Pharmacy education and training

Pharmacists in the EU are one of the [six] professions granted automatic recognition of qualifications under the Directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications [Directive 2013/55/EU].

No other health professionals have so much of their education devoted to medicinal products. Citizens of all EU Member States can therefore be confident that before a pharmacist is permitted to practise in their country, the necessary studies have been successfully completed and their community pharmacist is a true expert on medicines.

For the benefit of the public, all pharmacists practise within strict Codes of Ethics and Professional Standards and have a personal commitment to maintaining professional competence throughout their working lives, through continuing professional development. EU citizens can be confident that professional regulatory controls in all Member States are designed to ensure their protection, through action being taken to ensure that all pharmacists authorised to practise maintain the required high quality in the professional services they provide.

PGEU welcomed the last revision of the Directive on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications [Directive 2013/55/EU]. PGEU is particularly pleased with the revision of the article regulating pharmacists’ activities [Art. 45§ 2]. The current provision properly reflects harmonised pharmacy practices in the Union.

Another significant development arising from the revised Directive is the introduction of the European Professional Card (EPC). It is not a plastic card as such, but rather an e-certificate available from 18 January 2016 for five professions, namely general care nurses, physiotherapists, pharmacists, real estate agents and mountain guides. The EPC does not replace the traditional recognition procedures under the Professional Qualifications Directive, but it does offer an advantageous option for professionals who wish to work either temporarily or permanently in another EU country.

PGEU understands that the Commission is currently looking into updating other sections of the Directive with an impact on the pharmacy profession. Therefore, PGEU, together with the European Association of Faculties of Pharmacy (EAFP), the European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) and the European Industrial Pharmacists Group, makes some proposals on those provisions (please see the downloads section for the detailed statement). In particular, they suggest some modifications to:

• Annex 5.6.1, describing the list of courses of training for pharmacists.


• Article 44.3, describing the knowledge and skills that need to be acquired during the training of pharmacists.

Those provisions have not been changed since 1985. Pharmacy stakeholders suggest building on the spirit of modernisation that underpinned the last revision of the Directive. In addition, these changes would add consistency to the text following the last modification of the provision on pharmacists’ activities and reflect scientific progress and innovation in practice.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

There is widespread recognition of the importance of continuing professional development (CPD) for health professions. CPD ensures that professional practice is up to date, contributes to improving patient outcomes and increases public confidence in the professions.

PGEU, together with other organisations representing health professions, undertook an EU-funded study to map and describe Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes for health professions in Member States.

More information and downloads

• New European Professional Card helps professionals work throughout the EU


• European Professional Card video


• How to apply on the Your Europe website


• CPD study Final Report


• PGEU/EAFP/EPSA/EIPG Statement on pharmacy training

BeWell: supporting community pharmacists’ digital and green skills

PGEU participated as a partner in BeWell (Blueprint Alliance for a Future Health Workforce Strategy on Digital and Green Skills), a project co-funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme, which ran from July 2022 to June 2026.

BeWell brought together healthcare professionals, education and training providers, researchers and policymakers to support the development of digital and green skills across the European health and care workforce. As a project partner, PGEU contributed the perspective of community pharmacy.

Why these skills matter for community pharmacy

Community pharmacists increasingly use digital tools in their daily practice, while continuing to provide personal advice and support to patients. Developing digital skills can help pharmacists use these tools confidently, protect patient information, and support people who face difficulties accessing digital healthcare.

Green skills can help community pharmacists understand the environmental impact of healthcare and identify opportunities to make pharmacy practice more sustainable. Both areas are relevant to continuing professional development and to preparing the pharmacy workforce for changing patient and health system needs.

Resources for pharmacists and pharmacy organisations

BeWell developed a European Skills Strategy alongside training and practical resources. Community pharmacists and national pharmacy organisations can explore these materials to identify learning opportunities relevant to their practice and support the development of education and training programmes.

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  European Skills Strategy for the Health Ecosystem: a roadmap for strengthening digital, green and transversal skills across the health and care workforce.

  
  


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  Online training courses: courses covering topics including data protection, cybersecurity, digital tools, and environmental sustainability. The courses address different healthcare roles, allowing healthcare professionals to select those relevant to their learning needs.

  
  


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  Competence matrices: frameworks that can help healthcare professional organisations and education providers identify skills needs and inform training.

  
  


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  Skills Monitor: a platform for exploring digital and green skills training programmes across Europe.

  
  

Opportunities for continued collaboration

BeWell’s work continues through the Pact for Skills Large-scale Partnership for the Health Ecosystem. Healthcare professional organisations and education providers can join this collaboration to exchange good practice and support workforce skills development.

Learn more about the Partnership or visit the BeWell project website.

Pharmacy workforce

Pharmacists represent the third largest health professional group globally after nurses and physicians. Until very recently, there has been a lack of data and dedicated research in relation to pharmacy, which has led to a degree of oversight of pharmacy in health workforce planning.

