Increase protected learning time for NHS pharmacists – GHP launches national campaign

Many pharmacists end up doing ‘unpaid work’ to catch up with the required training or completing self-learning in their own time.

The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) has launched a national campaign advocating for pharmacists working in the NHS to have a minimum of 10% of their contracted hours protected for supporting professional activities (SPA).

In a statement published on 7 February 2025, the GHP emphasised that this protected time “should be recognized by employers and embedded in job plans.”

The organisation highlighted the existing inconsistency across the UK regarding the amount of SPA time allocated to pharmacists and stressed the need for a consistent amount of development to “allow pharmacists to be able to be safe practitioners, to meet the demands of service development, and to be able to safely mentor and supervise more junior colleagues.”

The GHP raised concerns that many pharmacists end up doing “unpaid work” to catch up with the required training or completing self-learning in their own time.

“This pressure is unfair and unsustainable, potentially contributing to burnout and in combination with all the other pressures, leads to pharmacists leaving the NHS,” it stated.

The GHP asserted that a minimum of 10% of contracted hours for SPA is “a strongly justifiable argument.”

“This is to reflect the increase in professional responsibilities such as supervising junior colleagues with their prescribing, supporting undergraduate students, postgraduate education requirements, portfolio development, professional credentialing, and much more,” it explained.

The organisation stressed that it is within the scope of trusts, health boards and employers to grant this time to pharmacists, citing similar provisions in other professions.

Rob Connah, president of the GHP, underscored the urgency of implementing mandated protected learning time (PLT), particularly with the introduction of the General Pharmaceutical Council’s ‘Standards for the Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists’ in 2021.

With the new standards, all newly registered pharmacists would be able to prescribe independently from 2026.

Connah told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “There is a drastic increase of experiential learning, which places an emphasis on practice supervisors, and from 2025–2026, this will increase again to include a responsibility for developing safe prescribers at the point of registration.

“This increase in responsibility is a national expectation with little additional resource seen for individual pharmacists to accommodate.

“As services develop and become increasingly reliant upon specialist pharmacist skills and knowledge, the need for postgraduate qualifications has similarly increased. Services are limited by poor recruitment, retention and staff burnout.”

Claire Anderson, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), echoed these concerns, calling on governments, NHS bodies, and employers to ensure regular, funded PLT and the infrastructure needed to support it to enable continuous professional development from foundation pharmacists to consultant level across Great Britain.

“We believe it is essential that learning time is considered in any future workforce plans,” she said.

Anderson also noted that PLT was a key topic at their 2024 workforce wellbeing roundtable with Pharmacist Support and will remain central to discussions with stakeholders on collaborative efforts to better support the pharmacy workforce.

A survey conducted by the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) in January revealed that over two-thirds of frontline pharmacists had not received protected learning time during contracted hours or financial compensation from their employer for training related to Pharmacy First.

Regarding future service expansions, 97% of respondents agreed that protected learning time or paid training should be mandatory to support pharmacists and staff in delivering additional pathways and conditions.

Additionally, three-quarters (75%) of surveyed pharmacists felt that the pharmacies they work in were not adequately staffed to safely deliver Pharmacy First and other NHS contractual services.

Locum pharmacists expressed challenges in completing extensive training without compensation for their time or lost earnings, while part-time pharmacists reported feeling stressed due to time pressures associated with training.