UK
Clinical Pharmacy
Association
UK
Clinical Pharmacy
Association
The role of the pharmacist is changing rapidly. With prescribing becoming part of the initial education and training of most newly qualified pharmacists in the UK, pharmacists are entering practice with greater clinical responsibilities and a broader scope of professional practice. The transition from newly registered pharmacist to confident, autonomous practitioner therefore needs to be supported by structured development, supervision and opportunities to demonstrate capability.
The Royal College of Pharmacy’s new Enhanced Curriculum and Credential has been developed to provide that framework.
Launched in September 2026, the Enhanced Curriculum is designed to support newly qualified pharmacist prescribers as they develop their prescribing practice, build wider professional capability and progress with confidence. It provides a nationally recognised pathway across community, primary care and secondary care settings.
Registration marks the beginning of a pharmacist’s professional career, rather than the end of their development. The first few years after registration are an important period in which pharmacists develop clinical judgement, autonomy and confidence, while learning to apply their knowledge to increasingly complex situations. At the same time, they are developing other capabilities that are essential to modern pharmacy practice, including leadership, education, research and evaluation.
The introduction of prescribing into the initial education and training of pharmacists makes this structured development even more important. Newly qualified pharmacists will have the legal authority to prescribe, but developing into a confident and safe prescriber requires more than simply acquiring the qualification.
The Enhanced Curriculum is intended to help pharmacists define and develop their scope of practice, while providing a structured way to record learning and demonstrate their capabilities.
Importantly, the curriculum is not simply about prescribing. It takes a broader view of what pharmacists need to develop during early post-registration practice. Alongside prescribing and clinical practice, it supports development in leadership and management, education, and research and evaluation.
This reflects the reality of modern pharmacy careers. Pharmacists work across a wide range of roles and settings, and their contribution extends well beyond the direct clinical encounter.
The curriculum is designed to provide a common framework while allowing pharmacists to develop within their own professional context. This is particularly important as career pathways increasingly cross traditional sector boundaries.
One of the most valuable aspects of the Enhanced Curriculum is its place within a wider professional development pathway. The Royal College of Pharmacy describes credentialing as a way of establishing national standards for post-registration practice and providing assurance that pharmacists have demonstrated the knowledge, skills and behaviours expected at a particular level of practice. Its wider framework encompasses post-registration foundation or enhanced practice, core advanced practice and consultant practice.
The Enhanced Curriculum therefore helps to address an important stage in a pharmacist’s professional journey: the development that takes place after registration but before advanced-level practice.
For pharmacists who aspire to progress into advanced roles, this creates a clearer developmental pathway. Rather than seeing professional development as a series of disconnected courses or competencies, pharmacists can build their capability progressively and gather evidence of their development along the way.
A particularly welcome feature of the new pathway is its flexibility. Recognising that building evidence across every area of practice at once could feel overwhelming for newly qualified pharmacists, the Enhanced Curriculum introduces a modular approach to credentialing. Pharmacists will be able to work towards an Enhanced clinical credential, covering domains 1 and 2; an Enhanced non-clinical credential, covering Domains 3, 4 and 5; or the Full enhanced credential, covering all five domains.
This allows development to take place in manageable stages rather than requiring pharmacists to demonstrate everything simultaneously. That flexibility is particularly valuable in a profession where roles, opportunities and learning environments vary considerably. It recognises that development does not necessarily happen in a neat, linear sequence.
Another important principle is the emphasis on demonstrating practice. The pathway is supported by an e-portfolio, providing a structured way for pharmacists to record their learning and demonstrate how they are applying their developing knowledge and skills in practice. The broader credentialing approach uses evidence from practice rather than relying solely on completion of educational activities.
Professional development is most valuable when it changes what we do, not simply when we complete a course. A portfolio-based approach can help pharmacists connect learning with real examples from their practice, reflect on their development and identify where further support or experience is needed. It also provides a means of demonstrating capability to others – including employers, colleagues and, ultimately, patients and the public.
The development of the Enhanced Curriculum has involved collaboration across the profession, bringing together different sectors and perspectives. UKCPA has been pleased to contribute to this work. John Warburton, Chair of UKCPA, was a member of the Curriculum Steering Group:
“It’s fantastic to see the launch of the new Enhanced Curriculum and Credentialing Pathway today by the Royal College of Pharmacy. I was delighted to contribute to its development through the Curriculum Steering Group which was an exemplar of inclusive collaboration across many organisations and areas of the profession. This plugs the gap between initial registration and the Core Advanced Pharmacist Curriculum to support pharmacists in their development across an ever-evolving array of roles and to set them up to succeed.”
That collaborative approach is important because a national curriculum needs to be relevant to pharmacists working in different environments and at different stages of their careers.
The Enhanced Curriculum arrives at an important point for the profession. Pharmacists are increasingly expected to work autonomously, prescribe, manage complexity and contribute to service development, education, leadership and research. Supporting pharmacists to develop these capabilities systematically is essential if the profession is to realise the full potential of the expanded pharmacist role.
A clear national framework can also provide a common language for pharmacists, employers and educators. It can help employers understand the capabilities pharmacists are developing, support conversations about career progression and provide pharmacists themselves with greater clarity about what they need to achieve. Most importantly, it can help ensure that increased autonomy is matched by appropriate development, support and assurance.
The Enhanced Curriculum is therefore more than a curriculum for newly qualified pharmacists. It is an important part of building a coherent professional development pathway that enables pharmacists to move from registration, to confidence, to enhanced practice and ultimately towards advanced practice.
For a profession whose roles continue to evolve, having a clear pathway for that journey is increasingly important.
The Royal College of Pharmacy’s Enhanced Curriculum and Credential is available alongside the e-portfolio and an implementation toolkit containing resources for learners, educational supervisors, collaborators and employers.
Find out more about the Enhanced Curriculum and Credentialing Pathway
Join UKCPA for less than £3 a week and access all our communities, education and resources.
