Making protected learning time count

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Community pharmacy is evolving rapidly. Pharmacy teams are delivering an expanding range of clinical services, supporting people with increasingly complex needs and preparing for future developments, such as pharmacist independent prescribing.

Against this backdrop, the introduction of protected learning time in England’s Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework is an important and welcome development. While this is not additional funded training time, it does create valuable space for pharmacy teams to step away from day-to-day activities and focus on learning and service improvement. The challenge is ensuring that the time is used effectively.

Many pharmacists and pharmacy technicians routinely support colleagues in their learning. This might include supporting a pre-registration trainee pharmacy technician to carry out accurate blood pressure assessments, helping medicines counter assistants recognise when a patient may be suitable for an NHS Pharmacy First consultation, or upskilling the wider team to support new prescribing services. Yet few have received formal education in how people learn.

The good news is that effective workplace learning does not need to be complicated. A structured approach can help you make the most of every protected learning session and create meaningful improvements in practice.

Start with the service, not the training

When planning any learning activity, it is tempting to start by thinking about what information you want to share. However, a more effective approach is to begin by asking:

• What are we trying to achieve?
• What service or patient need are we supporting?
• What do team members need to know, understand or do differently?
• How will we know if the learning has made a difference?

For example, if your pharmacy wants to increase delivery of NHS Pharmacy First consultations, the goal is not simply for staff to complete a learning programme. The goal is to ensure that team members can confidently recognise eligible patients, help identify when a patient needs a pharmacist consultation and contribute to a positive patient experience.

Similarly, if you are preparing for prescribing developments, you may want team members to better understand their roles in supporting consultations, identifying suitable patients, making referrals and arranging follow-up.

Focusing on outcomes rather than content helps ensure learning translates into improved practice.

Simple framework

It can help to have a simple structure in mind. For protected learning time, I would suggest thinking about this in four stages:

1. Prepare

Effective learning begins before the learning session starts. Take time to identify the learning need and understand where your team is now:

• What are the current challenges?
• What knowledge or skills are missing?
• What are team members already doing well?
• What resources could support learning?

You do not need to create everything yourself. High-quality learning resources are already available from CPPE, Pharmacy Magazine, and Training Matters. They can provide an excellent foundation for team development. Ask team members to complete preparatory learning beforehand, so the face-to-face session can focus on discussion, problem solving and application.

2. Plan

Decide what success looks like. A helpful question is: “By the end of this session, what should the team be able to do differently?” Keeping learning outcomes clear and practical maintains focus. For example:

• Explain the referral process for a specific service
• Identify patients who may benefit from a service
• Confidently navigate a new workflow
• Support patients using agreed consultation approaches.

Adult learners are motivated when learning feels relevant to their practice. The most successful sessions are usually those that focus on situations that pharmacy teams encounter every day.

3. Facilitate

A common misconception is that training means presenting information from the front of a room. In fact, adults learn best when they actively participate. Rather than asking: “What do I need to tell people?”, consider asking: “How can I help people think about, discuss and apply this learning in their everyday roles?”

Some simple approaches include:

• Discussing real patient scenarios
• Sharing examples from practice
• Working through service-based case studies
• Exploring how learning applies in your pharmacy
• Encouraging team reflection and discussion.

For example, a discussion about how your team currently identifies patients suitable for an NHS Pharmacy First consultation may generate more learning than a presentation about the service specification. Similarly, role-playing conversations with patients about hypertension case-finding services can help team members build confidence before applying their skills in practice.

Creating opportunities to practise and reflect helps teams move beyond knowledge acquisition and into practical application.

4. Follow up

Learning should not stop when the session ends. The greatest benefits are often realised afterwards, when individuals begin applying their learning.

To reinforce learning and maintain momentum, plan time during a team meeting to discuss how practice has changed, review progress and find out what support people might need to ensure the learning is implemented.

Small changes implemented consistently often have a greater impact than large training events delivered in isolation.

Developing your skills

Helping other people to learn and develop requires skill and practice. Many pharmacy professionals become educators informally through leadership roles, supervision responsibilities or service development activities. Taking time to develop your own facilitation and presentation skills can increase your confidence and effectiveness when supporting others.

CPPE’s ‘Helping others learn’ online learning programme supports pharmacy professionals who facilitate colleagues’ learning by focusing on practical facilitation skills, and helps develop the confidence needed to create engaging and effective learning experiences.

Looking ahead

By creating space for training, protected learning time is an important opportunity for community pharmacy. The pharmacies that gain the greatest benefit are likely to be those that use the time intentionally: connecting learning to patient care and aligning development with service priorities.

Using learning resources from CPPE, Pharmacy Magazine and sister publication Training Matters allows you to focus your sessions on discussion, reflection and practical application, helping to maximise the value of the time available.

By investing your pharmacy team’s time in learning together, you can build a confident, capable workforce ready to embrace the challenges and opportunities ahead.