Workforce Initiatives

NHS England are pleased to announce a new multi-professional resource for clinicians considering becoming a DPP and employers and system leaders aiming to support DPP capacity in their workforce, particularly the pharmacy workforce.

The resource consists of a suite of web pages, frameworks, real-life examples and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). It also includes information for prospective DPPs from professions other than pharmacy, wishing to support a pharmacist IP learner.

The resource aims to reduce barriers to the DPP role by ensuring those eligible understand the role, its expectations and where to find advice and training. This could contribute to an increase in DPP and Independent Prescribing capacity across all sectors, particularly pharmacy primary care settings, including community pharmacies.

The resource can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/pharmacy/transforming-pharmacy-education-training/initial-education-training-pharmacists-reform-programme/pharmacy-integration-programme-super

If you are planning to host a Foundation Trainee Pharmacist in 2025/26 you must recruit using the Oriel system.

The deadline to upload details of your programme is 23:59 on 1st March 2024. No late submissions will be accepted.

You can start this process if you are not yet registered as a training site, but you will need to apply and be approved before your trainee starts.

You can find more information on pharmacist foundation training here. Sign up to this newsletter to be kept up to date on pharmacy workforce, training and education.

You may find the following useful links helpful:

Employer Registration Form

Oriel Video Guide

Employer Guide

Training Site Requirements

Terms of Participation

The Pharmacy team at NHSE East of England Workforce Education and Training directorate would like to invite community pharmacy teams to join the Oriel Support Workshop for Multi Sector Foundation Pharmacist Training Programmes.

The objective of the Oriel workshop will be to give employers the support to create and add new Foundation Pharmacist Training Programmes on Oriel, for 2025/26 recruitment cycle between January and March 2024.

Attendees will have the opportunity to log into Oriel and go through the processes of adding a new programme, supported by the step-by- step guide on slides presented by the NHSE pharmacy team.

NB If you are not a registered GPhC training site you can still apply on Oriel for a Foundation Pharmacist during the Jan to March 2024 recruitment cycle.

***Registration for the 2025-26 cohort year will open on 11 January 2024 and close on 1st March 2024***

You then would need to apply as a training site and be approved before your trainee starts their training programme in June 2025. The application process takes approx. 8 weeks, so please bear this in mind if you do in future wish to take on a Foundation Pharmacist.

To see which pharmacies are registered training sites along with expiry dates, click HERE.

Workshop Dates

It is recommend that you review the following resources to get the best out the workshop.

Please note that attendees will be given a step-by-step Oriel employer registration form tutorial and must have access to a device to log into Oriel.

1. 1. Oriel employer registration form https://www.lasepharmacy.hee.nhs.uk/national-recruitment/employer-registration/

1. 1. Employer guide https://www.lasepharmacy.hee.nhs.uk/dyn/_assets/_folder4/recruitment/fty_employer_handbook_2024_nhse_final.pdf

1. 1. Link to training site requirements https://www.lasepharmacy.hee.nhs.uk/dyn/_assets/_folder4/recruitment/foundation_training_site_requirements_25_26_final.pdf

1. 1. Oriel terms of participation – https://www.lasepharmacy.hee.nhs.uk/national-recruitment/terms-of-participation/

The Oriel workshop dates/times are below:

Tuesday 30^th January 2024 – 12:00 to 13:30 Click here to join the meeting

Thursday 8^th February 2024 – 19:00 to 20:30 Click here to join the meeting

Tuesday 27th February 2024 – 12:00 to 13:30 Click here to join the meeting

Any queries, please get in contact with the NHS England, WTE Pharmacy East of England Team via email: england.wtepharmacy.eoe@nhs.net

The NHE WTE Foundation Trainee Pharmacist Programme website can be found HERE.

Click on the link to read the latest issue of NHS England WTE: Pharmacy News and to stay up-to-date on pharmacy workforce changes, you can subscribe to the newsletter.

NHS England is funding free CPD modules for registered independent prescribers who are not actively prescribing, educational supervisors or potential DPPs or advancing pharmacists.

UEA will advise on which modules are suitable for your requirements. Free places will be available until the funding has been used but all modules must be signed up before 31^st March 2024.

Please click on the link for more information – Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for registered pharmacists 2024/25 | UEA

As pharmacy practice evolves to support new ways of working and recognising the significant workforce challenges currently facing our pharmacies, SNEE ICB are committed to supporting you to develop your services and staff.

