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Clinical Pharmacy Practice with Hospital Placement MSc

2025-26

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This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.

Start date

22 September 2025

Duration

1 year full-time

Places available (subject to change)

10

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About the course

If you are an overseas pharmacist who is currently practising in your respective country and want to enhance your clinical expertise and gain hands-on experience of pharmacy practice within the UK this course is suitable for you.

This degree offers a unique blend of knowledge and training with practical experience adapted for the most popular career pathways in the pharmacy profession. As part of the course you will have a work placement in a hospital setting such as the NHS in the UK. You will gain the scientific and clinical skills required for practising as a pharmacist and should be able to appreciate latest research and discoveries to inform future clinical pharmacy practice.

This course is not a replacement of OSPAP program for overseas pharmacist. Those who wish to register and practice as a pharmacist in UK should follow GPhC guidelines at

Course detail

Applied Therapeutics

This module will focus on the application of an integrated knowledge base to inform decision-making and problem-solving of issues regarding pharmaceutical care of individual patients. It will have a strong focus on problem solving and pharmaceutical care planning whilst also introducing a variety of therapeutic areas and their management. Students will develop and apply their clinical pharmacy and critical evaluation skills to a variety of patient cases and commonly encountered scenarios.

International Practice and Policy

This module provides students an in-depth understanding of international practice and policies underpinning the practice of pharmacy around the world and critically appraises the differences in practices in developed world to those in low and middle-income countries. Students will also appreciate the pharmacoeconomics underlying introduction of a new drugs and treatments, pharmacovigilance, and economic evaluation of community and hospital pharmacy services. The module also provides and overview of information sources used in international pharmacy practice and in-depth appreciation of systemic reviews and meta-analysis.

Formulation Design and Development

The aim of this module is to provide an in-depth appreciation of all the stages from new drug identification to bringing a drug to the market and beyond, with an emphasis on biotechnology-based products. It is divided into two integrated streams, the first being drug design. You will gain a critical appreciation of drug design and methods of discovery. Drug development will include pre-clinical, clinical and post-marketing surveillance aspects. The incorporation of advanced drug delivery strategies into current practice and future directions will be covered in detail. You will be expected to integrate and apply your knowledge and skills in the development of your own formulation supported by representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, and should be able to test the quality and performance of developed formulations in the laboratory.

Drug Design and Development

An introduction to precision medicine including pharmacogenomics, which will be extended to an in-depth appreciation of how genetic variations are inherited and can be applied to pharmacogenomic analysis, i.e. how genetic variations affect human drug response and how this area will become an essential component in developing new medicines. The module will also explore the application of biomarkers to stratified or personalised medicine. Both pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics influences of drugs will be covered, such as inter-patient variation in the expression of drug metabolising and activating enzymes, as well as differences in the expression of drug targets such as receptors, genes, enzymes and growth factors. Biometric analysis such as bioinformatics will be explored through the understanding of the development of the Human Genome Project (HGP) and its relevance to ‘-omic’ technologies (genomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics). In addition, different model systems that are used to identify and develop biomarkers and drug target identification will be covered. The module will use a series of lectures, workshops and tutorials to encompass these topics and areas of learning. This will involve several expert lectures including external consultants and scientists.

Clinical Pharmacy Practice

This module introduces students to the practice of clinical pharmacy, the role of the clinical pharmacist in society and their role as a member of the healthcare team and highlights issues related to Health and Illness. Students are introduced to the dispensing of medicines with respect to the underpinning skills, pharmaceutical legislation and ethics. Students will be introduced to the concept of self-care, differential diagnosis, consultation, prescribing skills, medicine usage reviews, medicines reconciliation, emergency care, and palliative care. Simulated experience in the dispensary will provide students a real-life model environment to become familiar with the practice of clinical pharmacy in the UK.

Hospital Pharmacy Practice

This module will equip students with the skills needed to carry out the role of a clinical hospital pharmacist effectively. A range of pharmacy services will be covered, including reviewing drug charts and authorisation of medication supply to inpatients, outpatients and on discharge. The preparation of sterile pharmaceutical products and the quality assurance process involved will be covered. This module has an important practical component of technical pharmacy practice skills, to equip the student for future practice and provides excellent opportunities to work in a simulated hospital environment. The module will also ensure that students understand the unique role of the pharmacist in all aspects of the preparation, authorisation and supply of all medication, particularly aseptically prepared products. Students will be taught the principles of responding to medicines information enquiries from medical personnel, patients and the public. Students will gain an understanding of critical evaluation of information resources and presenting findings in an accessible manner.

Professional Practice Placement

The aim of this module is to provide an in-depth appreciation and hands-on experience of professional pharmacy practice in the UK. Students are required to spend a designated time in allocated community or hospital pharmacy placements working under the supervision of professionally qualified staff, engage with the day to day pharmacy working routine and complete the necessary placement tasks to achieve the key learning outcomes. Students are also required to reflect on their experience and write a formal reflection portfolio.

You will gain significant practical experience and confidence whilst studying on this course as you will be exposed to simulated and real-life situations and patient facing roles.

You will also be shown how to use various IT resources in a pharmacy, and various clinical information resources used in a clinical practice. You will also have access to online resources on academic/scientific writing and additional support from Academic Skills Tutors if required.

The Pharmacy Practice Suite offers similar modules in term 1 and 2 to teach the concepts of clinical pharmacy practice and allow an option in the second term to specialise in the Hospital Practice. The course leads to a 60 credit professional placement module over the summer which shall provide you with 8 weeks of practical training and hands-on experience in a hospital environment. You will be expected to complete designated tasks during placement to meet learning outcomes and will be required to submit coursework on completion to earn the credits.

The course will take one year full time, starting in September and will comprise standard terms for most of the modules. You will undertake taught modules (120 credits) in the first two terms that will lead to the Professional Practice module (60 credits) undertaken over the summer. This will provide the time and space needed to apply the concepts and learn in a real-life practice environment.This will also give you the opportunity to reflect and prepare portfolio and necessary coursework. You will therefore earn 120 credits after the first two terms and then earn a further 60 credits over the summer leading to a full MSc award (180 credits).

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • A minimum of a second class honours degree in Pharmacy or its international equivalent
  • Current registration with the relevant regulatory authority of your country to practice as a Pharmacist in any jurisdiction
  • A letter confirming good standing from a relevant body under which you have worked, prior to your application
  • At least 3-months relevant work experience before starting the course

You will be required to undertake an Occupational Health screening, and/or Enhanced Level Disclosure and Barring Service checks upon admission to, and at certain other points during the course. If you have not completed courses of all relevant vaccinations, you will be advised to do so; which occasionally can incur a charge by your doctor. If there are any further medical reports required you may incur additional costs. The commencement of placement will be subject to your satisfactorily completion of fitness to practice declarations. Failure to complete or provide these may result in you being transferred to an alternative course during your studies.

Please note that placement providers for this course may require you to have received a number of vaccinations, unless medically exempt, and provide evidence of these. As a student on a course with a clinical or healthcare placement, we strongly recommend that you complete any courses of vaccinations required under current guidelines for your future profession. Failure to do so may result in your inability to undertake a placement in certain clinical settings, therefore impacting upon your academic progression, and may result in discontinuation of your studies or you being transferred to na alternative course during your studies.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no less than 6.0 in reading and writing, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

Placements

You will undertake a compulsory 60-credit professional pharmacy practice placement in a hospital pharmacy over the summer term that will provide an in-depth appreciation and hands-on experience of clinical pharmacy practice in England under the supervision of professionally qualified staff. Please note that this is NOT a paid placement.

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Important information

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules:

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes:

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment, or pandemics.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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