Ireland’s first honours degree for pharmacy technicians has been launched by the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).

Announced by the university yesterday, it said that the “first cohort of students is already undertaking the new programme”.

Read more: Consultation launched for level 6 pharmacy technician pathway

“The degree provides a new pathway to honours degree level for pharmacy technicians and builds on TUS’s longstanding role in pharmacy technician education in Ireland,” it added.

The programme runs on the university’s Athlone Campus, at which pharmacy technician education dates back to 2005, when the then Athlone Institute of Technology developed a Level 6 pharmacy technician course.

Read more: Pharmacy technicians: enabling the future of community pharmacy

In 2013, it launched Ireland’s first Level 7 Ordinary Degree for pharmacy technicians, and 13 years later the Level 8 qualification represents the “latest expansion of pharmacy technician education at TUS”.

TUS said the degree will “further develop students’ professional and clinical knowledge, practical skills and critical thinking”.

“Significant development”

TUS president Professor Vincent Cunnane said the university wants to prepare its graduates for the “evolving needs” of the pharmacy profession.

“This is a significant development as we look to the future delivery of healthcare in Ireland”, he added.

TUS’s pharmacy technician programme coordinator Diane Patterson said the new honours degree builds on the university’s “strong foundation” of pharmacy technician education.

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“Our courses have always been closely connected to the realities of pharmacy practice and the needs of the profession. That same approach is at the heart of the new honours degree,” she added.

It comes after the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) earlier this month launched a consultation on introducing a level 6 pharmacy technician pathway.

And it follows APTUK president Amy Laflin highlighting earlier this week how the transformation of community pharmacy has pharmacy technicians at its heart and speaking on C+D’s podcast about why pharmacy technicians should not have to keep fighting for their place in the sector.