Providers of pharmaceutical education have agreed to co-ordinate the provision of education and training and to liaise with the Department of Health's National Health Service modernisation team.
In a statement issued by the College of Pharmacy Practice following a seminar attended by representatives of the CPP, the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education, the National Pharmaceutical Association, the National Prescribing Centre and universities and pharmacy training bodies, among others, Professor Bryan Veitch (chairman, CPP) said that pharmacists would be looking to educators for support as they developed their practice in response to the pharmacy plan.
He said: "The educational requirements are too great for one body to provide. Education to underpin the NHS plan for pharmacy needs to be analysed and provided in a co-ordinated way, not only to ensure effective use of resources, but also to ensure, as far as possible, a common educational and professional approach to important new activities, such as medicines management."
Professor Veitch added that failure to co-ordinate in this way could lead to large variations in interpretation and practice.
Dr Peter Wilson (director, CPPE) added that training was likely to develop along multidisciplinary lines. He said: "The major CPPE audience remains community pharmacists. This needs to broaden to include the people they work with, such as primary care pharmacists, general medical practitioners, hospital pharmacists and practice nurses.
Although the Royal Pharmaceutical Society was not represented at the seminar, the participants believed that the Society should be seen to lead further collaboration.