Pharmacy Foundations – formerly known as PrimaryHD – has raised just under £10,000 in bursaries for the 2022/23 cohort, and this year it will be able to support seven students from a black African background, head of education and co-founder Atif Saddiq told C+D.

The beneficiaries will have access to a monthly foundation training revision programme; support with pharmaceutical calculations; mock General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration assessments; and monthly mentorship with the UK Black Pharmacist Association (UKBPA).

The initiative was first launched last year, when Pharmacy Foundations set aside £7,275 to support five GPhC exam candidates in an effort to “reduce the GPhC registration assessment attainment gap”.

Universities to select beneficiaries

For the second year running, Kingston University London, University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), and the University of Portsmouth have agreed to join forces with Pharmacy Foundations and offer support to a selected number of their black African candidates, Mr Saddiq told C+D.

Following the success of last year’s initiative, Pharmacy Foundations will fund five bursaries while the extra two will be financially backed by two of the universities, Mr Saddiq added.

It will be down to the universities to select the beneficiaries, he said. While the criteria to assign these grants vary from university to university, they will look at who is likely to benefit from these the most – in some instances, by taking into consideration the students’ performance and attendance.

Students will only be eligible if they are going to be training in community pharmacy.

Trainees are likely to receive these grants – each worth around £1,400 – from next month onwards, Mr Saddiq said.

Successful first year

Four trainees benefited from the bursary last year as one additional beneficiary had to pause their training due to personal reasons.

The four candidates successfully passed the GPhC assessment at their first attempt, Mr Saddiq revealed.

“Feedback collected from the trainees revealed that they were overall very happy with the support package offered by the bursary award, with lots of praise given for the pharmacy foundation revision programme and the mentorship offered by the UKBPA colleagues,” he added.

Pharmacy Foundations has also recruited one of the four trainees as an advisor for its initiative, Mr Saddiq added.

The training company is hoping to increase the number of bursaries it offers from next year.