NHS England has this month started funding the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education to offer 80 places on its accuracy checking pharmacy technician programme.

Funding for the programme, which is for pharmacy technicians working in community pharmacy, NHS hospitals and in health and justice, will stop by the end of March next year or when all 80 places have been allocated.

CPPE said the “scope of the programme is to train and assess pharmacy technicians” working in those settings “to perform the final accuracy check of dispensed items on prescriptions that have been clinically screened/approved by a pharmacist.”

Fifty per cent of the funding is for pharmacy technicians working in community pharmacy and 50 per cent for those working in other sectors.

“The programme has been designed to assure employers in each sector that pharmacy technicians who successfully complete the set learning and assessments are able to undertake the role and have the appropriate knowledge, skills and behaviours to deliver high quality, consistent checks of medicines,” CPPE said.

“It includes tasks that will develop leadership skills to support the team and drive performance.”