Clinical Pharmacists in General Practice

Purposes for processing

NHS England’s Clinical Pharmacists in General Practice programme supports the introduction clinical pharmacists working in GP practices. This is part of a wider expansion of the general practice workforce so that patients have better local access to a range of highly trained health professionals for their needs. NHS England is responsible for approving applications for the scheme. We commission a research organisation to evaluate the programme and training and development providers. We commission the procurement of training and development providers and will commission a research organisation to evaluate the programme.

To apply for the scheme a lead contact submits an application form via the Clinical Pharmacists Portal. The lead contact acts on behalf of the practice(s) for the application. He or she is the contact for queries with the application, to send information about the programme, and is a point of contact for training and development providers.

We communicate directly with clinical pharmacists to provide information about the programme. We provide their contact details to the organisation that will be undertaking an evaluation of the programme, to ensure that they can be involved in the evaluation. We also use information about them to ensure that only the people we fund as part of this programme have access to the training and development that NHS England commissions.

Sources of the data

Lead contacts or someone working on their behalf submit information about themselves via the Clinical Pharmacists Portal.

Quarterly reports are submitted by or for the practices in which the clinical pharmacist is working, with their details. The Clinical Pharmacist may enter their own details, or it could be another person in the practice or a person in another organisation that forms part of the bid.

Categories of personal data and recipients

About the Lead Contact: name and email address. (The application is mainly about practices and how they will implement the scheme.)

About the Clinical Pharmacists: name, e-mail address and General Pharmaceutical Council number.

Legal basis for processing

For GDPR purposes NHS England’s lawful basis for processing is Article 6(1)(e) – ‘…exercise of official authority…’.