The Workforce Academy
The Academy for the Study and Development of the Pharmacy Workforce
The Workforce Academy was created following the introduction of a new regulatory framework for health professionals in the UK and the publication of a strategic plan for NHS Human Resources in England. These policies were dependent on evidence-based descriptions of knowledge and skills of health professionals, and quality-assured learning provision.
The new community pharmacy contract and legislation to control the regulation of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and community pharmacies, have become pivotal aspects to determining the shape and nature of the pharmacy workforce in the future NHS.
Established in January 2004 at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Workforce Academy has various roles. These include:
- Performing as a national observatory of the pharmacy workforce and practice
- Undertaking research and development on the pharmacy workforce and monitoring its performance
- Providing learning and assessment opportunities to maintain pharmacy workforce competence
- Facilitating new NHS service developments and performance management
Domains of activity
The Academy comprises four domains of activity: the well-established national Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and three related research and development centres. The aim is to:
- Inform and develop learning for the practising pharmacy workforce that is:
- Directed at building or maintaining competence to practise
- Integrated with undergraduate learning, together with that required for advanced practitioner (e.g. diploma) or researcher (e.g. PhD) status
- Contribute to a knowledge, attitudes and skills map for the pharmacy workforce to inform learning, career and governance frameworks
- Build on recent work on professional careers and autonomy, and earlier developmental and evaluation studies of pharmacy practice, to create an R&D centre for exploring human resource (HR) and structural factors that enhance or impede innovation and implementation of good practice
- Consolidate the R&D lead that the group already has in pharmacy workforce and skill-mix, and the development of an international profile and research capacity
- Exploit the unique access, resources and networks of The Academy to create an academic base for the study of learning in the pharmacy workforce and its relevance to performance
Developing activity and infrastructure
Since January 2004, the priority has been to develop the activity and infrastructure of The Workforce Academy as follows:
Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE)
The organisational and financial structure of CPPE has been overhauled, resulting in:
- The creation of an online assessment facility for practising pharmacists who plan to provide advanced and enhanced level services under the new NHS pharmacy contract
- Improvement in the efficiency of the organisation, so it is providing more funds (within the Department of Health allocation) for development work
- Provision of two new programmes of learning - each with distinctive formats - for hospital pharmacists, and registered pharmacy technicians respectively
- Integration of all types of CPPE learning delivery at a local level
- Appointment of a new Director of CPPE
Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies (CPWS)
Workforce studies represent the most established area of research within The Workforce Academy. The CPWS’s recent activities include:
- A commission by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) to undertake a national five-year pharmacy graduate cohort study (2004-2008) tracking career expectations and outcomes
- The 2005 census of pharmacists
- Hosting the 2004 and 2005 RPSGB Linstead Award holders
- Providing two official reports for the Department of Health on skill mix and pharmacy support staff, and two to the RPSGB on workforce issues
Centre for Innovative Practice (CIP)
The research work in CIP reflects the contemporary policy profile of community pharmacy, and includes activities relating to:
- Patient Safety in Community Pharmacy
- Diversification and integration of community pharmacy within primary care, particularly in the area of medicines management
- The national evaluation of community pharmaceutical services for the Department of Health
The Director of the Workforce Academy is Professor Peter Noyce. It has a staff of over 30, based in Manchester.
