From 2025/26, NHSE has said that all foundation trainees “must have access to a DPP and a prescribing learning environment” – but sector bodies have repeatedly expressed their concerns about a shortage of DPPs.
Now, the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) has warned that the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and NHS England (NHSE) “do not currently have a clear view on how many DPPs are in existence”.
Read more: David Webb: ‘Definitely things we need to learn’ on DPP access
CCA chief executive Malcolm Harrison this week (July 8) said it is “concerning that NHSE is unable to confirm how many DPPs are currently available, despite trainee pharmacists being due to start in post from this month”.
He stressed that the CCA has “repeatedly called for transparency” on DPP numbers, adding that he hopes the “matter is resolved quickly so that pharmacy students receive the certainty they need as they begin a career in pharmacy”.
Read more: ‘Very desperate’: Boom in pay-for-DPP services as GP surgery ‘doors close’
It comes after Liberal Democrat MP for North Shropshire Helen Morgan last month (June 19) asked the DH “how many foundation pharmacist training places have a named DPP confirmed in the ORIEL recruitment system in 2025”.
But responding to the written parliamentary question this week (July 7), medicines minister Karin Smyth failed to provide the number of places with named DPPs.
She said that NHSE requires DPP information to be “submitted within 13 weeks of the trainee pharmacist starting in post” and acknowledged that trainees “will start in post” from this month.
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But she added that NHSE is “currently in the process of contacting training sites and requesting details of all supervisors, including designated supervisors and DPPs”.
“All training posts in the national recruitment scheme for the 2025/26 training year were required to declare that they would provide access to a DPP for prescribing supervision as part of their agreement to the terms of participation,” Smyth stressed.
C+D approached the DH and NHSE for further comment.
How did we get here?
In May, England’s chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) admitted that “it hasn’t been easy in places” to secure a DPP, adding that “there are definitely things [NHSE] needs to learn” on DPP access.
And C+D revealed in April that private provider DPP Connect has helped a snowballing number of pharmacists who “feel like they’re missing out” by matching them to a DPP for between £2,000 and £2,400.
Read more: What pressures do new independent prescribers face?
In September, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) chief executive Duncan Rudkin said that the regulator was “working with NHSE and others to make sure that those DPPs are there to provide the supervision” for incoming pharmacy students.
The CCA urged NHSE to publish “a list of all organisations” that have spare DPPs in May last year, warning it had “grave concerns” that “pharmacies will be unable to secure DPPs”.
