NHS priorities

Whether it’s to prepare for the next Pharmacy Quality Scheme deadline, or to increase your confidence in helping people with a learning disability, this section provides topic-specific pages that link to current NHS priorities. This section will support you in keeping your knowledge and skills up to date in order to provide high-quality pharmacy services and be service-ready.

Clinical pharmacy

Our clinical portfolio is expanding on a frequent basis, helping you to advance your knowledge and skills and deliver medicines optimisation in practice for all sectors of pharmacy. From two new focal points a year to our small group learning for hospital pharmacists – Optimise – this section focuses on clinical pharmacy, diseases and therapeutics.

Public health

The public health agenda is embedded in pharmacy, yet topics such as emergency contraception or stop smoking support are as prevalent as ever. As well as our public health workshops, use this section to access a wide range of resources to assure and maintain your competence, all underpinned by the Declaration of Competence system.

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e-course

Fundamentals of palliative care


  • Released: 03/2021
  • Reviewed: 02/2024
  • Study time: 24h:0m
  • Start date: Anytime

The aim of this programme is to support pharmacy professionals to provide an appropriate person-centred pharmaceutical service for people during palliative care, and for their carers.

To facilitate your learning, we have structured the course into six units. Some units are larger than others, but we estimate that you will need to commit an average of three hours of learning for each unit.

  • Unit 1 – Setting the scene
  • Unit 2 – Consultation skills in palliative care
  • Unit 3 – Management of pain
  • Unit 4 – Management of non-pain symptoms
  • Unit 5 – End of life care
  • Unit 6 – Palliative care pharmacy services

Learning outcomes

On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:

  • describe what palliative care is and how national guidance has influenced palliative care services
  • communicate confidently with people and their carers regarding palliative care, respecting their wishes and responding when things go wrong
  • support the management of key symptoms that people might experience during palliative care and at the end of life
  • identify the palliative care multidisciplinary team in your local area and their respective roles
  • explain the role of the pharmacy professional in the care of people who are accessing palliative care within national priorities
  • respond to issues raised with the supply of medicines and products for palliative care without compromising person-centred care.

How to use this programme

We run our e-courses online in Canvas. After booking, if you have not used Canvas before you will be registered by CPPE and informed of your login details. This e-course is self-directed. This means that you can work through the course at a time and pace that suits you. In Canvas there will be a menu on the left for navigating through each area, so that you can access each unit and its content separately.

Learning intended for

  • Pharmacists
  • Pharmacy technicians
  • Trainee pharmacists