Independent Prescribing: National Teach and Treat Programme Announced

NHS England has recently announced the launch of a National Teach and Treat Programme for 2024.   The expectation of this programme is to support community pharmacists across the locality to achieve their prescribing accreditation.

The programme’s purpose is to facilitate a link between community pharmacists and a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP) through an innovative teach and treat model. Access to prescribing supervision is a particular challenge for pharmacists training to prescribe in a community setting. Community pharmacists often seek a prescribing learning environment and supervision from a DPP in a different clinical setting.

The national Teach and Treat programme is an expansion of a successful pilot which took place across the Southwest in 2023. This pilot expanded the independent prescribing capacity across the community pharmacy workforce in the Southwest through providing community pharmacists access to designated prescribing practitioners (DPP). Results of the Southwest pilot show over 75 community pharmacists were trained as independent prescribers. Additionally, those completing the pilot committed to becoming a DPP following qualification, providing a future pipeline of supervision. You can read more about the Teach and Treat Southwest pilot here.

NHS England will provide £50k of funding aligned to six regions (excluding the Southwest).  ICBs and organisations within each region are being given the opportunity to bid for some or all of this funding – individually or as collectives. The LPC is working with the ICBs to see who might be able to bid for the funds to support access to DPPs in our region.

Image credit: CPE