UEA has been at the forefront of pharmacist postregistration training for more than a decade.
Renowned for innovative, timely educational responses to NHS workforce challenges, our training programmes are fit for contemporary practitioners providing an autonomous pharmaceutical care service in all patient-related settings. Tailored to the requirements of clinically experienced pharmacists, our Independent Prescribing course will support you to become a competent prescriber.
How it works
This is a four-month, part-time course, with three intakes per year – February, June and October.
Each intake group completes the same core module in its four month study period, worth a total of 40 credits. The majority of the course is taught online.
This means that we can accommodate a diverse range of clinical specialities and working arrangements.
Our two face-to-face sessions are held at both Harlow and at UEA in Norwich to increase accessibility and reach.
Working with a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP), you will identify the key skills in examination and diagnostics required for you to perform in a prescribing role, and to pursue competency in these areas.
This course enables you to demonstrate that you have met the required outcomes of an independent prescriber, as set by the GPhC. You will achieve this by attending our study days, completing e-learning, workplace activities, and the learning mutually agreed with the course team and your Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP).
Ten taught sessions take place over four months and all elements are compulsory.
- Two sessions take place face-to-face
- 6 sessions are hosted online
- 2 sessions are used for online assessment
You will complete 90 hours of training under the supervision of a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) in order to develop practical prescribing skills and put study day content into context, known as Learning in Practice hours. You will have identified your DPP and engaged them to support you prior to application.
We take a ‘blended’ approach to teaching and learning in order to promote engagement and develop your critical thinking. Our approach helps you work in collaboration with others and supports lifelong learning. We consider the establishment of professional networks to be vital to the development of reflective practitioners and our teaching methods facilitate this.
The study days are small group, expert-facilitated interactive sessions, responsive to your individual needs and led by experienced pharmacist prescribers and Advanced Clinical Practitioners.
Prior to each of them, you’ll need to complete a study pack, which will provide you with the required knowledge and direct work-based skill development activities to support the learning outcomes for the study day in question.
Tasks and activities are designed to create networking opportunities across organisations to share practice.
In work learning
You will complete 90 hours of training under the supervision of a Designated Prescribing Practitioner in order to develop practical prescribing skills and put study day content into context, known as Learning in Practice hours.
University contact time
Contact time with the university is a chance to use the expert facilitator to help make sense of experiences in the module and in practice so far. The facilitator will guide students through problem solving scenarios based on complex presentations, challenge their view on current healthcare positions and encourage them to be critical thinkers and agents for change. Our contact time is underpinned by Ask Me Anything philosophy, which is why we only use expert facilitators.
Assessment is undertaken at level 7 (Masters) and is coursework-based. It requires a collection of evidence assimilated during the Learning in Practice hours, a simulated online patient consultation and a final portfolio review.
Feedback
UEA is committed to ensuring you upskill. You will receive feedback on formative (draft or practice) assignments to improve your performance in the final assessment.
Successful students will be eligible for the annotation of Independent Prescriber and able to undertake an autonomous prescribing role in their organisation.
- Advanced Clinical Pharmacist
- Primary Care/General Practice Pharmacist
- Service lead
This course is commissioned by National Health Service England (NHSE) to provide access to prescribing training to all eligible pharmacists and your fees may be covered under this access programme.
If unsure, please check your eligibility at Independent Prescribing | Health Education England (hee.nhs.uk).
Course fee - £2240
- Applicants must provide evidence of registration with either the GPhC or the PSNI.
- You must have a named designated prescribing practitioner (DPP) willing to supervise your training.
- You must have arranged a suitable clinical training base in which to undertake the 90 hours of supervised practice under the guidance of your DPP
Prescribers eligible to be a DPP must:
- Be an experienced prescriber in a patient facing role in either a GP practice, secondary care or tertiary care, with a minimum of 3 years prescribing experience with appropriate knowledge and experience relevant to the trainee’s area of clinical practice.
- Have up-to-date patient facing, clinical and diagnostic skills and evidence of demonstrating competence in an area of practice relevant to the field of practice that the pharmacist intends to prescribe.
- Have experience or training in teaching and /or supervision in practice
- Have the support of their employer to undertake the role of a DPP
- Meet the requirements of the DPP role in terms of responsibilities as outlined in A Competency Framework for Designated Prescribing Practitioners (RPS, 2019), DPP competency framework Dec 2019.pdf (rpharms.com) and Standards for the Education and Training of Pharmacist Independent Prescribers (GPhC, 2019), Standards for the education and training of pharmacist independent prescribers (pharmacyregulation.org).