The Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) and CPPE are working together to support pharmacists to be recognised as practising at an advanced level of practice in line with the RCPharm Core Advanced Curriculum and the NHS England Workforce, Training and Education (WTE) ACP framework.
Those who successfully complete the RCPharm ePortfolio assessment will be credentialed as an Advanced Pharmacist. This credentialling will mean you will have recognised equivalence in level of advanced practice to those who have completed the NHS England WTE ePortfolio (supported) Route or an NHS England WT&E-accredited advanced practice programme.
Following an initial pilot which finished in March 2025, the funding-supported programme has been extended to further pre-approved places.
The fully-funded RCPharm advanced credentialing support programme is only currently open to pharmacists who have previously completed an expression of interest form with the Centre for Advancing Practice (CAP). This will then be approved and sent to CPPE.
If you have previously completed a CAP accredited MSc programme you may already have equivalent advanced status.
The aim of the programme is to support you, with education supervision, to develop a portfolio of evidence to be credentialed as an Advanced Pharmacist.
The twelve month supported programme comprises of access to online development resources via the Canvas learning platform, individual online education supervision sessions and opportunities for peer support and networking in group tutorials and evidence review sessions.
All meetings and webinars take place online via Zoom or Teams platform.
Once you have identified your own personal learning needs through completion of the self-assessment framework and discussion with an education supervisor in a learning needs analysis, the programme will support you to:
This supported programme is only currently open to pharmacists who have received prior approval from the Centre for Advancing Practice.
Pharmacists must meet the following criteria:
The Centre for Advancing Practice are currently enrolling for places for the February 2027 cohort. If you are a pharmacist currently practicing at advanced level of practice please complete an expression of interest form with the Centre for Advancing Practice (CAP), selecting ‘RPS’ and ‘CPPE’ portfolio route.
An education supervisor will contact you to arrange an initial call once you have enrolled.
You will undertake a learning needs analysis discussion with an education supervisor to identify a SMART action plan to support you to collect your portfolio of evidence.
The programme comprises of a learning needs analysis against the RCPharm Core Advanced curriculum and an individual meeting with an education supervisor at the start of the programme. You will also have a portfolio review with an education supervisor before you submit.
You will be expected to attend nine mandatory evening online sessions via Zoom delivered over 12 months.
These include webinars and evidence review sessions:
All sessions will be bookable through the CPPE website and each session starts at 7pm. Places will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
The support will also include optional regular online drop-in sessions on Teams at lunchtime across the programme. These will be advertised on Canvas and provide an opportunity to ask questions about your ePortfolio.
The supported programme includes access to peer support via a WhatsApp group.
At the end of the 12 months, you will have a portfolio review with an education supervisor before submitting your portfolio to the RCPharm assessment panel for review.
Pharmacists working towards Advanced Pharmacist credentialing will need to access support from a range of sources to effectively demonstrate their capability against the RCPharm Core Advanced Pharmacist curriculum.
Workplace supervisors and mentors with appropriate experience and skills will be important to support you with your identified areas for development and provide constructive meaningful feedback for your portfolio evidence.
This webinar explores learning from the pilot, from the perspectives of both the CPPE education supervisor team and pharmacists who took part in this pilot.
If this does not apply to you but you are keen to address your development needs to help you to meet the RCPharm curriculum outcomes, please access the CPPE self-assessment frameworks for the RCPharm Core Advanced Curriculum for your own self-directed learning.