You will be aware that from 25/26 the foundation curriculum will change to include Independent Prescribing which alters the placement requirements. This includes access to a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) and a prescribing learning environment. In addition, all foundation placements will have to be advertised via the national “Oriel” system (which opens on 11^th January and closes on 1^st March 2024 – see article below).

To support this transition and your own professional development we need to hear from you regarding what support you need to offer one of these new foundation placements.

Your participation in this short but vital survey will help us to deliver the appropriate and timely support you need to give you the confidence to offer foundation placements in 25/26.

We would be grateful if you could click on the link below and complete this survey before 18^th January 2024. We will strive to work quickly with this information to provide you with the support you need.

Foundation Placement survey for SNEE ICS pharmacies

Is your Community Pharmacy looking to take on an Apprentice?

Take advantage of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust apprentice levy share, to reduce your apprenticeship levy cost.

Details are given in the attached poster and applications can be made using the link: https://tinyurl.com/ESNEFT-Levy-Share

If further information is required, please do not hesitate to contact Tracey Whale, Talent for Care Clinical Lead, East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust on email: tracey.whale@esneft.nhs.uk.

NHS Interactive resource that can be used via a VR headset:

Launch of pharmacy careers 360 videos – Community Pharmacy England (cpe.org.uk)

If you want to see what it’s like on your PC, please use the link below:

https://hee-vr360.azurewebsites.net/Pharmacy-Interactive/

NHS resources for promoting Pharmacy careers in England that has various links:

https://hee-vr360.azurewebsites.net/Pharmacy-Interactive/attachment/8696afc1-0b18-447d-ae3e-2684c79e2d5c/Pharmacy_Resource_A4_Landscape_FINAL_003.pdf

This also has a link to Careers in Pharmacy lesson plans:

https://www.thewowshow.org/teachers/

Pharmacy Careers posters and social media:

https://careersinpharmacy.uk/resources/posters-images/

350 Careers resources & the Choose Pharmacy Campaign:

You might have to go to page 2 /3 on the link below to see the choose pharmacy campaign:

https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/career-planning/resources?field_resource_type_tid=All&sort_by=changed&field_career_areas_tid%5B0%5D=11&page=1

Community Pharmacy Careers:

https://communitypharmacycareers.org/our-resources/

Some of the above resources direct the public to the NHS Jobs website which is not a platform used by community pharmacy historically. In response to this, you can register to use the NHS Jobs website to list pharmacy vacancies or alternatively you can take advantage of the Primary Care Careers pilot. Details of both these recruitment initiatives are given below.

If you have any questions, please contact Kristina Boulton, Communications Officer on kristina@suffolklpc.org.uk.

! Recruitment support offer not to be missed !

The Primary Care Careers team are an ICB-level recruitment service that is currently funded and supported across  5 eastern region ICBs (HWE, MSE, BLMK, N&W and SNEE), providing a dedicated recruitment support function for general practice teams. The service aims to provide recruitment support for a career in primary care, currently supporting GP practices to attract and recruit to their workforce.

With the particularly acute workforce crisis affecting community pharmacy in the East, the SNEE ICB & N&W ICBs have agreed to support a pilot for 10 community pharmacy locations with vacancies in each footprint, with 10 SNEE and 10 N&W locations being offered support.

If you have a vacancy for any job role across the team that you would like help to recruit for, we would strongly suggest you utilise this tailored and personalised service that takes much of the leg work away from your busy team and lets the team at Primary Care Careers do the advertising across Indeed, NHS Jobs, their dedicated website and social media. They will then help you by managing applications and provide you with a shortlist of potential applicants for you to contact to arrange interviews.

NHS Jobs have shared that Primary Care Careers are now the biggest national recruiter of the primary care workforce. We would kindly remind pharmacy teams that all pharmacies are eligible to advertise directly on the NHS Jobs website and a template to register was sent to all NHS premises email accounts on Wednesday, 21^st June 2023, please email info@suffolklpc.org.uk or info@norfolkpharmacies.co.uk if you require a copy.

If you do have a vacancy and wish to engage with this unique recruitment support opportunity please complete the Expression of Interest (EoI) form HERE. The offer has been altered and is now open until all 20 places are filled.

Please note that selection onto the pilot programme may also be based on providing a representative sample across pharmacy business types, geographical locations and variety of job adverts. If you represent a multiple (CCA) pharmacy, you may need to seek further advice at head office level.

