CUHOP welcomes the White Paper.  It articulates a bold vision for the development of pharmacy and pharmacists, much of which is based on research evidence developed by the schools of pharmacy.  It outlines how much more effective use could be made of the knowledge and skills of all members of the pharmacy family to support a high quality service for patients and the public in a way that is safe and cost effective.   CUHOP welcomes the profile that the profession of pharmacy is now achieving, not only with the publication of the White Paper, but also in the two reports led by Professor the Lord Darzi ‘High Quality Care For All’ and ‘A High Quality Workforce’.  But with high profile comes high expectation, and CUHOP is keen to engage with all stakeholders to lead in the reform of pharmacy education.

CUHOP welcomes the White Paper focus of giving pharmacy undergraduates meaningful clinical experience throughout their degree programme, but this must be without diminution of the science that underpins the discovery, development and safe and effective use of medicines.  The White Paper also speaks of seeking to explore whether this can be maximized by integration of the degree programme with the pre-registration training year.  CUHOP acknowledges this bold thinking, but integration of the MPharm and pre-registration year into a 5-year programme is just one possible outcome of several from the reform agenda.  Major advances can be achieved by reform and academic integration of the 4 + 1 model.

No significant reform can be achieved without fundamentally re-working the resourcing of pharmacy education.  The Schools of Pharmacy currently work closely with their local practitioner partners (NHS, community employers and the pharmaceutical industry) to offer pharmacy undergraduates some opportunities for experiential learning.  Experiences differ across Great Britain and most partnerships are heavily dependent on goodwill from all partners.  This is no basis to give students the meaningful clinical context that the White Paper demands.  Two streams of funding are needed – both recognized in the White Paper.  One is to support academia and one to support clinical practice.  Both of these elements are resourced in undergraduate medical and dental education through universities receiving band A funding and clinical practice receiving Service Increment for Teaching (SIFT) funding.  The challenge and one which CUHOP wishes to engage with enthusiasm, is to secure such funding to educate and train pharmacists, noting that we have additional and crucially important stakeholders outside of the NHS.