Prescribing

Welcome to your prescribing pages

Prescribing is no longer an add-on to traditional roles; it is an essential skill for clinical pharmacists in all sectors. It provides more choice for patients, efficiencies for the health care system, and a sense of professional satisfaction for the prescriber. Pharmacist independent prescribers are now legally permitted to prescribe almost everything, which means that there are opportunities wherever patients need care, and we have a wealth of experience and evidence that shows that pharmacist prescribing has the potential to transform care.

However, prescribing is still an additional qualification so we have created this collection of resources to help clinical pharmacists at all stages of their prescribing career. Whether you’re looking for information about how to get into prescribing, returning to prescribing after a break, seeking to expand your scope of practice or simply aiming to maintain your competence and confidence, we have something for you. And, if you’re a pharmacy student, a pre-registration graduate or a foundation pharmacist, we can offer inspiration and show you how prescribing could fit into your future practice.

We know that pharmacist prescribing transcends sectors and disciplines, so we have included ideas and links to resources relevant to this array of needs. We also know that the governance aspects of prescribing sometimes get overlooked in favour of the clinical role, so we have also included quizzes for you to check whether you’re up to date, and guidance if you find that you aren’t.

Take a look. We’re sure there’s something here for everyone

All newly registered pharmacists will be prescribers from 2026 and the profession is evolving to capitalise on the opportunities that such a quantum leap offers. In this section, we’ll help you to see some of the possibilities and prepare for an application to train to be a prescriber and be a part of thie revolution.

The General Pharmaceutical Council sets standards for pharmacist independent prescriber training, accredits prescribing courses and is due to publish guidance for pharmacist prescribers.

You can download the full prescribing competency framework or an editable template.

This section explains the steps involved in identifying development needs and actions to address them

In this section you can find resources on the following topics: consultation skills, capacity, consent and safeguarding, history-taking, patient records, clinical assessment skills, investigation and clinical reasoning.

This section includes resources relevant to the outcomes of the second competency domain.

In this section you will find information on person centred care, shared decision making, patient decision aids, patient preferences and medicines adherence.

This section includes resources relevant to the outcomes of the fourth competency domain.

In this small but powerful section, we identify a range of understandable and accessible information resources for your patients.

This section includes resources relevant to the outcomes of the sixth competency domain.

This section includes resources relevant to the outcomes of the seventh competency domain.

In this section, we consider the following topics: accountability, overview of the policy, context and legal basis for prescribing, medicines regulation, legal permissions, capacity and consent, clinical negligence, data protection and confidentiality, ethics and codes of practice and influences on your prescribing practice.

This section includes resources relevant to the outcomes of the ninth competency domain.

This section includes resources relevant to the outcomes of the tenth competency domain.

This section includes resources that are relevant to clinical disciplines where pharmacist prescribing is common.

There are many reasons why pharmacists have stopped prescribing. We have identified the common ones and offered suggestions about how to overcome them.

Our Getting back into prescribing page is based on our popular Return to prescribing course. If you cannot attend a course in person, this will help you to take a self-directed route back into a prescribing role.

Our Getting back into prescribing information might be all you need to put together an action plan to regain your competence and confidence to prescribe. However, if you prefer face-to-face learning and the opportunity to network with like-minded people, our Return to prescribing three-day workshop will offer a better fit. At present we are running these as three online workshops due to the COVID 19 pandemic bookable via https://www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/rtoprescribing-ew-01

The aim of this programme is to support the development of your prescribing-related skills and knowledge to extend your scope of prescribing practice. It focuses on extending prescribing practice; we will assume that you are currently prescribing and are familiar with the underlying principles and guidance relating to prescribing.

It will give you the key principles to consider when extending your scope of prescribing practice. We will focus on using the activities of reflection, peer review, assurance of competence and prescribing governance to support your approach to the learning and development of new clinical skills and expertise. We will use the RPS prescribing competency framework for all prescribers throughout the programme.

Learning Outcomes:

After completing all aspects of this programme, including the self-directed activities, you should be able to:

• describe the key purpose and applications of current national guidance for pharmacist prescribers, including the RPS competency framework for all prescribers
• self-analyse your current practice to identify existing areas of prescribing competency, the current limits of your prescribing competence, and potential areas for the development of competence relevant to your own practice
• develop an action plan to extend your scope of prescribing within a defined area of competence using the RPS competency framework for all prescribers
• create a portfolio of evidence which documents the attainment and application of knowledge and skills under appropriate supervision to demonstrate competence within a defined area of prescribing
• demonstrate the ability to work within appropriate governance arrangements in relation to prescribing practice and demonstrate compliance with governance arrangements as a quality assurance measure
• create a plan for monitoring and evaluating your performance in your extended scope of practice.