Please be aware that as part of the Primary Care Careers service you will be asked several questions and need to be engaged in the process for them to support you in developing and attracting high calibre applicants.

The pilot will run within the SNEE ICB & N&W ICB footprint from now until the end of March 2024.

As part of the evaluation process the 20 pharmacy sites that do engage with the pilot will be required to fill in a brief survey to help assess the value of this pilot and inform future community pharmacy recruitment support.

If you have any questions please contact Kristina Boulton, Communications Officer on Mob: 07398 248601 or email: kristina@suffolklpc.org.uk.

Did you know that your community pharmacy can advertise vacancies on the NHS Jobs website for free?

**It is simple to register, just send the NHS Jobs template email with your details to: nhsbsa.nhsjobs@nhsbsa.nhs.uk.**

Those that register will become super users of the site which would enable the person to be able to approve job listings prior to being published, so ideally would be the person that is responsible for recruitment.

For multiple pharmacies, please seek further advice at head office level.

You may want to register using the pharmacies nhs.net premises account if no one has a personal nhs.net email at the pharmacy, as this also allows for changes in staff.

You will need a Privacy Policy and a company logo to upload to the site.

By turning the NHS Jobs website into the hub for community pharmacy vacancies, it supports our workforce challenges and imbeds our sector as a key NHS provider, where our vacancies sit alongside NHS Trusts and GP surgeries.

It also takes advantage of the various pathways students are directed to for NHS careers advice and to see NHS pharmacy vacancies. Core platforms such as NHS Health Careers and Pharmacy Careers websites, along with the work of ICS training hubs, all help to drive the public to the NHS Jobs website.

To give you an idea of the traffic to the site, between March 9 and April 8 2020, there were 907,000 visits to the NHS jobs website.

We hope you find this FREE way of advertising vacancies useful.

The template has been shared with Community Pharmacy England and the national Community Pharmacy Workforce Development Group to consider further.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to provide your feedback by emailing: kristina@suffolklpc.org.uk.

Norfolk and Waveney ICB have secured funding to provide 10 community pharmacists with DPP support from local organisations.

We understand the desire of the legacy pharmacist workforce in Norfolk and Waveney to complete the independent prescribing course and we have listened to the feedback on the difficulties faced in finding a DPP.

As part of a brand new, one-off project we have sent out an expression of interest form to local stakeholders in primary and secondary care to create a portfolio of DPPs in Norfolk and Waveney and provide the organisations with an incentive to host a community pharmacist for the 90 hours required to complete the course.

Please read and complete the following expression of interest https://forms.office.com/e/TER95vtmWt by midnight on Saturday 16^th December 2023. Pending interest from a local stakeholder you will be matched with a local DPP and an introduction meeting arranged for you in time for registration into the February 2024 UEA intake.

Please direct any queries to nwicb.primarycareworkforce@nhs.net marked FAO Gregg Syder.

Community Pharmacy Suffolk has been working with SNEE ICS Workforce Leads to explore opportunities to support existing pharmacists to expand their practice by training as Independent Prescribers.

This will be important for the future delivery of clinical services and will be training that all foundation pharmacists graduating from 2026 will already have completed.

There is an exciting opportunity for one pharmacist in Ipswich & East Suffolk, who is planning to undertake this training, to be provided with a Designated Prescribing Practitioner who is willing to act as a Clinical Supervisor and provide a suitable clinical training environment . This follows the DPP offer for West Suffolk that recently launched in June 2023 and we hope that this forms part of an ongoing programme of support for this training.

To be eligible for this support the pharmacist must:

• Be planning to undertake a GPhC accredited programme of IP Training. There are still currently  opportunities to access fully funded HEE courses at selected accredited Universities.
• Have the support of your employer to provide appropriate cover for you to complete the training (no backfill costs will be covered). An accredited independent prescribing course is typically run over a period of 6 months. The course is part-time and often delivered through a combination of face-to-face teaching sessions (often one day per week) and self-directed study. Some universities offer a course with a larger distance learning option, however, all courses will involve a minimum of 26 days of teaching and learning activity. In addition to this, each pharmacist must successfully complete at least 12 days (90 hours) of learning in a practice environment whilst being supervised by a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP).

