Mentoring

Mentoring is a one-to-one professional development relationship, usually between someone seeking professional progression and a more experienced practitioner. It may also be between someone who is seeking to develop new expertise and a professional already active in that area.

Mentoring has been shown to have a positive impact on career development in healthcare, helping to improve confidence and interpersonal skills – of mentors, as well as mentees – and is also known to improve career retention rates and work performance.

Our mentoring service

We are currently developing a mentoring service which will enable pharmacists from all sectors of pharmacy to benefit from the support and guidance of their more experienced colleagues.

At the moment we are piloting the service to determine the value of mentoring in supporting pharmacists who are returning to practice after extended periods of absence. Following the results of this pilot we will either expand the service or test the value of mentoring in other situations such as with newly qualified pharmacists.

It is also hoped that there will be a champion for mentoring in each local practice forum. This will encourage the development of mentoring and the identification of new mentors in each locality, thus ensuring that the service is provided consistently across Britain.

Member benefits

Anyone can benefit from having a mentor and the benefits of the relationship will be particular to each individual, an effective partnership can offer the following:

  • Improved understanding of work issues and different approaches to dealing with them
  • A sounding board for ideas
  • Knowledge from someone in a similar role
  • Opportunities for self-reflection
  • A chance to focus on priorities
  • Increased confidence

The service is particularly relevant for pharmacists at significant stages of their career development. This includes those who are:

  • Moving to a different sector or practice environment
  • Returning to practice after a career break
  • Working in isolated circumstances, eg, locums
  • Seeking to gain experience in advanced and specialist practice areas
  • Newly qualified