Course summary

Train to become a medicines-focused clinician. With placements throughout the course, you will have extensive opportunities to apply your learning to patient care. After completion of Foundation Training, you can register as a pharmacist and prescribe medicines for acute and chronic conditions. Developed and taught by our School of Healthcare, the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) programme is a gateway to a rewarding career in Pharmacy. Pharmacists work in a wide range of healthcare settings, including hospitals, general practices and community pharmacies. Increasingly, pharmacists take a leading role in optimising medicines use in patients with acute and chronic conditions, including through prescribing. The role of the pharmacist is expanding, and Pharmacy is a growing employment area nationally. This course is provisionally accredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), and we are working towards full accreditation - the standard procedure for a new MPharm degree. This means once you graduate, you can enter Foundation Year training and then become a registered pharmacist. On this degree you will develop your knowledge and skills through a mix of academic study and work-based learning. We believe that gaining practical, real-world experience is one of the best ways to develop the professional competencies demanded of a pharmacist. Starting in your first year, throughout the MPharm you will spend over 40 weeks on clinical placement in a wide range of settings. This includes three, 13-week clinical placements where you will work with pharmacy teams across the Midlands in hospitals and General Practices, and locally or nationally in community pharmacy. Spending time on placement will allow you to apply your learning, develop your practice and improve your clinical skills with patients. For the first three years, you will join other healthcare students from across the College of Life Sciences (Medicine, Nursing, Midwifery, Physiotherapy, Diagnostic Radiography, Operating Department Practitioners) in a series of inter-professional teaching and learning sessions. Learning alongside other healthcare students is ideal preparation for the workplace environment. In your final year, you will have the opportunity to complete a research project and an elective, either or both of which may be undertaken overseas. This provides an unrivalled opportunity to gain insight of global health systems. Students in the School of Healthcare have previously completed placements in the United States of America and Tanzania, amongst other locations. Facilities MPharm students will learn in our dedicated School of Healthcare teaching spaces, both on the university campus and at the nearby Leicester Royal Infirmary. There may be additional costs associated with studying on the MPharm programme e.g. travel to and from placements, electives etc. NHS England are currently considering whether to include undergraduate pharmacy students in the NHS Learning Support Fund, as is currently provided to most other medical, nursing and allied health students, but a decision has not yet been made. Themes The MPharm curriculum comprises 12 subjects (‘themes’) which weave longitudinally throughout modules across all four years. Anatomy, physiology and pathology Infectious Diseases and Immunology Biochemistry and Genetics Pharmaceutics Pharmaceutical Chemistry Pharmacy Calculations Epidemiology and Public Health Psychology and Sociology Quality of Care Clinical and Communication Skills Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Prescribing Professional, Ethical and Legal Inter-professional learning and practice Research inspired Education