DH: No plans to shorten pharmacists’ training, despite Brexit proposal
There are no plans to condense pharmacists’ training into three years despite recent suggestions submitted to a government minister, a Department of Health and Social Care (DH) spokesperson has told C+D.
The proposal to “allow certain medical professionals, such as pharmacists and paramedics, to qualify in three years” was put forward to Jacob Rees-Mogg, minister for Brexit opportunities.
Following his appointment to the role in February, Mr Rees-Mogg put out a call to the British public in the Daily Express, asking how the government could make the best of Brexit.
Having received over 2,000 ideas, the Cabinet Office published the nine of the “most interesting” proposals, which included the suggestion to allow pharmacists to qualify in just three years.
Despite the proposal, the DH is not planning to cut down pharmacists’ education by two years, it told C+D.
The DH would need to consult with system partners and the relevant professional regulators to enact any changes to pharmacists’ education, the spokesperson added.
Approved reforms to pharmacists’ education “underway”
At present, pharmacy students must complete four years of undergraduate training and one year of foundation training in order to become registered pharmacists.
Health Education England (HEE) national programmes lead Matt Aiello told C+D last week (June 1) that “pharmacist reforms of initial education and training are underway”.
“While this will not shorten the training pathway”, the reforms “will aim to out-turn registered pharmacists who are better prepared to work in new models of health and care, across systems and within multi-professional teams”, he continued.
HEE hopes to achieve this by offering clinical placements to undergraduate students, offering training posts to those going into their foundation year, and by introducing independent prescriber training, Mr Aiello explained.
Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists approved in 2020 deemed that newly registered pharmacists would qualify as independent prescribers when completing the one-year foundation training. However, pharmacists completing their foundation training this year will not be qualified independent prescribers at the point of registration.
Meanwhile, the employer group behind proposals to introduce a pharmacist apprenticeship resumed talks in June last year, when it was preparing to put forward a second proposal.
