Over 400 pharmacy graduates undertaking their foundation training this year do not have an assigned Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP), the Government has confirmed.
In a parliamentary written answer,1 the Government noted that 2,417 of the graduates who began foundation pharmacist training in 2025/26, trained against the 2021 standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists. Each of these graduates are required to have a DPP, a healthcare professional with independent prescribing rights, to supervise and assess prescribing activities during their foundation year.
However, only 2,013 of these had an assigned DPP, as of February 2026.
This leaves 404 graduates without an assigned DPP, and lays bare the stark reality that some trainees may not have the opportunity to register as a pharmacist as they had planned.
The CCA has been warning of the bottleneck in DPPs for some time. Despite this, we have repeatedly been assured by NHS England (NHSE) that there are sufficient DPPs within the system.
In May 2024, the CCA urged NHSE to provide a list of all organisations with available DPPs before placement information was released to students.2
The CCA is concerned that the continued shortage of DPPs will mean that some graduates from 2025/26 will only be able to secure a DPP for the next academic year. This would, in turn, have a knock-on effect on the availability of DPPs for the 2026/27 academic year.
In December 2024, NHSE decided to postpone the requirement to mandate pharmacy employers to offer multi-sector rotations in the foundation pharmacist training programme from 2026/27 by one year.3 However, with the shortage of DPPs available within community pharmacy, the change means there is little to no incentive for DPPs in other settings to offer their supervision services to community pharmacy trainees.
Ultimately, this problem cannot be solved until there are sufficient prescribers in the community pharmacy workforce. This solution will need a nationally commissioned independent prescribing service. Only this will enable the formation of an independent prescribing workforce, that can provide the training and supervision for future Foundation Pharmacist trainees.
Malcolm Harrison, Chief Executive of the CCA said:
“Over 400 pharmacy graduates may not be able to complete their foundation training, through no fault of their known.
NHS England must urgently engage with placement providers to ensure that there are sufficient DPPs for all Foundation Pharmacists
The CCA has been warning NHS England of the shortage of DPPs for some time.
The sector continues to experience a shortage of community pharmacists. The current requirements are simply not up to speed and will mean fewer pharmacists join the register”.
References
1 – House of Commons, Written Answer – Pharmacy: Training, UIN 113243
2 – CCA, CCA Statement: Urgent action required on Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPPs), 23 May 2024
3 – NHS England, Letter – Changes to the implementation timeline for mandatory multi-sector-rotations in the Foundation Pharmacist Training Programme, December 2024