Pharmacy Integration Programme

In November 2021, NHS England invested £15.9m for phase two of the pharmacy integration programme to support the expansion of frontline pharmacy professionals in primary care and community up until March 2025.

What's new: The national expansion of the teach and treat programme.

Phase two of the pharmacy integration programme 2021-2025 invested in providing registered pharmacy professionals with advanced clinical training, including independent prescribing, to help them thrive in integrated multi-professional teams in community and primary care. This initiative, part of broader pharmacy education reforms, addressed workforce needs and supported flexible, collaborative, patient-centred care.

Live offers

LIVE OFFER: Independent prescribing for pharmacists 2025/26

LIVE OFFER: National teach and treat programme 2025/26

What the pharmacy integration programme delivered

This phase of the pharmacy integration programme focused on:

• clinical examination skills training for community pharmacists
• independent prescribing
• advancing the role of community pharmacy technicians
• increased access to educational, prescribing, and clinical supervisors
• portfolio recognition and improved access to approved courses for pharmacy professionals in primary care
• general practice pharmacy technician medicine optimisation training programme

The diagram below highlights achievements from 2021-2025 and the positive impact on the pharmacy workforce.

PhIP Infographic- Final April 2025 (PDF only, 408KB)

Clinical examination skills training for community pharmacists

The NHS extends a big thank you to those community pharmacists who have engaged with the CliniSkills training.

The range of training targeted hands-on clinical examination skills that are vital for community pharmacists to confidently assess patients’ clinical signs and symptoms when managing clinical cases routinely presenting to community pharmacies each day.  A flexible and responsive on-line eLearning system has been successful in presenting key information in a way that can be interfaced with a busy working schedule. These principles were supported with the opportunity to undertake face to face training days, enabling hands-on practise and refinement of patient assessment techniques.

Material in on-line modules included structured history taking, dermatology, cardiology (segmented into the 5 key subjects), ENT and paediatrics, and focused on identifying red flags for referral and establishing those patients who can be managed appropriately in the community pharmacy using medications, self-care advice and safety netting information.

In this way the CliniSkills training programme has supported the clinical development of community pharmacists, which is key to the future delivery of expanding pharmaceutical care services in the community and in particular the successful delivery of the 'pharmacy first' initiative.

We are now evaluating the detail of the successes of the training in terms of how community pharmacists were supported and developed and will release findings with our partner, Cliniskills. This evidence base will then be used to inform future developments.

Independent Prescribing

Applications for training offers with start dates up to March 2026 are open.

If you would like to be added to our distribution list for future information, please register your interest.

Find out more, including answers to FAQs, on the independent prescribing web page. 

Community pharmacy technician: advancing your role

This training supported pharmacy technicians to develop the knowledge and clinical skills required to deliver highly effective clinical services in community pharmacy and was delivered by CPPE. This training enabled pharmacy technicians to support clinical service expansion and increase patient access to clinical services.

The training was available as several modules and flexible in its design, to accommodate the working patterns of pharmacy technicians in community pharmacy.

Increasing access to educational, prescribing, and clinical supervisors for pharmacy professionals

Access to clinical, education and prescribing supervision is a key challenge facing the pharmacy workforce.

NHS England provided two fully funded supervisor training programmes, delivered by ProPharmace. The training ensured those involved in education supervision, including designated supervisors and designated prescribing practitioners, were confident to provide support and developmental aid to the pharmacy workforce.

The continuing need to support the existing pharmacist workforce to complete post-registration independent prescribing training requires increased prescribing supervision capacity.

Work to date has focused on the following areas:

• improving information and communication for and with potential independent prescribers and their supervisors
• exploring the consistency of approach to the supervision of IP learners by IP course providers
• sharing examples of novel models of supervision of IP learners in practice

For more information, please visit supervision for pharmacist independent prescriber training.

Portfolio recognition route and improved access to approved courses for pharmacy professionals working in primary care

For pharmacists:

We have worked with key stakeholders to develop a framework for pharmacists working in general practice, to evidence where their practice meets the RPS post-registration foundation curriculum outcomes. This will support pharmacists in the early stages of their career in general practice.

Whilst some examples of evidence have been provided, this is not exhaustive. We encourage you to use the framework, make changes as needed and share if required with colleagues, but ask that you reference the original document and its creators (noted below) in any subsequent versions you create.

Many thanks to the contributors of this work, particularly:

• NHS Sussex
• Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA)
• Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE)

General practice pharmacist foundation framework

For pharmacy technicians: General practice pharmacy technician medicine optimisation training programme

In winter 2023, NHS England offered 100 funded places on the general practice pharmacy technician medicines optimisation training programme delivered by pharmacy workforce development south. Places were allocated on a first-come, first-served basis to pharmacy technicians who met the required eligibility criteria.

The general practice pharmacy technician training programme supported pharmacy technicians to demonstrate that they can safely deploy the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for safe practice, relevant to their role, and provided the assurance needed for safe delegation of tasks and practice autonomy.

The programme was primarily aimed at pharmacy technicians who are predominantly working within a GP setting and was approved against the UK-wide APTUK/PCPA national competency framework for primary care pharmacy technicians.

Visit pharmacy workforce development south to find out more.

What’s new: The national expansion of the teach and treat programme

The national teach and treat programme is an expansion of the successful pilot in the Southwest.

The programme invests in community pharmacists by training more independent prescribers. This enables new care models, such as supporting patients from diagnosis to prescribing, providing advice and follow up, which in turn can help free up GP appointments.

The programme connects community pharmacists with designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs) for learning and supervision, fostering cross-sector collaboration to enhance clinical care.

Further information is available by visiting Improving prescribing supervision access and capacity: Teach and treat clinics pilot.

Any questions?

Please contact: england.pharmacyteam@nhs.net