SHAPING THE FUTURE: POST REGISTRATION PATHWAYS FOR NI PHARMACISTS
Post Registration Pharmacist pathways are changing in 2026/27 – let’s get ready.
By Dr Laura O’Loan, NICPLD T
he Northern Ireland Centre for Pharmacy Learning and Development (NICPLD) plays a vital role in developing the
pharmacy workforce in Northern Ireland and has been running post-registration (post-reg) development programmes for over 20 years. These include the post-reg Foundation Programme, the Independent Prescribing (IP) course and the Advanced Pharmacy Practice (APP) programme.
From Summer 2026, newly registered pharmacists will be annotated as prescribers. To prepare for this change, NICPLD is holding a ‘round table’ event on Tuesday 18th November to explore the changes needed to post-reg development pathways in NI to support these pharmacists.
It is essential that the new pathways also include development opportunities for the legacy pharmacy workforce, to enable pharmacy to fully embrace the challenge of becoming a prescribing profession, and the IP course will remain to facilitate this.
Our current thinking is outlined below. This will be shaped and further developed following the
‘round table’ event, to ensure we provide post- reg development pathways that can be accessed by all patient-focused pharmacists in NI.
Fundamentals of Pharmacy Practice: for pharmacists who are new to practice, new to a sector of practice, or returning to practice. A self- development programme to help pharmacists to become confident autonomous practitioners will be introduced in September 2026. A range of Open Learning resources will support registered pharmacists to undertake medication reviews, clinically screen prescriptions and provide person-centred information effectively.
Enhanced Pharmacy Practice: for pharmacist prescribers who are competent and confident in the fundamentals of practice. This will start in January 2027 and will incorporate the new Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Enhanced Practice curriculum, due to be published in 2026. There will be two modules. Proficient Patient Care (PPC) will help pharmacists to embed their prescribing practice, and to expand their scope of practice in core areas including respiratory, cardiovascular, diabetes, antimicrobials. This will help pharmacists to manage patients with acute
and long-term conditions proficiently. Evidence- based Practice (EBP) will focus on leadership, education and research, and will provide a stepping-stone to Advanced Practice.
Advanced Pharmacy Practice: NICPLD currently runs the Advanced Practice Development module on the Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University APP MSc programmes. However, not all pharmacists want to do another formal academic qualification. We will be joined at our ‘round table’ event by Joseph Oakley from the RPS to explore whether Advanced Practice credentialing could provide a more flexible and inclusive alternative pathway for developing advanced practitioners in all sectors of pharmacy in NI.
This is an exciting phase in the transformation of the pharmacy workforce in NI, and NICPLD will continue to support the development of current and future pharmacist prescribers in NI.
For queries about post-reg pharmacy development pathways, or the ‘round table’ event, please email
nicpld-postreg@qub.ac.uk
pharmacyinfocus.co.uk 41
THIS IS AN EXCITING PHASE IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE PHARMACY WORKFORCE IN NI
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