Independent Prescribing for Pharmacists

Entry requirements

Confirm you meet the professional entry requirements:

• Applicants are registered as a pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) or, in Northern Ireland, with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
• Applicants are in good standing with the GPhC and/or PSNI and any other healthcare regulator with which they are registered
• Applicants have an identified area of clinical or therapeutic practice in which to develop independent prescribing practice. They must also have relevant clinical or therapeutic experience in that area, which is suitable to act as the foundation of their prescribing practice while training.

Applicants must have a Designated Prescribing Practitioner, the DPP, to support their learning, this is a GPhC requirement. Information about the role is available in the document in this section. It is the responsibility of the applicant to secure this support, you should only apply once you have agreement to support you from the nominated DPP.

• Information on the role of the DPP

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

Train to become an independent prescriber on our postgraduate Non-Medical Prescribing programme for pharmacists. The programme comprises a variety of teaching and learning methods, including in-person study days, self-directed study and online learning.

You will be expected to complete a minimum of 90 hours of learning in practice. Details of our accreditation can be found on the General Pharmaceutical Council website. Since January 2020, this programme has been approved against the new GPhC programme standards.