The accuracy checking pharmacy technician (ACPT) pilot programme is being extended for its final three months

The ACPT programme, originally available in London, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, is now open for applications from pharmacy technicians working in community pharmacies across England, until September 2018.

A training and development programme that can last up to 12 months, the course aims to support pharmacy technicians to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to provide the final accuracy check of dispensed medicines that have been clinically screened or approved by a pharmacist, and assembled and labelled by another team member.

It aims to support pharmacy technicians to meet a range of competencies during training in order to deliver safe and effective patient care, and includes tasks that will develop pharmacy technicians’ leadership skills to support the team and drive performance.

Benefit the team

The ACPT programme can benefit the whole pharmacy team by providing training to allow pharmacy technicians to take on extra responsibilities in the accuracy checking of dispensed medicines.

Pharmacy technicians who complete the programme will be equipped with the knowledge, skills and behaviour to provide:

• Final accuracy checks of medicines that have been approved or clinically screened by a pharmacist
• Leadership in their practice
• Optimisation of the skill mix in the pharmacy team.

Learning consists of eight hours of online study (which can be broken down into smaller blocks) and collation of checking logs in the workplace.

The online and workplacebased nature of the programme is designed to ensure minimal disruption to day-to-day activities in the workplace. This blended approach to learning includes resources for self-directed study, e-learning and practice-based activities.

Entry criteria

Before applying, pharmacy technicians should check the entry criteria to ensure they are eligible to enrol on the programme, fill out the declaration of dispensing accuracy form, complete the accuracy checking pharmacy technician programme (an e-learning programme for ACPT trainees and educational supervisors) and complete the accuracy checking pharmacy technician programme (2017) e-assessment.

The updated ACPT page on the CPPE website contains more information. Further questions are answered in CPPE’s FAQ document or in the ACPT programme handbook. For any outstanding questions, CPPE can be emailed at info@cppe.ac.uk

Once booked onto a place, the person will be sent a link to register for the online learning.