Course overview

This popular course is suited to pharmacists currently employed in hospital, community or primary care. The course forms the next stage in the career structure after the MPharm and professional registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). It is designed to extend your knowledge and skills in pharmacy practice and aims to reinforce and develop an informed and critical appreciation of current and future roles within the pharmacy profession.

The programme will be delivered locally by the School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. However, it has been developed in conjunction with four other Schools of Pharmacy – the University of London, King's College London, the University of Brighton and the University of East Anglia – allowing a broad range of expertise to be used. The development of a joint syllabus also provides an opportunity for transferable credit between universities.

All applicants must be working in a practice environment that will offer the appropriate level of support. For hospital and primary care-based participants, this involves an accredited tutor and for community pharmacists tutorial support will be given by the University. The course is a three-year, part-time programme (one day per month, depending on the stage of the course, or evenings for community pharmacist participants).

Degree award

Upon successful completion of the course you will be awarded a Master of Pharmacy Practice. The degree can be awarded as a pass, a pass with merit or a pass with distinction. However, if you leave the course before its completion it is still possible to achieve either a Postgraduate Certificate (PgC) in Pharmacy Practice or a Postgraduate Diploma (PgD) in Pharmacy Practice.

Upon successful completion of the independent prescribing unit, the University awards a Practice Certificate in Independent Prescribing which allows you to apply for annotation to your registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) as an accredited Independent Prescriber (IP).

Course content

The course encompasses initial clinical skills, then focuses on therapeutics-related skills before developing applied therapeutics skills in year two and research skills as well as specialist options in year three.

In your first year you will study:

• Developing Clinical Practice (applied pharmacy practice skills)
• Developing the Practitioner (pharmacy practitioner development in the NHS)

In your second year you will study:

• Medical Therapeutics
• Specialist Therapeutics

Your third year includes:

• Research Methods and Research Project
• Clinical and Professional Aspects of Prescribing (optional)
• Strategic and Professional Development (optional)

Individual or groups of units can be studied to meet service development needs such as supplementary and independent prescribing. However, please note that specific therapeutic and workplace requirements apply for the prescribing unit. The applicant needs to have a designated medical practitioner, evidence of therapeutic expertise in the clinical area and a suitable clinical environment in which prescribing is going to be carried out.
See the Department of Health's website. 

Teaching and assessment

Learning and teaching methods include tutorials, online support (via the Joint Programme Board website, see www.postgraduatepharmacy.org) and the online Continuing Professional Development approach recommended by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

The programme delivery is by means of short university-based study sessions (evenings for community pharmacists and days for hospital pharmacists and practice support pharmacists) and work-based learning. The latter involves assignments based on activities at work, such as medication reviews, pharmaceutical care case studies, audit, clinical interventions and therapeutic examples.

The coursework assessment for most units involves the production of essays/reviews containing a high content of critical discussion. Therefore, previous exposure to this style of assessment would be an advantage; however, formative feedback and tutorial support is provided to help.

Career prospects

On completion of the programme, hospital pharmacists will be able to apply for posts at advanced level. Community pharmacists will be more confident to provide enhanced and advanced services. Primary care pharmacists will gain experience in the wider issues associated within primary care.

Former graduates have gone on to a variety of roles, such as prescribing support pharmacist, medication review pharmacist, prescriber, clinical specialist pharmacist and teacher/practitioner.

Facilities and features

You will have access to excellent facilities and sources of support including:

• An expert team of practising pharmacists
• The course’s virtual learning environment
• The University Library resources
• University-wide student support services
• Student IT support services

Entry requirements

The entry requirements for MSc Pharmacy Practice are shown above, for more detailed information please contact:

Department: Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Tel: +44 (0)23 9284 5550
Email: sci-pgrad@port.ac.uk