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The National Health Service (NHS) retention programme has benefitted 23 NHS Trusts since it launched in April 2022, with thousands fewer staff leaving frontline roles. NHS data showed that 14,000 fewer staff left the service in the 12 months up to August 2023 (108,890) compared to 122,970 the year before. In a statement released on Thursday, the NHS England said it is expanding the pilot programme across the country to benefit 42 more NHS trusts. The programme is part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan ambition to retain up to 128,000 more staff over the next 15 years in addition to training record numbers of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Under this new initiative, NHS staff are being offered extra flexibility with working hours, clinical 'support squads' have been introduced to help menopausal women at work, and HR 'stay advocates' are designated to identify ways to keep staff on the brink of leaving.

The NHS plans to train hundreds of pharmacy staff, expanding their ability to provide advanced clinical services and assume wider roles in dispensing medicines. With a targeted launch in September, up to 840 pharmacy technicians can join in the training programme. The online modules will cover consultation skills, therapeutics, clinical decision-making, assessment skills, and service improvement. "Community pharmacies are pivotal in local communities, and this novel training scheme empowers them to extend their service offerings to a wider patient base," said Health Minister Neil O'Brien. "Through our investment in the workforce, we're bolstering the implementation of the Pharmacy First initiative with £645 million, ensuring patients have access to expert assistance for various common ailments, including urinary tract infections and earaches." NHS said the training will offer flexibility to align with the working schedules and prior experience of community pharmacy technicians. It will combine independent online e-course study, educational supervision, and clinical skills training. Facilitated workshops will concentrate on enhancing clinical assessment skills and applying knowledge and skills through case studies, practice activities, and group discussions.

A new NHS-funded training course on clinical examination skills has been announced by Health Education England (HEE) for 10,000 community pharmacists. The training will be provided by CliniSkills and be coordinated by HEE with the Pharmacy Integration Programme at NHS England. With pre-registration now open to all community pharmacists, the programme will be available from 17th April 2023 and will until March 2024. It will be delivered online, with optional face-to-face attendance for pharmacists who would find this beneficial. Pharmacists will be required to complete a module on history taking and identification of serious conditions and can then choose from four optional modules, which cover the following themes: dermatology; cardiology; paediatrics; and ear, nose and throat. The training is designed to be complementary to the independent prescribing training and can be completed prior to or after an independent prescribing training course. It is open to all community pharmacists including those that work part time and locums.

The new 'How to Involve and Engage Patients on Digital Health Tech Innovation' learning module has been created specifically to support the development and delivery of patient-centric technologies, at a time of critical digital transformation in the NHS. The foundation level module will be freely available at www.orcha-digitalhealthacademy.com and on the Health Education England NHS Learning Hub (learninghub.nhs.uk). No training previously exists on conducting effective patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE), leading to wasted resource on unsuitable technologies at a time when the healthcare system simply cannot afford it. The module aims to educate innovators who are creating new technology, and the clinicians who are prescribing these solutions. Crucially, the module also provides valuable support to the 500 NHS clinicians who are on the Clinical Entrepreneur Programme. The module is an introduction to the first evidence-based framework for PPIE, launched by the University of Plymouth, the AHSN Network (the national voice of the 15 academic health science networks in England) and Boehringer Ingelheim UK & Ireland. It helps to fast-track learning for the EnACT principles described in the framework, outlining how to involve patients in product innovation and critical issues such as data privacy, intellectual property, inclusivity, reimbursement, useability, and recruitment of patients.

The NHS England has introduced a training programme for 1000 staff to broaden their community pharmacy roles, thereby improving patient access to services. Among them, 500 pharmacy staff will be trained to supervise pharmacists during prescription training, while the remaining 500 will provide support for various training, including pre and post-registration programmes for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. According to the NHSE, pharmacist and pharmacy technician roles are rapidly evolving due to healthcare changes and increased demand for clinical services in community pharmacy. "There are 3,000 independent prescribing training spots available for 2023/24. Educational supervision is a crucial part of this to enable the ongoing transformation and skills development of the growing pharmacy workforce." The NHSE-funded training, scheduled to begin next month, will ensure that those involved in educational supervision, including Designated Supervisors (DSs), Pre-registration Trainee Pharmacy Technician education supervisors and Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPPs), can effectively support learners.

More than 300 fully-funded training places will be open to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working in adult critical care units in England this year. NHS England has awarded a contract to the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) to deliver 200 funded continuing professional development places for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from April 2024. Another school of pharmacy, the name of which has not been announced yet, will deliver 100 funded places on a pharmacist adult critical care pathway. There are already 15 funded places on an adult critical care training pathway for pharmacy technicians provided by the University of Bradford. Reacting to evidence indicating workforce concerns in critical care, NHS England invited bids from training providers for delivering the training in November 2023.

To ease pressure on community pharmacies, the deadline to meet the requirements of the Pharmacy Quality Scheme will be extended, Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) announced today (December 15). This follows an agreement reached between the negotiator and the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Recognising the challenges faced by pharmacies and their contribution towards the Covid-19 vaccination programme, following additional changes have been agreed upon: Contractors will not be required to complete the Community Pharmacy Patient Questionnaire for 2021/2022; The requirement for pharmacy teams to complete a national audit (intended to be on valproate) in 2021/22 will be waived; and The requirement for pharmacy teams to complete a contractor-chosen clinical audit in 2021/22 will be waived.

The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) has urged the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to collate the data on actively enrolled on an approved course or qualification for Pharmacy Technicians of commencement of training. In a letter from Nicola Stockmann, Vice President APTUK to the GPhC to encourage the collection of data for Pre-Registration Training Pharmacy Technicians, Stockmann said: "We value the GPHC data for Pharmacy Technician registrants to track the growth and diversity of the Pharmacy Technician profession. With ongoing inclusive pharmacy practice priorities, APTUK has an organisational pledge to continue this work of all themes through actions. The demographics of the Pharmacy Technician workforce continue to have a majority of white British registrants and identifying as female; the high-level data collated which is currently available on the GPHC website does not capture those who are actively enrolled on an approved course or qualification for Pharmacy Technicians."