The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges for the pharmacy profession. You might be supporting or preparing to support the COVID-19 vaccination programme, which may involve safe storage and distribution and/or administration of the vaccine. In order to access learning to support you to do this, click on the first tab displayed below. This section will be updated regularly as more information becomes available.
Responding to COVID-19 is a quickly evolving situation, which requires a rapid response from the pharmacy sector to mobilise the workforce and support patient care in those places where it is needed most. You may be a pharmacy professional returning after a break in practice, you may be working in a new environment, or your role may have changed in response to the pandemic. At this challenging time we want you to be able to find the resources that you need the most as quickly and easily as possible.
This learning and resource hub contains CPPE materials and resources from other organisations that we think will be most valuable to you.
We have drawn together the resources that we think would be most useful for each of the following situations. Click on the drop-down menu bars for more information.
Pharmacists are playing an integral role in terms of delivering the COVID-19 vaccination programme. You may be working in any sector of practice; this area will support you in identifying appropriate resources to provide COVID-19 vaccination.
Whichever area of practice you are in, this is your main learning resource. e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) have prepared a COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning programme. It is designed to provide the health and care workforce involved in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme with the knowledge they need to confidently promote high uptake of the vaccine and deliver the vaccine programme safely and effectively.
The programme refers to COVID-19: the green book, chapter 14a throughout. This is a key resource which you should use alongside this e-learning.
Further details about this programme and additional training requirements can be found on the e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination programme webpage.
There are two ways to access the COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning programme:
Access directly via e-LfH (NHS email address required)
Access directly via the e-LfH website by clicking here
Click ‘Log in’ on the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Access via the CPPE website (NHS email address NOT required)
Sign in to the CPPE website and access the e-Learning for Healthcare learning modules e-learning.
When you are logged in to the e-learning for healthcare site you can either:
The above e-learning is theoretical, and you will need to ensure that you are competent in the practical skills required for vaccination administration. You will also need to ensure that you have completed Basic Life Support and anaphylaxis training and any Statutory and Mandatory training required by your employer. Please see the additional training section below for information on the additional training that is available from e-LfH.
If you have further learning needs, you may be required to undertake learning in addition to the e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination e-learning programme.
Important: COVID-19 vaccinators should check with their local provider/employer whether they need to undertake the additional training.
Additional training is available from e-LfH and is listed on the e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination programme webpage under Additional training for vaccinators. It covers:
The e-LfH COVID-19 Vaccination programme webpage also contains resources to support COVID-19 vaccinators and volunteers with patients conversations including:
Professional information and support can be found on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) COVID-19 vaccines page. Some resources that you may find particularly useful are:
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) COVID-19 vaccination programme page which offers tailored support if you are in one of the following positions:
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) COVID-19 vaccinations page offers information on how community pharmacy can support the COVID-19 vaccination programme including:
The NHS England and NHS Improvement COVID-19 vaccination programme website offers additional resources you may find useful including:
Our COVID-19 learning gateway includes links to the key NHS and Public Health England web pages that will help you keep up to date with the current situation. You will find these in the Core and foundation learning section along with links to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Coronavirus (COVID-19) hub and Health Education England's Coronavirus (COVID-19) e-learning programme which includes resources for pharmacy staff. In this section you can also access our Remote consultation skills e-learning programme which can support you to apply your existing consultation skills when undertaking consultations via video and over the phone. The Advanced learning section contains more specific clinical guidance and information on medicines. The tools and further reading will support you to respond to the pandemic and offer the best care to patients and the public, regardless of the sector you are working in. Here you can access information about coronavirus treatment options such as antivirals and neutralising monoclonal antibodies (nMABs) for non-hospitalised patients with COVID-19. You will also find a link to an e-learning module from the Royal College of General Practitioners introducing the impact of post-COVID-19 syndrome on patients and how to manage their symptoms and expectations in primary care.
If you are already working in secondary care and are looking for materials to help you upskill, then we recommend the Health Education England e-Learning for Healthcare (e-LfH) Coronavirus (COVID-19) portal. In the Resources for pharmacy staff area there is a learning path titled, Looking after acutely unwell patients.
(To access these resources, visit the Coronavirus (COVID-19) portal and select Pharmacy staff in the Resources by role section of the page. Then select the Resources for pharmacy staff in the list of links.)
In this learning path you will find Looking after acutely unwell patients which contains different resources to support you with your hospital pharmacy practice, ranging from programmes to support you in processes like medicines reconciliation to clinical programmes revising biochemistry and therapeutic drug monitoring. This pathway is updated with new resources regularly.
We have also developed a COVID-19 learning gateway where we have collated a range of advanced learning and tools which you may find useful. This is signposted to in the Looking for the latest COVID-19 resources area above.
A key part of your ability to support in these acute areas is your own health and wellbeing. Our Supporting you page contains a collection of resources which may help you at this difficult time.
You may already be working in secondary care but moving into an environment which requires you to care for people who are critically unwell.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) have several resources that you may find useful, these can be found on the RPS Upskilling during COVID-19 page and include a Critical Care Training Resource.
A key part of your ability to support in critical care areas is your own health and wellbeing. Our Supporting you page contains a collection of resources which may help you at this difficult time.
This is a challenging time for everyone. Our Supporting you page contains a collection of resources which may help you at this difficult time.
We have developed a COVID-19 learning gateway where we have collated a range of learning and tools which you may find useful.
Our clinical fact sheets developed for the Primary care pharmacy education pathway are now available here.
If you are looking for materials specific to primary care, we have also compiled a list of COVID-19: Additional resources for primary care with a range of extra resources. This should be used alongside the COVID-19 learning gateway.
This resource is for those who may find themselves working outside of their usual role in primary care.
