On Monday, NHSE&I published their Interim People Plan.

The plan was developed collaboratively with national leaders and partners and sets a vision for how people working in the NHS will be supported to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan identifying the actions that will be taken to help them.

In a briefing document published alongside the plan, the vision for the pharmacy workforce and, specifically for pharmacy technicians, describes clinical pharmacy technicians supporting the delivery of care to patients in generals practices and residents in care homes as part of multiprofessional teams across primary care networks and community pharmacy technicians practicing at the top of their licence to enable community pharmacy teams to be able to deliver consistent, high-quality care for patients with minor illnesses and support the public to live healthier lives. 

To enable this, cross-sector pre-registration and postgraduate clinical training pathways for pharmacy professionals to assure high-quality care will be introduced along with a professional framework for clinical pharmacy technicians in primary care networks. 

To deliver the workforce goals senior and experienced NHS pharmacists will be appointed as clinical directors of pharmacy and medicines in each integrated care system to provide clinical and professional leadership, with responsibility for overseeing NHS-funded pharmacy services, enhancing medicines optimisation and value, and overseeing the development and deployment of clinical pharmacy staff.  NHSE intend to strengthen the image and reputation of pharmacy teams to attract a larger and wider pool of people to the future pharmacy workforce that will be required to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan. 

In response to the publication, Liz Fidler, President of APTUK, said “APTUK welcome the recommendations and look forward to working with key partners to ensure that the pharmacy technician workforce are able to work at the top of their scope of practice.  The report recognises the importance of the pharmacy technician’s contribution, as part of the multidisciplinary team, around prevention and helping people get the most from their medicines. The proposed training and development frameworks will ensure a safe and capable workforce for the future.”

You can read the Interim People Plan and briefing documents here:

Briefing on Future Plans for the Pharmacy Workforce

Interim NHS People Plan

Interim NHS People Plan: the future pharmacy workforce