Newly Qualified Pharmacist pathway

Step on to the pathway

The goal is to establish lifelong learning along the pharmacy education and career continuum. 

This optional pathway is designed for learners across all sectors of pharmacy, to help them meet their development needs as they enter newly qualified practice. This will enable pharmacists to demonstrate their capabilities and should facilitate a more flexible workforce who can move between sectors.

Core elements

By working with partners and stakeholders, we have identified four core elements that will contribute to developing newly qualified pharmacists' learning and growth:

• curriculum: The RPS post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum is designed to support pharmacists grow from meeting the initial standards of education and training through to being confident practitioners who can provide increasingly complex care. This video gives an overview of the learning outcomes and curriculum domains
• access to the RPS e-portfolio*: This has been developed to support learners assess their learning needs, develop an action plan, and reflect upon their experiences. You can access the RPS e-Portfolio by following this link. Please note:
  • you do not need to be a member of the RPS to log in to the e-portfolio
  • *Learners may use alternative e-portfolio platforms, provided they are mapped to the RPS post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum learning outcomes
• access to supervision: We will support access to supervision for all pharmacists on this pathway. You can find out more information about this on the newly qualified pharmacist pathway information for educational supervisors webpage
• learning resources: Curated resources have been mapped against the new curriculum domains. This virtual library will support the professional development of newly qualified pharmacists, based on their individual learning needs, and can complement resources available locally

Pathway delivery

This learner-led pathway has been designed to integrate with work commitments and complement existing workplace and postgraduate learning. It is designed to provide a consistent approach to training across service providers and across organisations.

There will be no mandated assessments or time out of practice. Structured learning events (SLEs) will take place in the workplace, enabling your educational supervisor greater flexibility and responsibility over assessing your progress against the RPS post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum.

Benefits

The pathway is designed to help you develop and progress in your role by:

• offering you the opportunity to assess your own progress against the RPS post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum learning outcomes
• providing you with access to a funded e-portfolio for professional development: helping you to assess your learning needs, develop an action plan and reflect upon your experiences over time
• providing you with access to a virtual library of resources which are mapped against the RPS post-registration foundation curriculum to help develop your professional skills
• facilitating access to educational supervisor support in the workplace
• promoting learning in the workplace and practical application of knowledge through the completion of supervised learning events, enabling you to receive feedback and improve performance
• preparing you for a future independent prescribing qualification by helping develop the skills and competence you will need to start building prescribing competence ahead of completing a course
• facilitating career development and preparing you for your progression into enhanced or advanced practice

Independent prescribing

The GPhC has removed the requirement of two years’ practice needed before starting an independent prescribing course.*

It has been replaced by the following requirement:

“applicants must… have relevant experience in a pharmacy setting and be able to recognise, understand and articulate the skills and attributes required by a prescriber. Applicants must also identify an area of clinical or therapeutic practice on which to base their learning.”

The newly qualified pharmacist pathway does not include an independent prescribing qualification. It is, however, mapped to the RPS post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum learning outcomes which have been designed to develop prescribing competence. Using these learning outcomes will help you to develop the skills and competence you need to prepare for a prescribing course, and achieve the requirement listed above.

Find out more about our work to support independent prescriber training for pharmacists

*Although the GPHC has removed the requirement for two years’ practice before completing an independent prescribing qualification, universities providing accredited courses will need to continue to apply the previous entry requirements until they have been approved against the revised standards. Your chosen university will have more information about their specific entry requirements.