At the Centre for Inter-Professional Postgraduate Education and Training (CIPPET) our aim is to secure a flexible, appropriately trained and enthusiastic workforce which is equipped to perform current and future tasks within rapidly changing healthcare environments.

CIPPET programmes allow you to develop your skills and knowledge alongside your peers, through flexible workplace-based learning. Our programmes are designed to fit around, and complement, your working life.

“I enjoyed studying in Reading’s Centre for Inter-Professional Postgraduate Education and Training because I learnt from specialists with a passion for their area. What I learnt was extremely relevant and I could go and apply it to a real patient the very next day.”

Sarah Garnish

Postgraduate Diploma in Pharmacy Practice and Specialist Pharmacist in NHS Foundation Trust

Non-Medical Prescribing

Train to become an independent and supplementary prescriber on our Non-Medical Prescribing postgraduate programmes, where you will learn in accordance with the standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), or the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

Details of the accreditations can be found at GPhC accreditationHCPC accreditation  and NMC accreditation.

Courses run throughout the year – please be aware places are limited. You can find out more about the entry requirements, fees and financial support, and how to apply on our course listing pages.

Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma in Pharmacy Practice

This is a workplace-based programme is aligned to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Foundation Pharmacy Framework. It allows registered early career pharmacists, returning to practice pharmacists or pharmacists changing sector of practice, to develop their clinical and service-based skills aligned to the RPS Foundation Pharmacy Framework.  It helps to support development of core skills, competencies, and knowledge required to perform pharmaceutical care alongside professional development.

It is particularly useful for those looking to change their scope of practice, or to move their career forward and develop on-going proficiency.

Applicants must be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council and working as a pharmacist in primary or secondary care at an accredited training centre. There is also a programme requirement to have an educational supervisor to support the workplace-based assessments and portfolio requirements of the course.

The Certificate in Pharmacy Practice (60 credits) is usually undertaken over 14 to 16 months, with afternoon learning sets and clinical masterclasses every 4-6 weeks to support learning in the workplace. The curriculum focuses on clusters 1-3 of the Foundation Pharmacy Framework. The programme starts in November on an annual basis.

Find out more about the entry requirements, fees and financial support, and how to apply on our course listing pages:

The Diploma in Pharmacy Practice (60 credits) can only be taken once the Certificate is completed. The Diploma is undertaken as three modules which take six months each, and is an extension of your learning from the Certificate. The curriculum focuses on cluster 4 of the Foundation Pharmacy Framework and transition to Advanced Stage I of the Advanced Pharmacy Framework. The programme starts in April on an annual basis.

Find out more about the entry requirements, fees and financial support, and how to apply on our course listing pages:

Accreditation and partnerships

The content of the Certificate and Diploma in Pharmacy Practice is accredited by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and we hold Pharmacy Foundation School status.

CIPPET is part of the Joint Programme Board (JPB) which is a brand name representing the partnership between NHS pharmacy services and nine local Schools of Pharmacy.

This partnership aims to ensure the content and structure of postgraduate professional education meets current and anticipated requirements of patients, practitioners, and health service organisations.

The programme is designed around an ethos of workplace learning, which is supported by a professional practice portfolio you can take with you after you have finished the programme so you can build on your future learning needs.

MSC Advancing Healthcare Practice

Practising healthcare professionals can apply to study this flexible, taught, workplace-based master’s degree, which combines a range of optional and compulsory modules to suit their learning needs.

If you already have postgraduate academic credits from other healthcare-based courses – such as PGCert/Dip in Pharmacy Practice, PGDip in Physician Associate Studies, Practice Certificate in Independent Prescribing, or another healthcare-related subject – you will be able to apply for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to join the programme partway through.

You can find out more about the entry requirements, fees and financial support, and how to apply on our course listing pages:

Short Courses

CIPPET offers educational training modules to prepare supplementary prescribing pharmacists to practise as both independent and supplementary prescribers and to meet the standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

The short courses we currently offer are:

Upcoming Courses