Trainee IP pharmacists asked to fork out up to £3k to source own DPP
Pharmacy companies are asking individual IP trainees to source their own designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs) at great expense, C+D has learned.
C+D understands that pharmacists training to be independent prescribers (IP) have been asked to pay between £2,500 and £3,000 for their own DPP by “many employers”.
To qualify as an IP, a pharmacist must be supervised by a DPP during their IP course and have their competency signed off by one at the end of the course.
The figure comes after the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) last month (July 25) revealed that "companies [were] requesting that pharmacists find their own DPP at a cost".
The PDA told C+D the following day (July 26) that while some employers “will give some support for existing pharmacists to undertake the IP course”, they are “not providing DPPs”.
“They are leaving it to the individual to source their own DPP, including whatever costs that might entail,” it added.
The union said that “this is far from an isolated scenario and seems to be happening at many employers”.
DPPs must be “identified urgently”
From 2025/26, NHS England (NHSE) has said that all foundation trainees “must have access to a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP) and a prescribing learning environment”.
The PDA told C+D that because within a year “every trainee will need a DPP…there is a risk that the number of trainee places available will reduce at any employers who are unable to source a DPP for their employees”.
“An adequate number of DPPs need to be identified urgently,” it said.
It added that “existing pharmacists who are already IPs” have also been asked “to be DPPs for others but they are already busy to capacity, if not overworked”.
“Each pharmacist being asked to be a DPP needs to have sufficient time and support within their workload to do so,” it said.
DPP dismay
In June, the pharmacy regulator said that it would allow DPPs to virtually supervise trainee prescribing pharmacists “where appropriate” as it tries to ensure there are “enough” supervisors ahead of 2025/26.
Also in June, new Oriel data revealed that large multiples are to be the lead employer on only 277 of the 4,102 placements available for the 2025/26 cohort of pharmacy trainees.
And back in March, C+D exclusively revealed Well pharmacy’s plans to offer “less than 30” places for English pharmacy trainees in the 2025/26 cohort.
At the time, people development manager at Well Jessica Hall told C+D that this would equate to a 75% drop.
She told C+D that the “biggest” challenge the multiple has faced with the training changes is “around being able to have a DPP” as “currently within community pharmacy we don't have capacity”.
She added that because multisector training isn’t mandatory for trainees until 2026/27 but both general practices and primary care networks (PCNs) are now eligible for “lead employer” trainee pharmacist funding in 2025/26, “the other sectors can serve themselves”.
“I think that hasn't perhaps helped,” she said.
In January, the Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA) announced that both general practices and PCNs will be eligible for “lead employer” trainee pharmacist funding – which will rise to £26,500 a year in funding per trainee from next year – from 2025/26.
