Health Education England Pharmacy Independent Prescribing

Health Education England (HEE) exists for one reason only: to support the delivery of excellent healthcare and health improvement to the patients and public of England by ensuring that the workforce of today and tomorrow has the right numbers, skills, values and behaviours, at the right time and in the right place.

HEE, in partnership with NHS England, has a requirement to procure approximately 2000 General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) accredited Pharmacist Independent Prescribers courses across England as part of an initial 2-year contract.

Pharmacist independent prescribing has been identified as an essential aspect of workforce transformation aimed at developing clinical pharmacy roles with a view to the delivery of medicines optimisation and the promotion of health and wellbeing, both through community pharmacies and elsewhere in primary care, as part of integrated patient pathways.

The requirements for non-medical prescribing courses are clearly set out by three regulatory bodies that approve courses (NMC, HCPC and GPhC). Courses commissioned through this tender will need to be accredited by the GPhC. The criteria that inform what good looks like will be based on the HEE Quality Standards, which are available at: https://www.hee.nhs.uk/our-work/planning-commissioning/commissioning-quality

However, HEE is keen to attract new entrants into the market to deliver the programme and, where a supplier is working towards accreditation and is part of a partnership with other providers, will consider staggering programme start dates to enable subsequent accreditation as long as the lead provider as a minimum has already secured GPhC accreditation and the unaccredited supplier has achieved accreditation before commencing delivery of their first cohort of the commissioned Independent Prescribing programme.

Delivery is likely to be from Sept 2017 onwards as part of an initial 2-year contract with the potential for extension following review.

The successful bidders will be expected to work with the education and training pathway providers across service areas e.g. care homes, integrated urgent care hubs, and clinical pharmacists in general practice.

The overall deliverables are expected to include pastoral care to learners, appropriate support and development of the prescribing supervisors, and active participation in a programme of evaluation co-ordinated by an NHS research and evaluation team.

Additional information: Is a Recurrent Procurement Type? : No