Trainee Pharmacists Foundation Year – would you like to participate
💊 Trainee Pharmacist Placement Opportunities
Are you interested in employing trainee Pharmacists or offering training placements as part of their training?
If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss how your organisation can get involved.
📩 Caroline Quinn
Trainee Pharmacist Lead
📧 [email protected]
Why Get Involved?
From the 2025/26 training year, all trainee Pharmacists will qualify as independent prescribers upon registration. To support this change, structured, high-quality training placements are more important than ever.
By offering a placement or employing a trainee pharmacist, your organisation can:
- 👩⚕️ Support the next generation of Pharmacists
- 💷 Access £26,500 in training support funding per trainee
- 🤝 Build stronger partnerships across Pharmacy sectors and showcase community Pharmacy as a place to work
🔄 What’s Changing?
Significant reforms have been introduced in the training of Pharmacists:
- Mandatory Recruitment via Oriel
From 2025/26, all trainees must be recruited through Oriel, the national recruitment scheme, to be eligible for NHS England (NHSE) training support funding. - Independent Prescribing Qualification
All newly registered pharmacists will qualify as independent prescribers at the point of registration. - Multi-Sector Placements
Strongly encouraged and expected to become mandatory by 2027/28.
🏥 What Is a Multi-Sector Programme?
Multi-sector training placements provide experience in two or more sectors, each lasting 13 weeks or more.
Currently each programme must include at least 26 weeks in a patient-facing setting (e.g. community pharmacy, hospital, GP practice)
🤝 Employer vs. Placement Provider
Employer
- Employs the trainee Pharmacist directly
- Pays their salary
- Eligible to claim the £26,500 NHSE training support funding
Placement Provider
- Offers a placement as part of a multi-sector programme
- Works in partnership with the employer to deliver a full, well-rounded training experience
📅 Ready to Get Involved?
It’s now too late to join the 2025/26 or 2026/27 training years, but we are actively planning for 2027/28.
To express interest or learn more, please contact:
📩 Caroline Quinn
Trainee Pharmacist Lead
📧 [email protected]
📚 Useful Resources
- Pharmacist Support The foundation trainee pharmacist training grant webpage
- Oriel national recruitment website
- Foundation Trainee Pharmacist National Recruitment Scheme | NHS England Workforce, Training and Education Pharmacy
- GPhC Pharmacist foundation training scheme webpage
