For the first time ever, providers of pharmacy placements for undergraduate students, including those offering placements in community pharmacies, can have their costs covered by the clinical tariff placement fee.

The funding, which kicks in from September 1, will be used to cover “clinical placements” for pharmacy students in years 1 to 4, the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) said in guidance published last week (March 31).

 

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HEE director of finance Calum Pallister told C+D that the reforms to the tariffs and the changes to their 2022/23 prices “include additional investment of more than £50 million in educational placements”.

“This will enable a fairer distribution of the available tariff funding across all professions in scope, and support growth in key areas, including pharmacy for the first time from September 2022,” Mr Pallister added.

The DH first introduced tariffs for clinical placements and undergraduate medical placements in secondary care in 2013. This is the first time that the costs of pharmacy placements have been covered in a similar way.

 

What does the funding cover?

 

The funding covers “all direct costs” incurred by the placement provider when delivering the training, which, according to the DH, may include:

• “direct staff teaching time within a clinical placement
• teaching and student facilities, including access to library services
• pastoral and supervisory support
• trainee study leave and time for clinical exams.”

 

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HEE will be responsible for assigning the tariff payments to providers, it confirmed.

Why was the clinical tariff introduced?

 

Until now, funding for placements was “subject to local arrangements, creating inequities in funding”, the DH explained.

Through the tariff, the DH hopes to ensure that placement providers are reimbursed “consistently” and that “placements are high quality”.

Referring to the latest reform to the tariff, Mr Pallister said it will “redistribute some of the existing resources to better support all professions and settings”.

“Going forward, HEE will consult with education providers and health and care partners to identify further improvements to funding clinical placements which sustainably meet the needs of the NHS,” he added.