If you meet the above criteria and are interested in this opportunity to access clinical supervision in the Ipswich area, please complete this Microsoft Form to express your interest by close of play on Friday, 3rd November 2023.

Please note, this offer is being supported by SNEE Workforce Leads who will be responding to the expressions of interest.

If you have any questions regarding this communication please contact info@suffolklpc.org.uk.

NHS England has launched a Newly Qualified Pharmacist pathway to support newly qualified pharmacists in their transition to independent practitioners.

The pathway includes an e-Portfolio, a curriculum developed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), a virtual library of learning resources, and access to supervision. Its main goal is to develop prescribing competence.

Employers are encouraged to support their newly qualified pharmacists’ enrolment on the pathway.

Read more HERE. 

NHS England Workforce, Training and Education (WT&E) directorate are offering funding to support the training of pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians (PTPTs) on a multi-sector training programme or in a community pharmacy placement. Applications open on 7^th of August 2023 for expressions of interest (EoI).

Applications must be submitted via the online form: EOE PT National workforce form by Monday 28^th of August.

How much funding is available?

• £46,099 per PTPT over the 2-year training period.
• Funding is intended to contribute to the cost of developing and running a two-year work-based training programme.
• It is recommended education costs are covered through the apprenticeship levy.

What do I need to do to be eligible for funding?

• Be able to provide educational supervision from a GPhC registered pharmacy professional.
• For a multi-sector placement you must have formed a partnership that includes a minimum of two healthcare settings, at least one of which must be responsible for delivery of day-to-day patient facing pharmacy services.
• Complete a short on-line expression of interest with an overview of your proposed training programme. This will be used to shortlist allocation of funding.

What support is provided by NHS England WT&E?

• Support from a dedicated pharmacy programme facilitator to offer guidance and expertise throughout the 2-year training period.
• Employer network meetings to share experience, practice, and resources.
• A range of resources including examples of job adverts and learning plans shared by existing training placements.

Pharmacy Technician Workforce Expansion Guidance

Please take the time to read the PT Workforce Expansion Guidance 2023 before you submit your EoI.

WAVENEY PHARMACIES please see the PTWEP Poster. For local ICS support please contact nwicb.primarycareworkforce@nhs.net.

Pharmacy Technician Workforce Expansion Expression of Interest (EoI)
Once you have reviewed the guidance and, where applicable, formed your partnerships for a multi-sector submission, please complete the EOE PT National workforce form by Monday 28^th of August.

NHSE WTE held two webinar sessions on webinar sessions on 15^th of August 2023 to provide further details regarding this funding opportunity. PT Workforce Expansion Webinar slides from the webinar are now available.

Should you require further advice and support please don’t hesitate to contact the team on the email addresses below:

Generic Pharmacy Team email: england.wtepharmacy.eoe@nhs.net

Shingie Fundira, Regional Pharmacy Technician Lead : shingie.fundira@hee.nhs.uk

Gemma Hicks, Pharmacy Technician Facilitator C&P and N&W: gemma.hicks@hee.nhs.uk

Jodie White, Pharmacy Technician Facilitator BLMK and HWE: jodie.white@hee.nhs.uk

Kelly Hallett, Pharmacy Technician Facilitator MSE and SNEE: kelly.hallett@hee.nhs.uk

Apprenticeship related queries: Oliver Inwards, Apprenticeship Relationship Manager – East of England oliver.inwards@hee.nhs.uk.

Community pharmacy staff are being offered a range of fully funded, flexible training to expand your clinical skills and improve patient care.

Courses include Clinical Examination Skills and Independent Prescribing.

Build your pharmacy future with specialist modules tailored to your skills, experience and individual learning requirements. Complete the Clinical Examination Skills gateway module in approximately 1 hour online, followed by one of four specialist modules in cardiology, paediatrics, ENT or dermatology.
Optional in-person, practical training sessions are also available.

Find out more and register for Clinical Examination Skills training OR Independent Prescribing courses HERE for more information and to register.

NHS England are making available 1,000 module places which will be delivered by ProPharmace from September 2023. This new offer provides 500 places for Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPPs) and 500 places for other educational supervisors, including Designated Supervisors (DSs).

This training will ensure those involved in educational supervision are confident to provide support and developmental aid to the pharmacy workforce within community pharmacy.

The training will be delivered flexibly to accommodate work schedules and will allow learners to develop their skills and knowledge around delivering educational supervision whilst keeping patient safety and person-centred care at the forefront.

