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Improving prescribing supervision access and capacity: Teach and Treat clinics pilot

Contents

Building on success: The South West teach and treat pilot

The original South West teach and treat pilot was designed to provide community pharmacists with access to designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs), enabling them to have access to an NHSE accredited prescribing qualification. This initiative was crucial in supporting the development of new, system-level models for prescribing learning and supervision, paving the way for broader access to independent prescribing opportunities across the community pharmacy workforce.

What’s new: The national expansion

Following the success of the Southwest pilot, the national teach and treat programme expands this model to a national community pharmacy audience. The expanded initiative focuses on:

  • access to DPPs: Community pharmacists across the country will now have access to DPPs through innovative and flexible models that support individual learning and growth
  • creating new learning models: This national expansion will continue to demonstrate the development of new system-level models for prescribing learning and supervision, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes
  • innovative supervision settings: The pilot introduces creative approaches to prescribing supervision that are adaptable to the unique needs of each pharmacy system and workforce

Impact and future vision

The national rollout aims to empower community pharmacists with the tools, resources, and support needed to access and expand their prescribing capabilities. This will not only enhance workforce capacity but will also contribute to the broader goals of improving healthcare delivery in community settings.

We are excited to see how these innovative models continue to shape the future of community pharmacy practice and support the expansion of independent prescribing across the nation.

Please contact your regional NHS England pharmacy team to find out more about what is happening in your area.

Contact details

Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to monitor and share the progress of this important initiative.

 

South West teach and treat pilot

The South West region piloted the new ‘teach and treat’ clinics in 2022/23. This initiative successfully supported the establishment of system-led improved prescribing supervision capacity that allowed many community pharmacists to become independent prescribers. 

Addressing the challenge: Independent prescribing training and supervision requirements

Two of the key requirements for completing independent prescribing training are:

  • to have a prescribing learning environment with an appropriate patient group
  • supervision by an experienced prescriber called a DPP

As part of the prescribing course, trainee prescribers typically need to complete 90 hours of appropriate practice-based learning, with supervision from their DPP.

There is a particular challenge for community pharmacists learning to be prescribers, as prescribing services are not routinely present in the setting. Community pharmacists must often therefore seek a prescribing learning environment and supervision from a DPP in another organisation, such as secondary care or general practice.

One of the aims of the teach and treat clinic pilot was to test this model as a way of supporting cross-sectoral support for prescribing training.

Novel intervention

The aim was to create supervision capacity within an Integrated Care System (ICS) that is then maintained, with the system supporting the ongoing training and development of its workforce.  

The learning that can be taken from this pilot will help to develop the evidence base for effective interventions to build prescribing training access and improve supervision access and capacity. 

Pilot results 

This pilot explored a range of factors relating to prescribing training, including suitable areas of clinical practice, enablers to cross-sectoral supervision and supervision ratios.

The systems piloting the Teach and Treat clinics were:

  • Gloucestershire
  • BNSSG (Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire)
  • BSW (Bath, Swindon, Wiltshire)
  • Somerset
  • Devon
  • Cornwall

Teach and Treat pilot results

South west case studies

The pilot links with other exciting initiatives, such as expanding independent prescribing capacity across the NHS and improving multi-professional supervision access and capacity.

Find out more about independent prescribing

We continue to develop our funded training offers for pharmacists aiming to become independent prescribers. Find out about the current provision on our website.

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