Training & development

Community pharmacy is changing and in the future pharmacists’ medical expertise will be crucial in delivering NHS England’s Long-Term Plan.  All pharmacy team members will have opportunities to update their skills to help them provide the services the NHS needs.

A number of national (and local) organisations develop and design learning resources and campaigns for pharmacy professionals at all stages of their career to help improve performance, boost productivity and keep community pharmacists, and their staff teams, abreast of industry developments as they happen.

Your LPCs (and PSNC) also deliver practical, up-to-the-minute learning on topical issues that can be applied straight away, usually by webinar. See our ‘events’.

Learning recommendations email from your LPCs is sent directly to all community pharmacists on our mailing list. Sign up to our mailing list here:

  • Issue 1 | January 2020  Our pick of some upcoming events, training and things to do taking place in Sussex and Surrey over the coming weeks and months
  • Suspended during the Covid-19 crisis

These sections are refreshed often so keep checking back regularly

Training by provider

Click on a heading below for more information. 

Primary & community care training hubs

This diagram is on p5 presentation called “Delivering the primary care workforce training & education ambition (oct 19)“

A training hub brings together education and training in primary and community care within an area to deliver the primary care workforce training and education ambition of the Long Term Plan. 

By March 2020 training hubs will achieved a level of maturity to support their ICSs/STPs/PCNs with their priority workforce areas. Surrey and Sussex has five training hubs, which the LPCs contribute to:  

Coastal Education and Workforce Hub (CEWH) | East Sussex Training Hub | Mid Downs Training Hub | Surrey Training Hub | Brighton & Hove Learning Together Training Hub |  Frimley Training Hub

More information

Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE)

CPPEs purpose is to help you fulfil your potential and they offer a range of creative learning opportunities to do just that. Training opportunities include training for services provision, which may be linked in with other information about service delivery such as health checks or sexual health services or NHS priorities.

CPPE offer a number of training types: distance learning  | e-assessments  | e-courses  | e-learning |  e- workshops  |  focal point workshops  | learn-on-the-go  | workshops  | optimise

CPPE Workshops Summer 2021 (1)

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Health Education England (HEE)

Health Education England (HEE) exists for one reason only: to support the delivery of excellent healthcare and health improvement to the patients and public of England.

Working across the south east, they ensure that the workforce of today and tomorrow has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours, at the right time and in the right place. Read more

Here is Atif Shamin, HEE’s associate head of pharmacy for London and the South East talking about the importance of their 2021 workforce survey

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Pharmacy integration fund (PhIF)

The Pharmacy Integration Fund – set aside by the government in 2016 is to be invested over five years to transform how pharmacy will operate in the NHS.

More information

Organised by Community Pharmacy Surrey & Sussex (on behalf of the LPCs)

Watch-on-demand.

    • TCAM:  Training webinar for Community Pharmacists (March 2019) –  Duration 22 minutes:
      • Benefits of TCAM and why it is important (scroll to: 12 minutes 23 seconds)
      • How to link TCAM to existing services such as MUR and NMS (scroll to: 13 minutes, 30 seconds)
      • What will TCAM mean for your community pharmacy (scroll to: 16 minutes, 7 seconds)
      • What you need to do to get your community pharmacy TCAM ready (scroll to: 20 minutes 47 seconds)
      • Who to contact if you need more information or training (scroll to: 22 minutes 15 seconds)
    • Area managers: laying the foundations for a long and mutually beneficial and productive relationship between the LPC and pharmacy area managers, AND at the same time doing our bit to help make their complex role a wee bit easier. Wednesday 13 November 2019 (60 minutes). View on-demand

Clinical education

    • Supporting appropriate use of oral anticoagulant therapy: An education event repeated at three locations in Jan/Feb 2020, led by UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) in conjunction with local pharmacy leaders. Read more

More information

Training by topic

Click on a heading below for more information

Flu: is my LPC arranging local flu training this year?

The content below relates to 2020/21 Flu season. It will be updated when information about 2021/22 season is known. Traditionally this information is available to us in the summer.  Until then the information may be useful to you.

If you have urgent and specific enquiries about Flu training in 2021/22 please email us at LPC@communitypharmacyss.co.uk 

    • The three LPCs in Sussex and Surrey have decided not to offer local flu training in 2020 because there is now a significant number of providers now providing this training either online or face-to-face.
    • Contractors and pharmacists should also be aware of the following statement issued by NHS England and Public Health England (PHE) regarding training for this year:

 As at 1 September 2020, anyone who is due to undertake annual online refresher training, but has done so within the previous 18 months, does not have to do the training again for the 2020/21 season (although they may do so if they wish).  However, they must ensure that they are familiar with the various documents to support the season, including choice of vaccine and contents of the annual flu letter

    • Also note the PHE intend to update the HEE flu e-learning programme (available to all, free of charge at https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/flu-immunisation/) for the 2020/21 flu season. Those pharmacists who previously received immunisation training/had a role in immunisation in the past can undertake the assessment session before they undertake the whole knowledge session to see if there are gaps in their knowledge where they feel less confident. For those with some familiarity with immunisation, reading through the knowledge sessions should be relatively quick.

If it this is your first flu vaccinations season, you will need to find a training provider. The PSNC website lists a summary of the them – see http://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/advanced-services/flu-vaccination-service/flu-vaccination-training/  Scroll right down to training providers and expand the section, where you will find over 15 providers

NHS priorities

Whether it’s to prepare for the next pharmacy quality scheme (PQS) deadline, or to increase your confidence in helping people with a learning disability, CPPE have a section on their website with topic-specific pages that link to current NHS priorities. The section will also support you in keeping your knowledge and skills up to date in order to provide high-quality pharmacy services and be service-ready. 

Antimicrobial resistance |  Care homes | Child health | Consultation skills (foundation) |  Consultation skills (advanced) |  Education |  General practice | Leadership |  Learning disabilities| Management | Medication review | Medicines reconciliation | New medicines service |  Older people | Patient safety |  Pharmacy technicians |  Prescribing | Prisons |Repeat dispensing |  Return to practice |  Revalidation |  Safeguarding |  Sepsis | Summary Care Records |  Transfer of care |  Urgent care

Public health

The public health agenda is embedded in pharmacy, yet topics such as emergency contraception or stop smoking support are as prevalent as ever. As well as public health workshops, pharmacies should use this section to access a wide range of resources to assure and maintain competence, all underpinned by the Declaration of Competence system.

Continued professional development

Click on a heading below for more information

Learning pathways for pharmacists at different stages in their career

Developing your career | Providing pharmacy services | Enhancing your skills | Clinical pharmacy and therapeutics | Supporting educators and trainers| Supporting you

Pharmacy technicians

This section is under construction please contact us at lpc@communitypharmacyss.co.uk if you need information about this topic

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