The 2021 Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists have brought significant changes. From Summer 2026, new pharmacists registering with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland will be annotated as prescribers. This will require significant change to the Foundation Training Year (FTY). Dr Heather Bell, Associate Dean for FTY at NICPLD outlines what it’s all about.
NICPLD is currently preparing to welcome 183 trainee pharmacists to the FTY programme in August 2025. The FTY 2025/26 curriculum has been developed through extensive collaboration with stakeholders from a range of sectors and backgrounds to ensure that those registering in 2026 have the required knowledge, skills and abilities expected of a day one pharmacist.
Many elements of the FTY programme will remain familiar. Trainee pharmacists will undertake practice activities to demonstrate their competence as outlined by the learning outcomes. Evidence of completion of practice activities will be uploaded to the ePortfolio, mapped to the relevant learning outcomes and assessed by their Educational supervisor (ES). ESs will also assess the trainee pharmacist’s holistic development via the appraisal process. Everyone acting as an ES will be required to complete accreditation training which includes training on equality, diversity and inclusion.
As you would expect, there are lots of new elements to the programme. For the first time in NI, all trainee pharmacists will complete 6 months in community pharmacy and 6 months in hospital pharmacy. All trainees will start on the same date of 1st August and transition to their second placement on 1st February 2026. The practice activities to be completed in each sector have been specified and agreed with the sectors.
During the hospital placement, trainee pharmacists will complete the prescribing practice period. This is a 90 hour period of learning to support the development of prescribing skills which will focus on optimising medicines within the provision of clinical services during admission to secondary care. During this period, the trainee pharmacist will be supervised by a prescriber, known as the Designated prescribing practitioner (DPP). The DPP will also complete accreditation training prior to undertaking the role.
One of the biggest changes anticipated in FTY 2025/26 is that, pending legislative change, ESs and DPPs will be able to supervise more than one trainee pharmacist at any point in time, providing they can demonstrate capacity to do so. This will help support capacity for the multi-sectoral FTY model.
NICPLD have lots of resources available here outlining these changes and more. A webinar entitled ‘FTY 2025/26 -what’s it all about?’ was delivered at the start of May 2025 and is also available as a recording to watch. If you’re interested in learning more about FTY 2025/26, visit the NICPLD website for further information.