Pharmacy

Two separate regulated professions:

• Pharmacists
• Pharmacy technicians

(Not to be confused with pharmaceutical medicine which is a medical speciality i.e they are doctors)  

Regulatory body: General Pharmaceutical Council

Standard-setting body: Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Training route

Pharmacy technicians

• NVQ and BTEC - normally 2 years
• Assessment and progression managed by local education provider - Skillswise e-portfolio widely used
• Technician workforce commissioning varies across HEE local offices

NB - Alistair to check if pharma techs in scope for TIS

Pharmacists

• 4-year Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) degree (not commissioned - places determined by universities/marketplace)
• 1 year pre-registration training - workplace-based commissioned by HEE (check this - are the community ones commissioned by NHSE as funded by them?)
• Additional qualification to become an independent prescriber (university - normally 6 months p/t) but no further specialty training pathway
  

Pharmacists - pre-registration training & assessment

• c 3k pre-registration (trainee) pharmacists
• Train alongside a tutor in hospital or community setting (+ tiny number in industry)
• Employed in one-year fixed-term post - NHS trust trainees funded by HEE; community-based funded by NHS England
• Trainee records are held by employer not HEE (so not on Intrepid)
• Engagement vairies by local HEE - some carry out site visits and provide training days

Two parts to assessment and progression (current process)

• Competency-based appraisal every 13 weeks signed off by tutor (may be observed or portfolio-based)
• Final registration assessment - exam based (by GPC)

Pharmacy training is under review. Key drivers:

• Make training and assessment more robust
• HEE remit to 'get workforce right for patients'
• Close quality gap between NHS Trust and community-based (commercial retailer) pharmacy training
• Growing role of community pharmacists as integral part of health service delivery
• Better support for pharmacists in training

Growing recognition that some structure needed over next period of foundation training – 1^st 1000 days after registration. Also likely to be some sort of Revalidation process.

New systems need to take account of what’s happening now, but be flexible to meet future requirements.

• Small number of trainees piloting use of e-portfolio (East Midlands)
• East Midlands piloting panel review with small number of e-portfolio users
• Thames Valley have also piloted a panel-based final review

East Midlands Panel assessments pilot 

• Pharmacy Training Panel – has been modelled on ARCP (from Gold Guide)
• A proportion of trainees who are having a go with ePortfolio will have their portfolios reviewed in January and March 2017
• Have appointed 6 chairs to convene panels
• Outcomes will be edited version of ARCP outcomes (no form or database established yet)
• Trainees will be invited for face to face feedback if unsatisfactory outcome
• Regulations currently that tutor signs off competencies - moving to a panel signing off will require change in regulations (meeting with GPC in December 2016 to discuss) - so initially panel outcome will just provide a core piece of evidence for the trainee
• Will develop an appeals process (not yet as relevant as panel not regulatory sign off)

Notes from meeting with Rosalyne Cheesman 17/11/16