The National Pharmacy Association and Royal Pharmaceutical Society have today (August 12) published a series of recommendations they believe will give pharmacists and trainees in England better access to designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs).

A report outlining the recommendations was published following a meeting in June involving a range of stakeholders brought together by the NPA and RPS to find ways of addressing long-held concerns over a lack of DPPs.

From September 2026, all newly qualified pharmacists will become independent prescribers on the day they register but they will need to complete 90 hours of training with a DPP in line with changes to the foundation year.

In May, the Company Chemists’ Association warned NHS England’s failure to ensure there were enough DPPs threatened to leave “significant” numbers of pharmacy graduates struggling to find employment, which in turn left community pharmacy facing a worsening workforce crisis. 

The CCA, which said it had repeatedly raised concerns with NHSE, warned a failure to address the problem would lead to pharmacies offering fewer foundation placements.

The NPA and RPS said stakeholders expressed a desire during the meeting for a national prescribing service in community pharmacy and were keen to explore how pharmacists can be better supported to become prescribers. That, the two bodies said, led to a discussion on how best to support the development of DPPs for community pharmacy.

Pharmacies, NHSE teams and ICS pharmacy leads must engage

One of the report’s key recommendations was ensuring organisations that have submitted a training site into the Oriel national recruitment programme engage with NHS England’s regional workforce, training and education teams, together with pharmacy workforce leads in integrated care systems.

The report said this will “support the focused assessment of the current programmes with reference to access to a prescribing learning environment and supervision from a DPP."

The report added: “This can be assessed on a risk basis and will provide greater visibility to NHS England and ICS pharmacy workforce leads and support the delivery of training in 2025-26."

It also said pharmacy workforce leads in integrated care boards should work with training site providers and pharmacy deans to facilitate “locally based matchmaking” so placement providers can offer better access to DPPs for the start of the trainee year.

“It is important to address geographical disparities and where possible consider local initiatives and opportunities for multidisciplinary working,” the report said.

Standardising of contracts to ‘reduce bureaucracy’

The report also called for the standardising of contracts between employers of foundation trainees and organisations providing placements to “reduce bureaucracy, speed up placement provision and simplify processes for all parties involved”.

It encouraged organisations to work together to dispel misconceptions around DPPs, such as clarity on what constitutes 90 hours of practice, whether a DPP can support more than one student at a time and what the appropriate nominated prescribing areas are.

The report also urged professional bodies to publish and share case studies “to demonstrate the benefits that can be achieved by GP practices and hospital trusts from supporting community pharmacy trainees”.

Other recommendations include continuing postgraduate IP training through the Pharmacy Integration Programme, sharing training plans between professional bodies, employers and associations, including trainee pharmacists working under “appropriate supervision” in the provision of clinical services and investing in digital prescribing infrastructure.

The RPS also called for DPPs across the UK to have protected learning time, access to job descriptions that include “the supervision and support they provide for trainees” and “consistent expectations of workplace support and qualifications for DPPs across all sectors of practise”.