The Southwest England collaborative psychopharmacology professional development programme for pharmacy staff provides structured teaching that supports pharmacist’s and pharmacy technician’s local pharmacy education and training to ensure compliance with best practice and national requirements. Consisting of structured training sessions (a 3-hour session per month) and self-directed learning, the programme uses the four pillars of practice – leadership, education, clinical and research. Training sessions are delivered by experienced, senior pharmacists from mental health organisations across the Southwest, providing a consistent and standardised continual professional development programme within the region. To further support learning, supervised learning events (e.g. Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercises (Mini-CEX), Direct Observation of Practical Skills (DOPS) and Medicines Related Consultation Framework (MRCF)) are recommended to be carried out by the student with their designated supervisor or another practice supervisor/clinical supervisor from their organisation. It is recommended that pharmacy students meet at least monthly with their practice supervisor.
Expressions of interest open May-July
Duration of the programme between September and June of the following year
Number of places limited to 35 per year
Pharmacists or pharmacy technicians who are new to working within mental health settings and/or as identified in an individual’s learning needs analysis (LNA). A LNA should be completed by the pharmacy student undertaking the pathway, which evaluate their current clinical competencies, identify knowledge or skill gaps and formulate a targeted Personal Development Plan (PDP). The LNA should also be discussed in the first practice supervisor meeting after module one.
Topics covered include:
Time commitment is one 3 hour teaching session each month for 10 months
To complete the pathway the student must:
Programme Contacts –
| James McCarthy Inpatient Clinical Pharmacy Manager Devon Partnership NHS Trust jamesmccarthy@nhs.net |
Frances Johnson Advanced Specialist Mental Health Pharmacist Dorset Healthcare University NHS Trust francis.johnson1@nhs.net |
| Amanda Hotston Directorate Lead Pharmacist, Adult Mental Health Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Amanda.hotston@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk |
Caroline Parker Lead MH Pharmacist for Community Teams Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust Caroline.parker@nhs.net |
Online webinars with case vignettes or case studies provided prior to webinars as per request from individual presenters.
Currently there are no formal assessments for this programme
Answers to most common applications for each stage of the Programme process can be found on our dedicated Frequently Asked Questions page and is usually the quickest and easiest way to resolve most enquiries.
Please ensure you check this page before submitting a contact enquiry.
For general enquiries or in case of Programme Director absence:
Email: pwds@uhbw.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0117 342 6677
The pharmacy student should complete reflective reviews that could be done using whichever reflective account template you find most helpful, e.g.:
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) reflective account template https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/revalidation
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