General Pharmaceutical Council
Preregistration pharmacists and their tutors have very different opinions about the quality of the training they receive, according to the results of two surveys published by the professional regulator.
The first ever survey of preregistration tutors conducted by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) reveals that 93% believe their trainees would rate their training experience as “good” or “very good”.
But when the trainees were asked the same question only 78% of them reached the same conclusion, according to findings from the GPhC’s survey of trainees carried out at the same time.
The 675 tutors who completed the GPhC survey predicted 1% of trainees would say that their training experience was “poor” or “very poor”. In contrast, 11% of trainees when asked about the quality of their experience ranked it at this level.
The surveys, which involved the 2014 trainee and trainer cohort, also reveal different opinions about the quality of the training depending on where it was delivered.
Trainees in hospital pharmacy, those working in large organisations or those who trained in Scotland or Wales were more likely to rank their experience as “good” or “very good” compared with their peers who trained elsewhere, the survey of 829 trainees reveals.
GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin hopes the results will inform ongoing discussions about preregistration training and “ensure that options for reforming training are based on the best available evidence”.
The issues raised will be discussed at the GPhC education conference in November 2015. The GPhC also promised to look into the reasons behind “the small but significant” number of trainees who were unhappy with their training.
