West Midlands Local Office

St Chads Court

213 Hagley Road

Edgbaston

Birmingham

B16 9RG

To:West Midlands Pharmacist and Nursing Employers

Dear colleague,

Nominations Request:Jan 2018Clinically Enhanced Independent Prescribing

Following successful delivery of the 2017 Health Education England - West Midlands [HEE-WM] Clinically Enhanced Independent Prescribing programme, we are pleased to confirm that, due to demand, a further (single) course will be offered from January 2018. The course will be provided at the University of Birmingham and is accredited to for both pharmacists and nurses.

The coursedelivers a GPhC, HCPC and NMC-accredited Independent Prescribing module [IP], blendedwith enhanced clinical content including clinical health assessment and diagnostics; aligned to the (MSc) “Advanced Clinical Practice” pathway. The course is open to pharmacists and nurses from West Midlands’ community, primary and secondary care-based organisations and tuition fees for successful candidates will be met in full by HEE-WM.

I would like to invite you to nominate pharmacists and / or nurses from your organisation to join the programme. Please use the attached form to complete your nomination/s.[1]Demand is high and places limited, so I would urge you to provide as much supporting detail as possible (competitive selection may be required). Completed forms should be returned by email to no later than 5pm onDecember 8th 2017. Contact details and guidance notes have been added below to assist you. Upon submission of your form, you will be advised of next steps, but if you have any questions or would like to discuss further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours faithfully,

Guidance Notes:Clinically Enhanced Independent Prescribing:

1)General

  • The course will be 6 months duration and open to pharmacists and nurses practising in the West Midlands in primary, community and secondary care. The course combines classroom and workplace-based learning.
  • The course will award a (Level 7) Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits), reflecting an extended curriculum (see below) and providing a background to support further studies for higher awards.
  • Successful students will be awarded: 1) A (40 credit) ‘Practice Certificate in Independent Prescribing’ allowing application for annotation on their professional register as an independent prescriber and 2) A (20 credit) ‘Clinical Skills and Health Assessment’ award.
  • The course will develop in students an enhanced practical experience in diagnostics and health assessment; aligned to the Advanced Clinical Practice pathway and beyond the curriculum set by GPhC and NMC for traditionalindependent prescriber modules.
  • The course content and credit may be suitable for RPL (previously APL) onto existing (West Midlands) Advanced Clinical Practice training courses.

NOTE: The course requiresstudents to complete a minimum of 90 hours of clinical teaching and supervised clinical practice, with a nominated Designated Medical Practitioner (DMP). This is to meet regulator requirements and any additional hours to achieve competence.

Sourcing a DMP will be the student /employer’s responsibility; to be demonstrated prior to commencement / release of funding.

2)Enhanced Clinical Skills

  • Unique to this course will be practical experience in diagnostics and health assessment, deliveredthrough a blended ‘Clinical Skills and Health Assessment’ module (with the focus moving more toward diagnostics than minors training, but still demonstrating “hands-on” rather than didactic training).
  • The course will provide health assessment training of a manner which will support graduates in confidently and competently performing general physical examination and health assessment, relevant to their area of practice.Students will be supported in achieving this through a blended method which will include practical experience, underpinned by theoretical knowledge.
  • The health assessment content will include (but not necessarily be limited to):

-generic “head-to-toe” physical examination

-emphasis on “red flags”

-history taking

-consultation skills

3)Funding

Full tuition fee support will be offered to each student joining the course, based upon confirmation by the course provider of full enrolment and attendance upon that course.

2018 Clinically Enhanced Independent Prescribing for Pharmacists and Nurses:Candidate Nomination Form[2]

FORM TO BE TYPED AND RETURNED BY EMAIL ONLY

Employing Organisation Name: …………………………………………………………………….

Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Line Manager(person authorising release to training):

Name:

Role:

Contact Email:

Student Nomination/s:

NAME / Contact Email Address / Current Role
1
2
3
4
5
6

Please confirm your nominees’ Designated Medical Practitioner (DMP):

Name/s: ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Role/s: …………………………………………………………………………………………………

Organisation Address: ……………………………………………………………………………...

Contact Email Address: …………………………………………………………………………….

(Confirmation of your DMP is a requirement of entry onto the programme)

Workforce Development

Please provide a summarydescription of what you intend to do with the training you will receive and how your enhanced skills will be deployed within your organisation (200 words max).

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Evaluation:

There is an expectation that all organisations involved in this programme will cooperate with HEE-WM evaluation processes where practicable and in line with local data protection and governance rules. Please confirm the willingness of your organisation to cooperate with the programme evaluation team as regards release of information / data relating to deployment of the named candidate/s within your workforce in advance of and at 1, 6 and 12 month intervals following course completion:

Yes / No

If no, please give reasons why:

TO NOTE:

  • Candidates should be aware that the programme on offer is not a “standard” IP course, but one that blends regulator-accredited Independent Prescribertraining with skills training in Clinical Health Assessment. The health assessment and Independent Prescriber training components are not severable and 100% attendance is expected at all sessions.
  • The course curriculum will be supplied on request.
  • Candidates will be expected to fully brief their DMP and share this document and any accompanying DMP guidance with them, before applying.
  • Incomplete or handwritten forms will be returned to the nominee.

Declaration

I confirm that I have read and understood this document and that all detail is correct, to the best of my knowledge.

Line ManagerSignature: …………………………………………………………..

Print Name: ………………………………………………………………………………...

Role: ………………………………………………………………………………..

Date: ………………………………………………………………………………………….

Please return completed forms to by December 8th 2017(17:00)

[1]NOTE:Nominees will also need to satisfy course provider and regulator requirements prior to acceptance onto the course.

[2]NOTE: This form does not replace or take precedence over GPhC, NMC and course provider requirements for acceptance onto Independent Prescriber courses.