Undergraduate Clinical Placements

Introducing clinical placements in the MPharm degree will:

• Meet the new learning objectives set out by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
• Build undergraduate students’ competence and confidence in working as part of multi-professional teams.
• Prepare pharmacy graduates for their foundation training year and registration assessment.  
• Build relationships with stakeholders and potential employers to grow the pharmacy workforce

Tariff funded placements for undergraduate pharmacy students

The Department for Health and Social Care confirmed the addition of undergraduate pharmacy students to the list of professions eligible for education and training tariff from September 2022. This means that schools of pharmacy are now able to plan clinical placements within the MPharm degree that are supported by clinical tariff payment.

Please refer to these Frequently Asked Questions for more information. 

Joint working with pharmacy schools and employers

We are working with schools of pharmacy, employers, pharmacy leaders and other key stakeholders to support the development and implementation of clinical placements within the MPharm degree in England, with an initial focus on:

Preparedness for education and training tariff

Ensuring that pharmacy schools and providers of placements have all the information that they need to understand how clinical placements work, including contractual arrangements, quality monitoring, data gathering and payments.

Educational activities that students participate in while on clinical placement

The development of clinical placements is a critical part of effectively supporting the reform of the initial education and training of pharmacists. Describing how students can safely and effectively develop and practise skills in the clinical placement setting will move placements from being observational to participative.

Stakeholder involvement

We are exploring with key stakeholders how the planned clinical placement activities in MPharm degrees can be achieved in collaboration with employers and placement providers.

Testing and development in 2021/22 Academic Year

In preparation for gaining access to clinical tariff, in the 2021/22 academic year, we worked with schools of pharmacy in England, providing funding to develop and test clinical placement models for students in years 2, 3 and 4 of the MPharm degree.  

Pharmacy Schools in England were invited to apply for HEE funding to start developing these approaches, to extend and enrich clinical learning in all sectors of practice for pharmacy students.

Health Education England commissioned RSM UK Consulting LLP (RSM) and Dr Katie Webb at the School of Medicine at Cardiff University to carry out an evaluation of the pilot. The final report can be found here.

Please contact the national pharmacy team at pharmacyteam@hee.nhs.uk with any additional questions.