De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is proud to announce that it will partner with the NHS to deliver masters-level training for qualified post-registration community pharmacists make the most of their clinical skills.
The master level courses which are funded through NHS England’s Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) are now open for applications from qualified post-registration community pharmacists. The courses aim to help them make the most of their clinical skills and spend more time delivering clinical and public health services.
Tim Harrison, of DMU’s Leicester School of Pharmacy, said: “DMU is proud to have been commissioned by the NHS to deliver this innovative training; it builds upon our expertise and experience in delivering post-graduate education to community pharmacists over the last 20 years. Community pharmacists are a valuable resource, who work hard to support their patients and NHS colleagues, and this opportunity and investment in the workforce is hugely welcomed. Through this training, pharmacists will be able to further develop their practice to meet the evolving needs of the NHS, support multi-disciplinary teams, and help patients to get the best from their medicines, and support their health and wellbeing.”
Professor Wendy Reid, Executive Director of Education and Quality & National Medical Director, Health Education England said: “Making sure the workforce has the right skills, behaviours and values to enable effective multi-disciplinary team working and integration within the NHS, is key to the long-term sustainability of the NHS.
"The Pharmacy Integration Fund is enabling us to work with our stakeholders to develop this innovative and engaging new training as part of our broader agenda to drive workforce transformation across the NHS to support locally delivered integrated care models."
Community pharmacists can choose to take a single module or range of modules, with different credit values, dependent on their development needs or interests, with a maximum of 60 credits per learner per year (60 credits is equivalent to a postgraduate certificate).
HEE has worked with stakeholders and partners, including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and pharmacy professional bodies, to develop these flexible and accessible blended learning solutions. Courses will cover five strands, which are service improvement; extended skills; patient activation; delivering medicines optimisation; and NHS England priorities.
The Fund has been set up by NHS England to enable pharmacist and pharmacy technician integration in primary care as part of new multi-disciplinary healthcare teams, enhancing and making the most of their skills as clinical practitioners.
The courses will run from March 2018 to March 2019 and the equivalent of up to 2,000 postgraduate certificates are available in total.
Bruce Warner, Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at NHS England, said: " The NHS wants pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to play an increasing clinical role in improving outcomes for patients. The aim is to better integrate pharmacists as clinical professionals into wider primary care by enabling them to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services."
RELATED NEWS:
* Click here to find out how you can use NHS funding to train
* Find out about our Pharmacy courses at a DMU Open Day
* Click here to see our Clinical Pharmacy course pages
The new Post-Registration Pharmacy courses will be delivered across the country by three partner universities secured through the robust procurement process: De Montfort University through a consortium with Keele University; University of Manchester and University of Bath through a consortium. DMU and the University of Bath will also work together to deliver training for community pharmacists based in London.
More information about the training provision for community pharmacists can be found here. For information about the full range of fully-funded workforce development opportunities offered for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, please click here.
Posted on Thursday 25 January 2018