A new Pharmacy degree at Bangor University has been given the go-ahead, with students set to begin their studies in September 2025.
The four-year Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) undergraduate degree programme is the primary route that students take to become pharmacists.
As Bangor University continues to grow and develop its new North Wales Medical School, the offering of Pharmacy alongside Medicine and allied Health programmes is part of the institution’s strategy to ensure that there are opportunities for local applicants to enter these important fields and that graduates fulfil the workforce needs of North Wales and beyond.
Prof Stephen Doughty, Head of Pharmacy Programme at Bangor University said:
“This programme will meet both a local and national need and will ensure that North Wales has a strong base for pharmacy education and research. This will ensure that patients and potential students’ needs are being met for the future.”
The recent developments follow a successful visit by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) as part of the required accreditation process. This positive outcome enables the university to begin the process of recruiting students on to the MPharm pharmacy degree for a September 2025 start whilst continuing to work towards accreditation of the programme with the GPhC. The programme will be provisionally accredited until the accreditation process is complete.
The MPharm programme will align with the GPhC’s new Standards for Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists and will support the regional health and wellbeing of the population by preparing pharmacy graduates for their roles as part of integrated healthcare teams to facilitate patient care. Bangor University provides significant experiential teaching through partners including the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), community pharmacies, GP practices and Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW). In partnership with BCUHB, Bangor University says it intends be the foremost provider of quality pharmacy education in North Wales.
Stakeholder involvement is forming the philosophy of the MPharm programme structure. Core pillars of The Patient, The Pharmacist and The Health Care System have been transcribed in to ‘Patients, their Medicines and their Care (PMC)’ modules that students will follow. Further innovative curriculum details have been developed to ensure that the programme is at the cutting edge of modern-day pharmacy training. These will be integrated, multidisciplinary modules where pharmacy practice, pharmacology, pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry elements are combined around the focus of the patient and their care. Professionalism and opportunities to practise using the medium of the Welsh language will be core elements that will be core to the programme.
Lois Lloyd, Chief Pharmacist at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said:
“I’m delighted with this positive news for North Wales and we look forward to working in partnership with Bangor University to support the programme. We now have an opportunity to locally invest in the training of pharmacists in North Wales and to develop the clinically skilled workforce we, and the wider NHS, need for the future.”
