More than a half of foundation year training sites do not have a DPP for 2025, reveals local survey

A survey of foundation year training sites across the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB) area has revealed that more than 50% of respondents did not have a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP) in place for the 2025/2026 pharmacist trainee foundation year.

The report of the scoping exercise was prepared for a meeting held on 28 August 2024 by the Medicines Optimisation Group at Black Country ICB, which covers Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Respondents included 68 respondents out of 100 available foundation year training sites in the area, using information from the Health Education England Oriel website.

The survey results, seen by The Pharmaceutical Journal, found that 36 of 68 respondents did not have a DPP in place (53%). Within this cohort, 18 places had “a firm plan to fulfil the requirements of a DPP” before the start of the foundation year, while the other 18 were at “higher risk” of not having a DPP in time for July 2025.

The report also highlighted that of the 36 respondents without a DPP currently in place, 39% would be prepared to pay a range of £1,000 to £2,000 for a DPP service, with one offer of up to £3,000.

In support of training placement providers, the ICB’s medicines optimisation group proposed several options to ensure the ICB can meet the demand for DPPs. These include:

• Seeking additional funding for DPP roles;
• Exploring the use of additional roles reimbursement scheme funding to support DPPs;
• Encouraging more independent prescribers to become DPPs.

Commenting on the survey results, Danny Bartlett, lead pharmacist at Horsham Central Primary Care Network and a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society English Pharmacy Board, said: “I believe one of the key factors [here] is not necessarily the availability of funding, but the possibility of establishing a reciprocal supervision arrangement between sectors.

“For example, community pharmacy trainee pharmacists could gain experience in primary or secondary care, where accessing a DPP is often easier. In return, trainee pharmacists from primary or secondary care could spend time in community pharmacies, essentially ‘swapping’ placements for one day per week.

“This approach would help alleviate the supervision burden and ensure that community pharmacies can offer an ideal environment for part of the trainees’ placements that don’t have community pharmacy exposure, while knowing their own trainees will receive DPP supervision in another sector,” Bartlett added.

Stephen Noble, chief officer of Community Pharmacy Dudley, which sits within the Black Country ICB area, said: “I believe this scoping exercise represents a snapshot of what’s typically going on around the country.

“The Black Country ICB is taking the current situation seriously and is intending to rectify it by maintaining databases of those willing to participate in DPP provisions, with some other actions to encourage more to step up to fill the gaps.

“I believe most community pharmacy contractors who were not personally providing a DPP were prepared to fund a reasonably costed provision to ensure that their foundation year trainee to complete their placement.

“The amount proposed by them — typically £1,000 to £2,000 — would seem something that community pharmacy could fund, not some of the excessive amounts we have heard of.”

From 2026, all trainees will become independent prescribers from the point of General Pharmaceutical Council registration. This means that all trainees from the 2025/2026 foundation year will need a DPP to supervise them during their prescribing training.

In October 2023, NHS England announced that any employer wanting to take on a foundation trainee pharmacist in 2025/2026 must confirm that they can provide access to a DPP by March 2024. 

However, ​the shortage of DPPs has been an ongoing concern among pharmacists. In August 2024, The Pharmaceutical Journal reported that less than 20% of pharmacists undertook DPP training over the past year.

A spokesperson for Black Country ICB told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “As this is an internal scoping exercise that has not yet been finalised, we can’t comment on the findings at this time.”