News and announcements
Pharmacy Integration Fund evaluation - interim report published
In 2019 CPWS, in collaboration with ICF, was commissioned by National Health Service in England (NHSE) to evualate Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) funded learning pathways. The aim of these learning pathways is to upskill the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians so they can practise with an advanced scope of practice within a range of primary care settings.
The evaluation aims to investigate whether pharmacy professionals undergoing PhIF training gain the skills required to expand their roles in a range of primary care settings and whether these pharmacy professionals have the opportunities to apply their advanced skills and impact practice.
The mixed methods evaluation, involving stakeholder engagement, secondary analysis, a longitudinal survey and qualitative interviews with learners, supervisors and other stakeholders is due to finish in Spring 2020. An interim report has been been published (December 2020) and an executive summary is available here.
New CPWS study launched
CPWS launch study on the quality of pharmacy technician education and training in Great Britain
A research team at the CPWS are currently undertaking a study investigating the quality of pharmacy technician education and training in Great Britain. The research team is led by Dr Ellen Schafheutle (senior lecturer in law and professionalism) who is principal investigator and also comprises Dr Sam Jee (research associate) and Dr Sarah Willis (lecturer in social pharmacy). The research team is working in collaboration with Alison Pritchard, the lead for pharmacy support staff education and training at Health Education North West.
The principal aim of this study is to better understand the quality of pharmacy technician (PT) pre-registration education and training delivered education providers and employing organisations. The five study objectives are to:
- To profile the trainee population
- To elicit trainee views on course delivery, especially perceived strengths and weaknesses
- To describe the quality and delivery of courses
- To describe the infrastructure supporting delivery
- To describe the GPhC’s approach to recognising and accrediting courses
The study has a multi-method and multi-part design, in which data will be gathered from a number of different stakeholders, including (i) a telephone survey with PT education providers (ii) semi-structured telephone interviews with PT employers (iii) semi-structured telephone interviews with representatives from awarding bodies of PT qualifications and (iv) a census survey of PT views (n~1500) in May, 2014 of PTs who registered between February 2013 and February 2014.
This study has been commissioned and funded by the GPhC.
Staff appear in 'Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy'
Articles by CPWS staff appear in special themed issue of Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
CPWS researchers have five articles published in a special themed issue in Research and Social and Administrative Pharmacy (RSAP) on Continuous Professional Development and Revalidation of Pharmacists. The themed issue contains original research, editorials, and commentaries on this phenomenon from global perspectives. Original articles in the issue written by CPWS staff are based on original research on the following topics:
- Pharmacists' and pharmacy technicians'
- Views on revalidation,
- The utility of appraisals for the revalidation of pharmacy professionals in community pharmacy,
- The role of existing arrangementents for monitoring community pharmacies in England in revalidation and revalidation arrangements for pharmacy professionals in industry and academia in Great Britain.
For further details and access to the articles (free until April 9th 2013), please visit the Journal's website
CPWS team awarded NIHR research grant
CPWS team awarded £400k NIHR research grant
A team based at the Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies (CPWS) in the Manchester Pharmacy School has recently scored a major success, having been awarded a research grant worth £400K by the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme.
The research project, ‘Investigating the organisational factors associated with variation in clinical productivity in community pharmacies’, aims to investigate variation in both the quality and quantity of service provision in community pharmacies and the different organisational characteristics associated with this variation. The project, due to start in April 2013, will be conducted in two stages over 27 months, in five geographical areas.
The project team, led by Dr Sally Jacobs, includes Professor Karen Hassell and Drs Ellen Schafheutle and Fay Bradley (all CPWS), together with Dr Mark Hann, Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester, Dr Devina Halsall, NHS Merseyside, and Andrew Wagner, Primary Care Research Network – East of England.
News archive
For details of announcements and news items from before December 2012, please view the news archive page:
