Buttercups launches new Level 3 Pharmacy Technician Training Programme

In October 2017, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) published new standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians, emphasising a focus on person-centred professionalism. The standards no longer accommodate separate knowledge and competency qualifications, instead all programmes will need to meet learning outcomes which combine the knowledge, skills and behaviours required for the future workforce.

To meet these future requirements, Buttercups’ Pre-Registration Pharmacy Technician Programme has been redesigned and rewritten to blend work and study, allowing learners to develop the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB) they must demonstrate to meet the new standards.

Buttercups is pleased to confirm accreditation of our new programme by the GPhC, ready for delivery from 1st September 2019.

Pharmacy Technician Training Programme (PTTP) Overview

We have developed a combined programme that provides the skills, knowledge and behaviours expected of a pharmacy technician in the future. The PTTP incorporates 53 learning outcomes across four areas: person-centred care, professionalism, professional knowledge and skills and, collaboration.

The programme contains 15 modules which integrate all aspects of pharmacy practice, such as legal and professional issues, alongside the underpinning science, clinical knowledge, first aid and person-centred care. The teaching builds during the two years both in complexity and range, so that topics are explored and revisited as knowledge and skills develop. New content developed for the course includes:

• knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable person-centred care
• accuracy checking knowledge and in-process accuracy checking competency
• first aid knowledge
• health promotion skills
• leadership skills
• management and resilience training

Buttercups will continue to used blended learning for delivery of the curriculum. Learners will complete both formative and summative assessments to monitor progress and track achievement holistically against the 53 learning outcomes in the standards, so the programme is either completed in full or not awarded.

Delivery of the programme

There are new requirements within the initial education and training standards which affect how Buttercups delivers the new programme. These key areas are:

• the delivery has to be based on experiential learning with protected learning time (10% of working hours)
• learners have to be screened for initial entry criteria including maths, English and science assessments, along with health and character checks prior to enrolment
• the employer appoints a pharmacist or pharmacy technician as a workplace training supervisor (WTS) for the learner
• the WTS is given adequate time to undertake their role and has completed a short course with Buttercups
• the workplace needs to be a suitable environment to support the learner’s needs for the training programme

To deliver the PTTP, Buttercups will require contracts to be in place with all employers. This is to ensure clear accountability and understanding of roles between Buttercups, employer, WTS and learner.

Enrolments

We will be able to enrol on the new programme from the 1st September. However, the process to enrol learners will take longer than the previous programme due to the new requirements for delivery outlined above. We anticipate it will take around four weeks from initial contact with Buttercups to complete all the pre-enrolment checks with all parties and enrol the learner.

Cost

The new list price for the programme is £3500 (+VAT).

Apprenticeships

For the time being, we will continue delivering the level 3 apprenticeship framework for apprentice learners, which comprises the BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Pharmaceutical Science and Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Pharmacy Service Skills.

In the latter part of the year, we will move across to deliver the Pharmacy Technician (Integrated) apprenticeship standard.