Pharmacy education centre awarded new NHS contract

A new contract between the NHS and the University of Manchester has secured the future of the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE).

NHS North West, on behalf of the NHS as a whole, signed up to the contract with the University, safeguarding the organisation’s future funding through the Multi-professional Education and Training levy: part of the Department of Health’s investment in education and training.
Based at The University of Manchester, CPPE offers continuing professional development opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians providing NHS services in England. The organisation was described as a “centre of excellence” in 2008 following a review led by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Keith Ridge, and the completion of an independent evaluation carried out by the University of Birmingham.
Neil McLauchlan, Assistant Director for Education and Commissioning, NHS North West, said: “This new arrangement gives a chance for the contract to be closer to service and engage more effectively with the wider NHS education and training networks. The new Contract Management Board will add to the robust governance arrangements that have supported CPPE when being managed by the Department of Health.”
The review recommended greater involvement of the NHS in the operation of the Centre to reflect the role, remit and funding of CPPE as part of the NHS investment in the healthcare workforce.
In the current financial climate, CPPE, like all education and training providers across the NHS, will face pressure to ‘do more for less’. The new contract provides for the Centre to develop and commercialise the intellectual property it creates in the course of delivering learning for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
This will include opportunities to develop partnerships with The University of Manchester and other higher education institutions. Income generated by the Centre will be reinvested in the learning programmes delivered by CPPE and will support the delivery of NHS services across England. Learning will continue to be delivered free of charge to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in England. The Department of Health will continue to retain the copyright on all learning developed by CPPE.
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, the University’s Vice Chancellor and President, said: “The University recognises the importance of continuing professional development for today’s professionals and is extremely pleased that Manchester, through CPPE, is able to be at the forefront of this for the two pharmacy professions.”
Professor Ian Jacobs, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, added: “We are delighted that the University has secured the future contract for CPPE and look forward to the opportunities and mutual benefits this will provide.”
Keith Ridge, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, said: “I am delighted to see the final steps in securing the future of CPPE as an integral part of the NHS education and training infrastructure are in place.
“As plans to establish Health Education England and local education and training infrastructure take shape, it is important that CPPE’s commitment to working with employers, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, across community, primary care and NHS Trusts, goes from strength to strength.
“Whilst stability and continuity in the provision of learning is as crucial now as it has ever been for pharmacy and the patients it serves, CPPE will also need to adapt quickly to support the transformational change necessary to support the quality and value that the public will demand from health services and the professionals that provide them.
“Improving outcomes through medicines optimisation, delivered in a healthy living environment, will need a level of both engagement with the public and patients, and collaboration across and within professions, not previously seen and CPPE will be an important player in supporting this new agenda.”
For information about CPPE and the learning opportunities it offers, visit www.cppe.ac.uk.