As part of the ambition to ensure sustainable future staffing and improve patient care, the NHS England Long Term Workforce Plan identifies good quality preceptorship for the wider workforce as key to supporting recruitment, supporting staff to integrate into their places of work, and supporting staff retention.

Currently there is no funding or formal route of preceptorship for pharmacists, however we can still apply the same principles so that Pharmacists are given the best possible start in their role.

The main aim is to welcome and integrate new pharmacists to their role and to guide, support, and develop them to autonomous professionals.  Preceptorship helps professionals to translate and embed their knowledge into everyday practice, grow in confidence and have the best possible start to their careers. In other roles, we have found that a positive preceptorship experience results in increased confidence, sense of belonging, feeling valued by their employer, improved recruitment and retention.

Preceptorship does not replace appraisals or be a substitute for a formal induction and mandatory training. During this time, the aim is for the pharmacist to be supported to develop their confidence as an independent professional, and to refine their skills, values and behaviours. Preceptorship will need to include both prescribing and non-prescribing pharmacists in view of the changes to the MPharm courses where pharmacists will be coming out as a prescribers by 2026.

Pharmacists looking to become a preceptor would need to consider the following:

• Preceptors should already be trained and working as a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP).
• Preceptors will be required to meet the preceptee one hour a month for 12 months, this could be done as a blended approach of online or part of a multi professional group or one to one.
• The preceptee will have the opportunity to attend a set number of development days.
• There should also be access to mentor and peer support sessions.

Click on the following links for more information:

Designated prescribing practitioners: a theory-based cross-sectional study of stakeholders’ views on implementation of a novel pharmacy regulator mandated preceptorship model – PMC (nih.gov)

Multi-Professional Preceptor e-Compendium – elearning for healthcare (e-lfh.org.uk)

Please contact Neelam Faree, Pharmacy Facilitator for BSol Training Hub.