Pharmacy Apprenticeships & Training
Apprenticeships
Pharmacy Apprenticeships are available at both Level 2 (Healthcare/Dispensing Assistant) and Level 3 (Pharmacy Technicians). The pharmacy is responsible for the salary of the staff member but the training can be funded in one of the following ways:
1. Apprenticeship Levy – Employers with a pay bill over £3 million each year, pay the apprenticeship levy. Levy paying employers can spend their apprenticeship levy funding on apprenticeship training.
2. Reserve government co-investment – If you don’t pay the apprenticeship levy you can reserve funding, where the government pays 95% of the training costs and the employer pays the remaining 5%. (This equates to around £250 for the Level 2 apprenticeship, and £400 for the Level 3.)
3. Levy Transfers – Levy paying employers can transfer some of their annual levy to other employers. These transfers cover 100% of the training costs of the apprenticeship.
There are a number of different providers who deliver the qualifications which can be found on the GPhC website:
HEE offered funding (including salaries) to support the expansion of Pre-registration Trainee Pharmacy Technician programme last year and we are waiting to hear whether this will be offered again.
Training
For qualified pharmacy technicians, there are several options for further development:
- Courses delivered by CPPE
- The Consultation Skills for Pharmacy Practice
- Leadership courses such as the Edward Jenner programme
- Buttercups Training provides courses and programmes for the healthcare team, including public health, community pharmacy, accuracy checking and communication skills (some carry a cost).
- The National Pharmacy Association supports community pharmacy teams with a catalogue of training and development courses (some carry a cost).
- The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has a number of resources which are available to non-members, with plenty of material freely available in the ultimate guides and hubs section.
- eLearning for Healthcare provides a wide variety of on-line e-learning for all healthcare staff.
- FutureLearn free online courses on a wide variety of topics from science and innovation to health, diseases and patient care
- MORPh offer wide range of educational sessions, academies and our educational platform to help those working in Primary Care to progress their CPD while enhancing both their confidence and their competence
- Understanding Genomics from Genomics England, watch short films on genomics, DNA, cancer treatments, rare diseases and family stories
