Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPP)

Becoming a DPP

With the role of the pharmacist, in all sectors of practice, expanding to include more clinical roles, there's a greater need than ever for the workforce to upskill, particularly in prescribing. To meet these needs, an increasing number of pharmacists are undertaking prescribing training.

In addition, from 2025 onwards, pharmacy graduates will leave university with prescribing skills, so it’s vital there are enough Designated Prescribing Practitioners to supervise their learning in practice.

Becoming a DPP is often the next step as a prescribing pharmacist, having gained the skills and experience in being a prescribing pharmacist yourself. Being a DPP is a rewarding role, enabling you to share your expertise with those starting their prescribing journey and allowing you to give back to the pharmacy profession, and contribute to future workforce development.

As a DPP, you can develop the further skills and knowledge to enhance your career and demonstrate skills in supervision, leadership and advanced practice.

Whether you're thinking of becoming a DPP or you already are one, Royal Pharmaceutical Society membership gives you the resources you need, including:

• Our Prescribing Support Service
• The RPS Designated Prescribing Practitioner Competency Framework
• Regular webinars on prescribing and prescribing supervision
• Access to The Pharmaceutical Journal
• RPS Mentoring.

Discover more about:

1. Our support for pharmacist Designated Prescribing Practitioners
2. The Designated Prescribing Practitioner Competency Framework
3. Blogs from DPPs about the day-to-day reality of the role
4. Content from The Pharmaceutical Journal (PJ)
5. How the RPS Mentoring Service can help

1. Our support for pharmacist Designated Prescribing Practitioners

The RPS has published a position statement on support for pharmacist Designated Prescribing Practitioners, which emphasises the need to define a realistic estimate of the time commitment required to be an effective DPP. Read the full position statement

You can also find more information on the role of a DPP in our Pharmacy Guide on Becoming a Prescriber.

2 The Designated Prescribing Practitioner Competency Framework

To help train safe and effective independent prescribers, the RPS has worked with multidisciplinary experts to develop and publish our Competency Framework for Designated Prescribing Practitioners (PDF).

The framework will help you to understand the expectations for a DPP using the standardised competency descriptors.

3 Blogs from DPPs about the day-to-day reality of the role

Experienced DPPs have written about their experiences of being DPP on our RPS blog:

Why and how I became a Designated Prescribing Practitioner

The benefits of becoming a Designated Prescribing Practitioner

4 Content from The Pharmaceutical Journal (PJ)

News: the latest updates for DPPs

• Pharmacy bodies call for action to ensure access to designated prescribing practitioners
• Designated prescribing practitioners in primary care to be funded under ARRS scheme
• Standardised approach to developing designated prescribing practitioners needed, says Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists.

Opinions: expert thinking on DPP issues

• To DPP or not to DPP: who trains the trainers?
• It is time to rethink prescribing scope of practice and the DPP model for foundation training.

Features: the state of the field

• ‘Pay it forward’: enticing independent prescribers to mentor the next generation
• Charting the course to advancing pharmacist prescribing.

Learning: helping you be a better DPP

• Entrustable professional activities: a new approach to supervising trainee pharmacists on clinical placements
• Professional skills hub
• Prescribing hub.

5 How the RPS Mentoring Service can help

The RPS mentoring service connects our members with experienced and knowledgeable pharmacy professionals who can help their career flourish. If you’re thinking of becoming a DPP, our mentoring platform could be a very useful first step.

Find out more at www.rpharms.com/development/mentoring

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