Health Education England (HEE) aims to deliver a responsive pharmacy workforce in the UK, equipped with the skills to deliver a clinical service across all care settings, and adapted to new ways of working. This supports the NHS’s plan to make more appropriate use of pharmacy professionals’ clinical skills, helping patients get the right care, at the right time, in the right place.
HEE’s Pharmacist Education and Training Reforms (PETR) programme sought to facilitate a wider change in the profession and the role of pharmacy in healthcare. It aimed to deliver a responsive pharmacy workforce equipped with the skills to deliver a clinical service across all care settings and adapt to new ways of working.
HEE recognised it was essential for pre-registration pharmacist recruitment and selection to be reliable, valid, acceptable, cost effective and fair, to have a positive impact on education, training and quality in the profession. So, Business Psychologists at Work Psychology Group (WPG) were commissioned to work on the PETR programme. They supported the development of a national recruitment process for all pre-registration trainee pharmacists across hospitals, community pharmacies and general practice. This is their account of the experience.