By Sarah Baig, MPharm Prescribing Lead (University of Birmingham) and Professional Development and Governance Lead (Primary Care Division, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust)
The first cohort of pharmacist independent prescribers will graduate from UK universities in 2025. Access to a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) is vital to helping them transition into fully-fledged prescribing pharmacists.
Having been a pharmacist for over 15 years and trained as a prescriber after my postgraduate clinical diploma, I feel a responsibility to encourage more professionals to become DPPs. We need to embrace the opportunities the role provides and embed a lasting culture of training and development. This is key to effective governance, robust clinical teams, and future-proofing our profession.
Opportunities to become designated supervisors for future prescribers bring benefits for patients, healthcare providers and the system as a whole. Through their clinical expertise, pharmacists can change the trajectory of patients’ lives. My aim as a DPP is to combine these practices, creating an engaging and effective learning experience to empower my students and trainees.
Why I became a DPP
Why did I become a DPP? Those who have actively taught or supervised individuals will agree that teaching is very rewarding and gives a sense of achievement and giving back to the profession. Ultimately, becoming a DPP allows you to contribute to a larger purpose: helping others grow and succeed in their journeys.
Whilst juggling my DPP role with my others is a challenge, the benefits are undeniable. With oversight of both undergraduate and post-graduate foundation and advanced practice, it helps me to understand education and training, from initial standards through to advanced practice and prescribing competency frameworks for prescribers (which is particularly helpful for organisational and system-level outcomes).
Becoming a successful DPP requires a strong mix of passion, drive, and strong clinical foundations. The biggest challenge for me as a DPP with so many commitments is simply time constraints. However, it is manageable with good communication and planning, and I feel inspired by the fact that so many of my students aspire to a similar career.
Transforming careers
As a DPP, I’ve had a more significant impact on patient care while also contributing to the evolution of the pharmacy profession one trainee at a time. It has enhanced my practice and transformed my career.
But when undertaking a DPP role, support is key. You’ll need protected learning time to train, supervise and support your trainees, as well as further protected learning time for your own self-development within the workplace. So getting your employer on board is essential.
Plus, becoming a DPP opens further opportunities to be involved in more strategic system-wide work, so it is a real win-win opportunity.
Advice and tips
Join professional leadership groups, such as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Primary Care Pharmacists Association, and UK Clinical Pharmacists Association. These will help you keep abreast of current and best practice and are great for your CPD.
Networks and a support network are essential for DPPs, so contact your local Pharmacy Faculty to see who else is carrying out the role locally and use a buddy/mentor system to help get your HEI colleagues involved in upskilling staff.
If you are considering becoming a DPP my advice is to go for it - your profession needs you!
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