The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7159 p151-153
4 August 2001

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Preregistration

Trainees benefit from experience of both sectors

From Mr K. Khan

As a Bradford pharmacy graduate and current preregistration trainee, I was interested to read an article on the South Essex integrated preregistration programme for community and hospital training (PJ, 7 July, p20).

I chose to study the continuous pathway in which I will spend one complete year in community pharmacy as opposed to the sandwich pathway Bradford also has to offer, in which a split of six months in hospital and six months in the community is allowed. Many of my peers on the same continuous pathway as myself chose this route not because of personal preference, but because they did not get their first choice of hospital placement when applying for their initial choice of a sandwich placement.

Most students would agree that a sandwich placement or an integrated programme is of great benefit in gaining experience in both sectors of the profession. Unfortunately this is not always permissible or desirable for students. Does this mean that students who chose not to do the sandwich or integrated training, for whatever reason, will be “unfit to practise”? After all, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society recognises that pharmacists of the future, in order to be effective practitioners, should possess a balance of skills obtained from both main sectors of practice.

Khorrum Khan
Rugby, Warwickshire

VIRGINIA WYKES (education officer, Royal Pharmaceutical Society) replies:

The Society, with the help of preregistration training employers, is working towards a situation in which all trainees will gain experience of both hospital and community practice during their training year. It is hoped that this can be achieved by the 2003–04 training year. Until it is possible for all trainees to have experience in both these sectors, two training programmes are running in parallel, both of which meet the Society’s requirements. Neither is treated as superior to the other for the purposes of registration [see article].

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