3
What?
Train more pharmacists to be able to prescribe in more clinical areas
How?
The existing workforce must be supported to undertake training and qualify as pharmacist independent prescribers.
Initial education reforms mean that newly qualified pharmacists will become prescribers at qualification from 2026.
This will allow new and different service models to be commissioned. For this to be deliverable it is essential that the existing workforce is not left behind.
Whilst not all pharmacists will need, or want, to become prescribers, the opportunity should be available to all.
Finding a designated prescribing practitioner should not be a barrier to training as a prescriber.
Finding a supervisor for pharmacists who are considering training as prescriber is paramount.
A robust system must be in place to ensure all pharmacists who want to qualify as a prescriber can be supported by a DPP.
Experienced pharmacist prescribers should be supported, and given time to train and develop the appropriate skills to take on the role of designated practitioner as part of their leadership role.
Prescribers must be supported to expand and change their scope of practice as they develop their careers.
In the 2019 GPhC survey two-thirds of prescribers had changed their scope of practice since their initial training and qualification.
There is some uncertainty on how to achieve this.
There is a need to support pharmacist independent prescribers with guidance of how to expand their current scope of practice and record ongoing competence post qualification.