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NHS Education for Scotland

A skilled and sustainable workforce for a healthier Scotland

Pharmacy - responding to a changed world

Pharmacy - responding to a changed world

Pharmacy - responding to a changed world

The COVID-19 period has posed a number of challenges, both immediate and longer term to the world of Pharmacy education, in particular social distancing requirements. The NES Pharmacy team has been at the forefront of significant change, working with stakeholders to secure and enhance education and training for the future.

Curriculum redesign of the NES Pre-Registration Pharmacist Scheme (PRPS)



Due to the social distancing restrictions NES Pharmacy has rapidly and radically reviewed how the PRPS programme is being delivered in 2020-21.

Between April and June 2020, the NES Pharmacy team collaborated with key stakeholders to rapidly review all learning outcomes previously supported by the pre-registration programme. All learning outcomes were assessed to determine the most appropriate format of education to identify how eight ‘face to face’ tutorials could be reimagined, both to meet new requirements and to increase flexibility and efficiency.

For the 2020/21 training year, pre-registration trainees have access to a blended, structure online educational programme consisting of online modules and resources, with complementary live webinars and pre-recorded presentations from specialist practitioners. Instead of full day sessions, education is being delivered in small chunks which have been aligned to core learning outcomes. Trainees have greater flexibility to undertake their learning when and where suits them, yet they still have access to peers, specialists and core NES staff via online meetings.

Support for Provisionally registered Pharmacists

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) registration assessment is the final requirement for GPhC registration following successful completion of the MPharm degree and pre-registration training. Due to distancing restrictions the pre-registration assessments scheduled for June and September 2020 were postponed. Pending successful completion of the rescheduled assessment, the GPhC has agreed a policy for registering pharmacists on a provisional basis to allow pre-registration trainees to begin working from 1 August 2020.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) has created Turas Learn pages to support both provisional registrants and their supporting senior pharmacist in these new roles.

These pages offer:

  • support preparing for the GPhC registration assessment
  • signposting to resources that may help in practice and enable provisional registrants to practise competently and professionally
  • signposting to training for those in the role of senior pharmacist
  • advice on registering for the NES Foundation Training Programme
  • contact e-mail addresses for the NES team for questions or pastoral care advice
  • support in terms of mental health and wellbeing

Delivering face-to-face assessment in a virtual world for the Pharmacist Foundation Training Programme

This Programme’s final assessment is a critical career progression point after which pharmacists progress to postgraduate qualifications and more advanced pharmacist positions. Within the COVID-19 environment the face-to-face assessments were redesigned to be delivered virtually using MS Teams. In August 2020 the team ran the first virtual assessment for 10 trainees. The delivery included sessions to prepare facilitators, assessors and foundation pharmacists as well as the assessment itself. Each face-to-face assessment was delivered in a virtual room in which there was a facilitator, assessor and trainee. There are many developments that we will use when returning to face-to-face assessments particularly the capturing of the outcomes digitally in ‘real time’ which generated efficiencies.

Introducing prescriber prepared skills for Foundation pharmacists in training as NHS Scotland remobilises



General Pharmaceutical Council regulations stipulate that pharmacists must have worked in a relevant, patient-facing area for two years before applying to train as an Independent Prescriber.

Historically, training pharmacists in the skills to become a prescriber has commenced after the completion of the two year Foundation Training programme to comply with the regulations. However, as the value of pharmacists as prescribers becomes increasingly clear, there is a need to develop the confidence and competence of our foundation pharmacists in skills such as; clinical assessment, decision making and consultation.

For this reason, in August 2020 at the NHS Louisa Jordan Hospital, the pharmacy team piloted two face-to-face training sessions with a cohort of 30 of our current foundation pharmacists from across Scotland. The session was run with clinical educators from pharmacy, medicine and nursing professions. The sessions will be evaluated and reviewed, and a plan will be developed to roll out further training across NHS Scotland.

Advanced GPCP Learning Pathway

NES Pharmacy has moved to supporting pharmacists working in general practice to develop advanced practice in their role online instead of via face-to-face whole-day events. The General Practice Clinical Pharmacist (GPCP) learning pathway uses a blended learning approach with relevant e-learning modules, videos and resources hosted on TURAS Learn for participants to access at suitable times for them. This is supplemented by monthly small group discussions (8 participants per group) and interactive activities via Microsoft Teams to develop peer support networks. Monthly sessions last 60-90 minutes each and will initially run for 12 months. The first Cohort of 48 pharmacists start mid-September 2020 with plans for the next cohort to begin in January 2021.


September, 23 2020