Pharmacists have rushed to sign up for help to complete their declaration of competence for the national flu service, according to the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE).

Five e-workshops that CPPE is running on completing the declaration – a document that pharmacists must fill in before they can deliver the service – were booked up within four days of being announced, the educational body told C+D today (September 23).

Each workshop will give 40 pharmacists guidance on how to complete each step of the document.

To complete the declaration, pharmacists must explain how they have met the training, premises, and equipment requirements for delivering the service.

Most pharmacists “know how to work through the process”, but had signed up to the workshops for “additional reassurance" that they are completing the document correctly, CPPE lead pharmacist for learning development Lesley Grimes told C+D.

The requirements of the declaration are “quite a change for pharmacy”, Ms Grimes stressed.

“We’re moving from accreditation to them taking professional responsibility for their own competence to deliver. Change brings questions,” she added.

CPPE said a recording of one of the workshops will be available on its website from September 30. It will also record a webinar next week on the most frequently asked questions from the sessions, it added.

Numark told C+D that requirement for pharmacists to complete face-to-face training for the service every two years, stated in the declaration of competency, has been an “issue” for some contractors.

The group has put on extra training sessions to help its members meet this requirement, it added.

Have you had trouble completing the declaration?

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