“I’m delighted that Health Education England (HEE) has launched the next phase of funded training and development for community pharmacy professionals,” Mr Webb told the audience at his keynote address at the Pharmacy Show in Birmingham yesterday (October 17).

“This offer provides 10,000 module places for community pharmacists to do clinical examination skills training,” he said.

The training will run between December 2022 and March 2024 and will be open to community, locum, and part-time pharmacists.

Read more: HEE seeks bids to fund over 3,000 independent prescribing training places

It will “support the clinical future we’re all seeking and [act] as a stepping stone to independent prescribing,” Mr Webb stated.

“HEE will contact you once the courses are publicised in the very near future,” Mr Webb said.

Those wishing to attend the training can register their interest on the HEE website.

More on the training

The training will include an initial online “gateway” module on structured history-taking and identification of serious conditions.

Pharmacists will have to pass this initial module to be able to take any of the specialist training modules, which are centred around four key themes: dermatology; cardiology; paediatrics; and ear, nose and throat.

They will be assessed at the end of each clinical examination skills module and receive a certificate of completion upon passing.

The specialist modules will be delivered in a “flexible way designed to meet the needs of community pharmacists”, according to an HEE slide on the training.

Read more: Government to plough up to £15.9m into training for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians

Cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment is “a leading population health challenge for the NHS”, he said.

Community pharmacy teams “can make a difference” in this area, Mr Webb noted, adding that the community pharmacy blood pressure check service had seen “tremendous uptake” since its launch in October 2021.

The service is being used “in a targeted way to address health inequalities in many areas” and is “a great example of future working”, Mr Webb said.