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When independents identify a problem with the foundation training year, the multiples ignore it, says Terry Maguire...

Genuine concerns remain about arrangements for next year’s Foundation Training Year (FTY) in Northern Ireland.

In 2026-2027, the FTY will be radically transformed and for contractors who have now signed up, confusion reigns. CPNI, on behalf of employers, has been articulating concerns to the Department of Health (DoH) since 2022 but frustratingly, little reassurance has been forthcoming from the chief pharmacist’s office.

Since the end of last year, and before contractors were required to commit to providing a placement, there was a view, mainly held by independent contractors, that the risks were too great. A boycott was proposed to force DoH to at least provide clarification.

A threat of boycott would certainly have focused minds but the multiple pharmacy groups, always deaf to any views but their own, signed up anyway, leaving attempts at collective action in tatters.

Some excellent tutors from the independent sector have now decided not to continue but the numbers willing to provide placements, over 200 I believe, is sufficient and so the programme goes ahead.

Each student will now spend six months in hospital, six months in community or in a GP practice. Pharmacies will not have any contact with their student before they turn up on the first day or so it seems.

This centralised placement of trainees has existed in health service training for years and across most disciplines but it is alien to community pharmacy.

The risk that a student might not fit in is very real with all the attendant consequences for the student, the supervisor and the business. Contractors take full employment responsibility for the student, so they are rightly concerned that this arrangement fails to consider issues such as legal liability, disability discrimination requirements, data protection and AccessNI checks.

Students will be paid more for their hospital placement. Hospital placements are covered by Agenda for Change and since there is no plan to uplift the community pharmacy training grant, salaries in the community setting will lag behind.

This will displease the students and could lead to real dissatisfaction with their training experience. Where the Northern Ireland Centre for Pharmacy Learning and Development will manage the system, no doubt in a highly professional way, the focus of the students and the needs of the business might clash.

Examination focus in the second six-month placement period means the student might not achieve the competencies necessary for sign-off.    Right now, is seems unclear who is responsible for signing off competencies yet this is such a fundamental part of the FYT.

There are only 200 places which is low given the output of our two universities and the usual number of students originally from Northern Ireland wishing to return home from England, Scotland and Wales after completing their pharmacy degree to complete their FYT.

There is a feeling of things being rushed. Only in July did the necessary legal instrument get approval and on which key changes will depend.

GP practices where many independent prescribing (IP) pharmacists work and can provide this aspect of the training year can now become training sites. In addition, a supervisor can have more than one trainee allocated.

This will allow flexibility in what will be a logistically difficult process but must not dilute the experience. These are big changes but are essential if the correct outcomes are to be achieved and I hope that not too much of the basic training is sacrificed solely to achieve that IP annotation of all newly registered pharmacists.

Where CPNI is doing excellent work attempting to have the FYT issues addressed before they become a problem, this issue exposes a weakness at the heart of our representation.

When the multiples want something, the independents are expected to give their support but when the independents identify a problem and seek strong action, the multiples just ignore them. It just makes CPNI’s position less effective.

There are problems with FYT that need to be resolved. The next generation of pharmacists who will qualify as independent prescribers need the proper environment to complete their training.

The DoH should not be allowed to bury its head in the sand and then find the year an unmitigated disaster. No-one wants that. There is so much goodwill from so many capable people that this should not be the case but it is too dangerous to just hope it all goes well.

As we all know, hope is never a good strategy.

Terry Maguire is a leading pharmacist in Northern Ireland.