PGCert INDEPENDENT AND SUPPLEMENTARY PRESCRIBING FOR PHARMACISTS

Application requirements

1. 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 must have at least two years' appropriate patient-orientated experience post registration, in a relevant UK practice setting
• 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.

2. 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 below. 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

3. You should confirm you are able to attend all the study days using the enrolment timetable in the upcoming cohort enrolment information. If you are unable to attend all of the study days, your success in gaining a place on the course may be affected — please consider applying for the next cohort.

4. Complete a statement of purpose.

5. Prepare the following documents, as you will need to provide all of these documents during the application process:

• DPP Declaration
• Workplace-based learning declaration
• Applicant checklist

If you are being part or fully sponsored: Proof of funding (Some NHS organisations require a Purchase Order number for the payment of invoices. This must be stated on this letter to ensure invoices are paid promptly). If you are self-funding, or doing your learning in practice hours with an organisation who is not your employer, the Self-funding declaration.

If you are being supported by the Pharmacy Integration Fund (see 'How much will it cost?') you will need to upload a confirmation email from your Educational Supervisor or Health Education England as proof of funding.

How to apply:

To apply to the programme, you need to use the University's online portal.

6. Access the online application portal.

All communication from the application system is via automated email. Some National Health Service (NHS) email servers flag these email addresses as spam, so we recommend using a personal email address to ensure you receive all communications at this stage. Once you have started an application, the system will email you to remind you to start, and/or complete your application at regular intervals. If your account is flagged as dormant for three or more weeks, your application may be automatically removed.

7. Once you have created an account, select your programme choice from the drop-down menu:

• Postgraduate Certificate in Independent and Supplementary Prescribing for Pharmacists

8. Complete all the required fields (marked with an asterisk *) and upload all of the documents stated above (step 4 and 5).

Make sure you upload your statement of purpose to the 'statement of purpose' field in the application portal.

The application portal cannot accept multiple uploads. Therefore, you will need to scan the documents from step 5 into one document. If you are supplying a transcript, you can submit your combined documents to the 'other' field. If you are not supplying a transcript, you can submit your combined documents into the compulsory 'transcript' field instead of a transcript. Failure to submit all of the required documentation in a timely manner may affect our decision whether to accept you on the course.

9. References

Once you have submitted an application, an automatic email will be sent to your referees (if you have provided an email address for them). It is your responsibility to make sure that your referee supplies a reference. We would therefore advise that you contact them in advance of submitting an application so that they have time to prepare a reference. They can use our template to prepare their reference in advance. Please also note that emails from the application system may be sent to their 'spam' folder and they should check there for the email if they have not received it when expected. 

If you have not completed postgraduate study, you can provide details of two non-academic referees. A suitable non-academic referee is typically a past or current employer, or your pre-registration tutor or diploma supervisor.

10. Attending an interview

As part of the application process, students may be asked to attend an interview. This enables us to determine your suitability for the programme against the entry criteria and find out further information about your experience.

The provisional interview dates are stated above under the upcoming cohort enrolment information.  Interviews will take place online using Microsoft Teams.

11. The outcome of your application

Applications are reviewed throughout the year. However, the greater the number of applications we receive, the longer it may take to inform you of the outcome. Applicants cannot enrol until all the documentation is received and an unconditional offer is made, the usual deadline for this is two weeks before the start of the programme.  Therefore, at the latest, we will notify successful applicants two weeks before the start of the programme.

Due to the high volume of applications we are receiving at present, we are unable to provide individualised feedback if you are unsuccessful.

Financial support for your studies

The fees listed above are for courses starting in September 2020, January 2021 and May 2021.

Applicants can be fully or partly sponsored by their employer to undertake the programme. There is information on how to provide proof of sponsorship in the 'Entry requirements' section above.

If you think you are eligible for a Pharmacy Integration Fund commissioned place, you can confirm this using the information on the Pharmacy Integration Fund site. As stated in the fact sheet, you will not need to provide a sponsor letter but need to upload an email proof of eligibility with your application.

For all other potential HEE sponsorship/commissioned options, you should contact your local HEE Branch Educational Commission Manager.

Our programmes are focused on developing your professional competence and confidence. Network with other healthcare professionals from a range of employers and sectors to help identify future career options. The academic credits from this programme can also be used towards our PGDip Foundation Pharmacy Practice or MSc in Advancing Healthcare Practice programme.

We also offer a Certificate in Advanced History Taking and Clinical Assessment, a three month module which can be studied before or after the prescribing programme. Please contact cippet@reading.ac.uk for more information. 

We can also offer advice to help you meet your professional regulator revalidation requirements and/or leadership body credentialing processes and support you in building a personal learning plan to enhance your career prospects.