Integrating prescribing training into the pharmacist foundation training year across South East London integrated care system

NHS England Workforce, Training & Education Directorate (formerly HEE) will have responsibility for oversight and quality of foundation year training and assessment for all trainee pharmacists in England. This will include independent prescribing at the point of registration in 2026. Therefore, training sites in the NHS managed sector, primary care and community pharmacy must develop and action strategies that integrate prescribing training into the foundation year.

We aim to co-design and evaluate sustainable and scalable models of prescribing training and prescribing supervision across the sectors of practice. This will include developing ‘trained and ready’ designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs) across the integrated care system (ICS), ahead of the 2025/26 foundation year cohort.

We expect at least 3 different models of prescribing training and supervision to emerge out of the co-design process, with variations in ‘scope of practice’, learning in practice time and activities, as well as the nature of supervision. The project will help define ‘scope of practice’ for pharmacist prescribing at the point of registration and upskill pharmacist prescribers across the ICS to become DPPs. The evaluation will inform training sites’ training plans for subsequent trainee cohorts.