Both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians wishing to supervise colleagues in community pharmacies can apply for the educational supervision training.

Regulatory changes in 2019 mean that experienced independent prescribers of any professional can apply for DPP training to support community pharmacists to become independent prescribers.

Sign up now for the educational supervisor training for the community pharmacy workforce on the ProPharmace website.

To find out more about NHS funded training for community pharmacy professionals visit the Community Pharmacy Training web page.

NHSE East of England recently held an engagement webinar on the 14th September, 13:00 to 14:30pm, you can see the presentation from the event to give you more information on key changes for those wanting to host a Foundation Pharmacist Training (formerly pre-registration) placement from 2025/26 onwards.

A useful guide from SNEE ICB has also been provided: Pharmacy Foundation training.

Note carefully:

All 2025/26 Foundation Pharmacist Training placements will need to use the Oriel platform and will no longer be able to recruit from outside this platform. 

2025/26 placements DO NOT have to be multi-sector, however from 2026/07 multi-sector placements will become mandatory. 

Along with the webinars, a Multisector Foundation Pharmacist Training Provider Survey has been launched to enable the Workforce Training and Education Pharmacy team to support partnerships across organisations and to provide multisector foundation training programmes for the 25/26 foundation pharmacist cohort.

Please complete this short survey, if your organisation is aspiring to host a multisector foundation pharmacist training in 2025/2026 but you have not yet identified a partner organisation to co-host the foundation pharmacist. The Workforce Training and Education Pharmacy team are supporting organisations with one or more single sector programmes to seek partner organisations to co-host a foundation trainee on a ≥ 13 weeks multisector rotation (preferred) or <13 weeks external rotation (minimum 8 weeks).

We also want to support those new to foundation trainee programme provision to consider their first provision (multisector) in the 2025/26 training year.

If your organisation has already identified a partner to co-host a foundation pharmacist trainee for 25/26 you do not need to complete this form. This form is only for organisations who have not yet identified a partner organisation with whom they can host a multisector foundation pharmacist training programme.

You can access the survey by clicking this link.

The deadline to complete this survey is the 30^th September 2023

A gentle reminder that claims for the Foundation trainee pharmacist grant started on the 14th September 2023.

Please see CPE News on how to claim via MYS. 

NHSE will only process new claims this year via the MYS route. Pharmacy owners that have previously submitted claims to their regional NHS England team will need to resubmit their claims via the MYS module, when it opens this Thursday.

Suffolk LPC has been working with SNEE ICS Workforce Leads to explore opportunities to support existing pharmacists to expand their practice by training as Independent Prescribers. This will be important for the future delivery of clinical services and will be training that all foundation pharmacists graduating from 2026 will already have completed.

Expressions of interest went out in June 2023 to pharmacists in West Suffolk, who are planning to undertake this training, to be provided with a Designated Prescribing Practitioner who is willing to act as a Clinical Supervisor and provide a suitable clinical training environment.

This is the first of what we hope will be an ongoing programme of support for this training.

Bath University are now taking applications for the next intakes of their Independent Prescribing course.

These will begin in March 2024, they are offering two options running side by side – one fully online and one hybrid.

The application portal is now open and will close on 10^th November (or before if we receive a large volume of applications) so if you are keen to secure a place please apply asap.

• Do ensure your application is complete  chasing your DPP/referees for forms as necessary as only complete applications will be considered.  We strongly encourage applicants to check on the application portal if their references are present. The university emails the referees once, both references need to be present for us to consider your application when we allocate the places for each cohort. We also strongly encourage you to read the text at the start of the supplementary application form and check the form is completed correctly, we cannot consider applications where the required information is not present.
• Unfortunately we are not able to accept applications from pharmacists enrolled on CPPE’s Primary Care Pharmacy Education Pathway (PCPEP) for the March intakes as we have already allocated all funded places for this category of learner
• We would still encourage applications from community pharmacists (including locum pharmacists); pharmacists employed in General Practice (who are not eligible for, or enrolled on, the Primary Care Pharmacy Education Programme (PCPEP) and those who are working to provide primary care services (e.g., working in primary care) who are not employed in ARRS roles); and Health and Justice pharmacists, and pharmacists working in an NHS Hospital Trust or Mental Health Trust (NHS managed sector); pharmacists working in an integrated care board, ICB (previously CCG pharmacists).
• We will review all applications in line with the selection criteria detailed below.

