Pharmacist Independent Prescriber

Regulatory changes in the UK have lifted the doctor monopoly on prescribing and allow non-medical prescribers of specific professional background (see below) to prescribe unrestricted. This is after undertaking a supervised period of learning practice (PLP) in combination with a short university course. Professional that can become prescribers in the UK include:

• Nurses/Midwives
• Pharmacists
• Physiotherapists
• Podiatrist
• Paramedics
• Optometrists
• Therapeutic Radiographers

The main difference between professionals who can prescribe are as follows:

How can you become a Pharmacist Independent Prescriber?

1. Find the university fee - this can be self-funded or sponsored by your local PCN, LPC or employer. The cost is usually around £2,000 for a 6 month part-time course.
2. Apply to the university - when the legislation changed all NMP courses were oversubscribed, now more universities offer courses meaning more places.
3. Do the course - and pass! Once you are through you apply to the GPhC to annotate the pharmacist register to include that you are a pharmacist.
4. Join a professional group - once you finished the NMP course your learning doesn't stop, we run an online group where pharmacist talk about best practice, see below.

Join the Pharmacist Independent Prescriber Group.

We run a national Telegram group forum called the PIPG (Pharmacist Independent Prescriber Group). The group consist of a wide range of prescribing specialists trying to establish pharmacist best practice in general and specialist prescribing.

If you are a pharmacist prescriber just fill out the form below and our team will verify you via the GPhC and add you into our group. We mainly discuss the expanding roles of pharmacist prescribers in the UK from working in primary care GP surgeries to prescribing online from GPhC community pharmacies.

Are you, or do you know someone who might benefit from joining our group? Please share this page!