The shortage of health professionals is of varying severity depending on the particular health profession and country. However, due to the increasing overlap of professional roles and modern health systems that require health professionals to work in teams, the so-called ‘skill mix’, national authorities and researchers need to consider all health professionals when creating workforce forecasting models and developing workforce plans.

The shortage of the pharmacy workforce and its impact on pharmacy services depend largely on the role of pharmacists in the relevant country. In many European countries, pharmacists are developing more patient-centred roles and the number of primary care services available through community pharmacies is expanding.

Furthermore, issues such as increasing prescription volumes, the ageing European population, rising polypharmacy, innovations in chronic disease management, advances in technology and personalised medicine, greater administrative requirements for handling third-party payments, changing working patterns and career breaks, and the global economic climate all point to an increasing need to ensure an adequate pharmacy workforce.

The greater part of healthcare budgets is allocated to the reimbursement of medicines; consequently, those resources will be at risk of waste and misuse if not managed by adequately trained and motivated health professionals.

EU Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning

According to an estimate, Europe expects a shortage of 1,000,000 health workers by 2020, including 190,000 pharmacists and physiotherapists. Healthcare workforce planning is crucial, as countries that are self-sufficient today could face challenges due to workforce mobility. There is a great variety of healthcare workforce planning methods across Member States. Sharing and exchanging practices has significant potential to support Member State capacity and respond to future challenges.

The EU Joint Action on Health Workforce Planning is a collaboration between Member States, the European Commission and stakeholders mainly representing different healthcare professional groups. The general objective of this action is to create a platform for collaboration and exchange between Member States to prepare the future of the healthcare workforce.

PGEU participated in a WP6 teleconference on the drafting of ‘user guidelines on how to use qualitative methodologies to estimate future health workforce needs’, which is now in its second draft, with the final version due in June 2014.

PGEU has been approached by a member of the UK Horizon Scanning Team to be interviewed for a report on the future skills and competences needed in the health workforce over the next 20 years. The interviews will involve key experts from a range of professional backgrounds to develop a greater understanding of the driving forces that may affect skills and competences in the future.

From 7 to 9 May 2014, PGEU attended the Joint Action on EU Health Workforce and Planning meeting in Florence, where the WP5 pilot study plans for Portugal and Italy were discussed. A steering committee meeting, in which PGEU participated, also took place in Florence, where stakeholders were encouraged to contribute to the development of the pilot study.

Additionally, feedback from stakeholders was sought on the suitability of the recently prepared matrices for Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain for the design of a handbook to support the pilot studies and future workforce planning. These matrices are country-specific guidelines from national experts in workforce development and planning. It is anticipated that these documents will be used to produce a handbook for use in the upcoming pilot studies in Italy and Portugal, as well as by other Member States.

Proportionality of professional regulation

The main goal of health professional regulation is to ensure the highest quality of healthcare and the protection of patients and public health. European health systems are consistently ranked among the top performing in the world and are recognised for providing high-quality and accessible healthcare services to citizens.

Article 168 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union establishes the need for a high level of human health protection to be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities. In addition, this provision states that the organisation and delivery of health services to citizens is a responsibility of Member States. In general, and unless explicitly defined otherwise, Union action is therefore restricted to a complementary and coordinating function where added value can be achieved.

European health systems, as well as access to and the practice of health professions, are highly regulated at national level. These provisions are characterised by a high number of obligations and restrictions on healthcare professionals. Their main goal is to ensure the highest quality of healthcare and the protection of patients and public health.

For instance, in the pharmacy profession, the opening of pharmacies is subject to authorisation and/or registration requirements in all Member States. In addition, all EU countries have reserved certain activities for pharmacists, such as providing advice on the use of medicines, dispensing and compounding. Many countries link the establishment of new pharmacies to the number of inhabitants in a given area or to the geographical or demographic characteristics of the territory, with the aim of safeguarding sufficient access to medicines.

Pharmacists are subject to continuing professional development requirements, professional ethics and supervision, among other obligations. The application of such criteria has proven to be key in the organisation of national healthcare systems and guarantees high-quality, safe and accessible pharmacy services throughout the national territory.

Furthermore, containing public health expenditure, whether through the state budget or statutory health insurance, is an important goal of national regulation in the health sector. These specific economic circumstances distinguish the health sector from other economic sectors and call for a different approach.

We believe that Member States should remain fully responsible for defining the conditions for access to and practice of healthcare professions, such as pharmacy, as well as for choosing the most appropriate method to assess the proportionality and necessity of such requirements. When implementing new regulation for healthcare professions, Member States are best placed to consider country-specific issues and take into account patient safety and quality of healthcare.

In addition, given that human health and life rank foremost among the assets and interests protected by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, PGEU would like to stress that the objectives of healthcare systems and the regulation of health professions, namely ensuring accessibility and quality, should always take priority.