1. Existing award students (see below)
2. Health Education England funded applicants in line with the requirements attached to this funding (regional considerations at the discretion of the funder, as applicable), including:

• 1. All application documents completed in full, all references and supplementary documents present and DPP form completed by the closing date
  2. Date of application
  3. Training environment (DPP commitment to support in practice, description of specialism, plan for completion of mandatory clinical practice hours and identified clinical need/future role)
  4. Previous experience of postgraduate study
• We would encourage applicants who could attend the university campus for 4 days during the course to apply for the hybrid version of the course. The remote course attracts applicants from all over the country and we are limited to 40 students for the remote version and 40 for the hybrid version.
• You will be notified of the decision of the University as soon as possible before the start of the course. We are currently accredited for up to 40 students per cohort. We reserve the right to close applications early based on demand. In the case of places being over-subscribed we may need to interview applicants and would let you know about arrangements for this as soon as possible.
• Applicants are responsible for finding their own Designated Prescribing Practitioner

The University of Hertfordshire is offering the following postgraduate modules, which you can enrol onto up until January next year, with courses starting in March 2024:

• Paediatric Pharmaceutical Care – module delivered online via zoom. Click on the link for further information.
• Pharmaceutical Care in Oncology – new module delivered online via zoom. Click on the link for further information.
• Pharmaceutical Care in Older People – new module delivered online via zoom. Click on the link for further information.

These courses are funded and NHS credits remain at present.

For the community sector, since community pharmacists are not employed by local training hubs, on the application form they can instead click ‘my employer is not on the list’ and then free type the name of their pharmacy, address etc.

Please make sure you specify the area / location you  fall under in your application and state that you are using NHSE funding credits.

The University of East Anglia are launching a new course, the Diploma of Higher Education in Advanced Pharmacy Technician Practice.

The UEA held a webinar on Monday 14th August, to introduce the course and course content, please use the links for a recording of the webinar and DipHE Webinar Presentation.

Please see the attached flyer and if you wish to register for this course or have any queries you will need to email: Pt.dip@uea.ac.uk.

Applications for the Diploma of Higher Education in Advanced Pharmacy Technician Practice are now open!

To access the UEA application page, please use the following link:

https://uea.my.site.com/apply/TX_CommunitiesSelfReg

The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) is launching a “Preparing to train as an independent prescriber” e-course in September.

This comprehensive course aims to enhance the confidence and skills of pharmacists who are considering becoming independent prescribers. It consists of a self-directed e-course and self-assessment framework, a mandatory online workshop for reviewing competencies, an optional workshop for academic writing and reflective practice, and an optional peer support session.

Learn more

This new NHS England fully funded training programme will help pharmacy technicians develop the skills and confidence to deliver effective clinical services in community pharmacy. This is to ensure that they have the right post-registration training to enable confident, safe working practices and career development.

Launching in September, up to 840 pharmacy technicians will be able to apply for the training.

To register and find out more about the programme visit the CPPE website.

NHS England has funded the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) to offer the Accuracy checking pharmacy technician (ACPT) programme for pharmacy technicians.

The ACPT programme is a 3-12-month training and development programme available to pharmacy technicians, with employer support. The course is designed to support pharmacy technicians in meeting a range of competencies during their training in order to deliver safe and effective patient care.

The aim of the programme is to train and assess pharmacy technicians to perform the final accuracy check of dispensed items on prescriptions that have been clinically screened/approved by a pharmacist.

Applications are now open; with up to 20 funded places available per month and 60 funded places available in total until March 2024.

Apply for the CPPE Accuracy checking pharmacy technician programme

The University of Suffolk are carrying out a workforce research project and would be grateful to understand from community pharmacy colleagues the challenges and opportunities you experience in your current role and environment.

Although the sustainability of the healthcare workforce has been identified as essential to achieving health and wider development objectives, challenges with securing and retaining the healthcare workforce persist. In the UK, there are notable shortages across a wide range of National Health Service (NHS) staff groups, with a high staff turnover indicating retention issues. In addition, gaps exist in understanding the root cause of individual organisation’s workforce deficiencies and how the pharmacy environment factors interact to impact workforce recruitment and retention.

You can take part in this research project by completing the following questionnaire in the link below, it includes a detailed description of the study and a consent form.

https://uos.questionpro.eu/t/AB3uwvAZB3vaLC