacy – A career choice in Scotland resources
Wales

HEIW Post-registration Foundation Pharmacist programme

HEIW will be allocating places to employer organisations across Wales for the second cohort of the HEIW Post-registration Foundation Pharmacist programme being delivered in collaboration with Cardiff University and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), starting in September 2023 and January 2024.

HEIW have planned for a total of 80 places to be made available for the 23/24 cohort. This second cohort will involve two intakes, in September 2023 and January 2024, with the aim for 40 places being available for both intakes. To promote interprofessional development, there will be a split intake between the NHS-managed sector (hospital and primary care) and the NHS contractor-employed sector (community pharmacy and GP practice) with a 75-25 split for September 2023 and a 25-75 split for January 2024, respectively.

This programme has been developed as a bridging programme until the new GPhC initial education and training standards for pharmacists (IETPs) are fully implemented by July 2026 and is intended for early career pharmacists (up to 12 months newly registered).

For further information on the Post-registration Foundation Programme, please access the resources on the HEIW website: HEIW Post-registration foundation pharmacist training programme (For newly registered pharmacists) – HEIW (nhs.wales) (NB. These are currently being updated).

We are asking NHS contractor employed organisations to complete an online expression of interest form, using the link or accessing the QR code, for the number of places they wish to offer on the programme for the 23/24 intake: form. To access a Welsh version, please change the language preference at the top right of the page.

 

–

  • Requesting grandparenting records during the three month period. Read FAQs here. Please note the deadline of 30 September.
  • GPhC Council agrees new guidance for entry to independent prescribing courses – Read this update from GPhC on new guidance that supports changes to entry requirements for independent prescribing training, which enables pharmacists to begin a course when they have the relevant experience and awareness. The guidance is now being finalised and will be published in October.

New guidance for entry to independent prescribing courses

GPhC has published new guidance to support the revised entry requirements for independent prescribing training set out in the revised standards for the education and training of pharmacist independent prescribers. They have summarised the changes in this short guide.

The revised entry requirements mean current registered pharmacists and newly-qualified pharmacists joining the register over the next few years would be able to begin an independent prescriber course when they have the relevant experience and awareness, rather than simply completing a specified period.

Pharmacists will no longer need to have two years of practice and relevant experience in a specific clinical or therapeutic area to enrol in an independent prescribing course. Instead, applicants must now:

  • have relevant experience in a pharmacy setting
  • be able to recognise, understand and articulate the skills and attributes required by a prescriber
  • identify an area of clinical or therapeutic practice on which to base their learning.

The new guidance is relevant for both course providers and applicants and gives some specific suggestions and examples. It will support consistency in the way education providers apply the new standards and will help individual pharmacists to understand the relevant experience they would need before enrolling on a course.

*NPA country representative manager details:
Northern Ireland

*NPA country representative manager details:

 

Pharmacy Technicians

More Workforce Content coming soon. For the latest on workforce policy matters please contact NPA Policy Manager - independentsvoice@npa.co.uk

Pharmacy Teams

More Workforce Content coming soon. For the latest on workforce policy matters please contact NPA Policy Manager - independentsvoice@npa.co.uk

Useful Links

More Workforce Content coming soon. For the latest on workforce policy matters please contact NPA Policy Manager - independentsvoice@npa.co.uk