Are you a registered pharmacist in your own country and want to practise in the UK? You’ve probably heard of the Overseas Pharmacist Assessment Programme (or OSPAP, as it’s more commonly known) but do you have all the information you need to apply? Read on to find out more about the OSPAP at The University of Sunderland.
What is the OSPAP?
The OSPAP is a recognised qualification designed for qualified pharmacists outside the European Economic Area or hold an EEA pharmacist qualification which is not a 'relevant' qualification (other than a UK-recognised pharmacist qualification) who are looking to become registered pharmacists in the UK. In order to progress to the next stage of registering as a pharmacist in the UK, you must complete the OSPAP postgraduate diploma (PgDip).
The course content is reflective of the accreditation requirements of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) who accredit both our OSPAP and our MPharm courses.
Entry requirements
Before you can apply to study the OSPAP course, you must first apply to the GPhC and pass their adjudication process which involves them assessing your qualifications and your English language skills (for example, your IELTS score). Please note, if you experience any issues with the adjudication process you must contact the GPhC directly – the University cannot help with this.
When you apply to the GPhC, you will make choose a preferred institution at which you wish to study the OSPAP – so make sure you have done your research to see which university and course suits you the best (don’t worry, you can choose more than one!). The GPhC will then send your form onto the institutions for whom you have shown a preference for further assessment and we will send you a University of Sunderland application form from there.
As part of your application we will ask you for a copy of your GPhC approved adjudication letter and proof of English language proficiency (again, this could be your IELTS score). When you have been made an offer, this will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check - we will send you the documentation for this. Please note that you can only complete a DBS check if you have been living in the UK for more than three months. If you haven’t, don’t worry – we can also accept a letter of good standing from the police in your home country. Please contact us if you wish to discuss any of these requirements.
Interview
All offers are subject to interview.
Interviews will take place between November and February on set dates and are only available on those dates. We only have a limited number of interview slots available so you will be allocated one as soon as possible once you are eligible for interview. Please make all attempts to attend this. If you cannot, please notify us immediately.
Once you’ve been interviewed, if successful you will be sent an updated offer letter removing the condition for interview. If you have any outstanding additional conditions at that point, please send these to us as soon as possible to complete your application and secure your place. Please contact us at internationaladmissions@sunderland.ac.uk if you have any questions about your outstanding conditions. If you have passed your interview, your place is only secured once all conditions of your offer are met. If you are unsuccessful, we will withdraw your offer.
Once you have met all conditions, if applicable, and you require a Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS) then we will start to issue these from the end of March which is the earliest point we are able to. Once you have this, you will be able to apply for your visa. We recommend you apply for that as soon as possible in case of any delays when making your visa application.
Once you have that, the University will be in touch around the induction and arrival process.
Once places are full, we will contact all applicants to let them know and we will offer them an opportunity to join a reserve list. If any successful applicants withdraw, we will then go to the reserve list on a first come, first served basis for those who have met all conditions and are ready to progress.
Course structure
This is a full-time course and teaching on the OSPAP takes place Monday to Friday. You’ll learn through a wide variety of teaching and learning methods which include lectures, seminars, simulated pharmacy sessions and clinical skills, as well as simulations in the University’s mock hospital wards. Teaching will also include opportunities to collaborate with students from other healthcare disciplines (such as medicine, nursing and occupational therapy) in an interprofessional learning capacity.
As well as on-campus learning, you will undertake placements throughout the course. You will experience placements in hospital pharmacies, in the community, at GP surgeries and in primary and secondary care. Your placements are an excellent way to discover what kind of pharmacist you want to be and where you want your career path to take you.
Foundation Training
After completing the OSPAP, you will move onto the next stage of your training process by progressing onto a foundation training year. All OSPAP and MPharm graduates must successfully complete this year in order to register and practise as a pharmacist in the UK.
Be aware that your foundation training place must be arranged before you even commence the OSPAP, so organisation is key! All students who apply for a foundation training year must be interviewed – interviews take place through Oriel, pharmacists, doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals in the UK. Applications for the foundation training year close in June, interviews take place in September and pre-registration job offers are sent out in November.
Sound complicated? To give you a better idea of how it all works, let’s assume you have applied to start the OSPAP course in September 2023. You would complete the course and therefore start your foundation training application by June 2023 and if you were successful, you would be invited to ORIEL assessments in September 2023 (around the same time you would start the OSPAP). From there, if you pass Oriel’s assessment process, you will be sent your foundation training offer in November 2023.
You may be wondering how you can find your foundation training placement, and if there is any support available. The GPhC has some great resources on their website, including links to approved training sites, while Health Education England operates a national recruitment scheme for all hospital placements and other providers in England and Wales (which you can apply for through Oriel).
We have a strong track record of training pharmacy students here at the University of Sunderland and our former students continually perform well in the GPhC registration assessment.
Employment
Our graduates go on to work as pharmacists in a wide variety of places, including hospital pharmacies, community pharmacies and in primary and secondary care. Some graduates choose to stay in academia, either going into research or teaching – for example, OSPAP graduate Tarirai Moyo works in a community pharmacy, alongside part-time teacher practitioner work here at the University of Sunderland.
We’re often asked what job opportunities are available after completing the OSPAP course and what the odds are of getting a job as a pharmacist. The answer to that is that the odds are quite high! There are plenty of jobs available – your employability all comes down to how much effort you put into your work and how well you do during your interview for a foundation training place. You get out of university what you put into it, so if you are committed and hardworking, you will succeed. Remember, this is a full-time course and you must attend – it’s not distance learning! Our OSPAP course is accredited by the GPhC and therefore attendance is a requirement of our accreditation.
Further information
We’re a well-established pharmacy school, having taught pharmacy for over 100 years so we have lots of experience and knowledge to pass on to you. As part of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing, we have an open-door policy which means we’re always happy to help you when you need support – whether that be academic or personal.
If you have any questions about the OSPAP course, please contact programme leader Deanne Marshall.
Published: 2 October 2023