MPharm Hons Pharmacy with a Preparatory (Foundation) Year

Swansea doesn’t just teach pharmacy in classrooms—it embeds real-world exposure right from the start.

• Foundation Year Placements
  In the preparatory year itself, you already gain exposure to clinical settings. You’ll visit a hospital pharmacy to get a sense of real-world pharmacy operations.

• Core-Year Placements
  As you move into Years 1–4, structured placements continue in settings like community pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, and GP practices. Swansea also offers “Extending Horizons” placements in less typical areas—such as prison pharmacies, the pharmaceutical industry, or with other allied health professions.

• Global and Research Exposure
  In Year 3, selected students may be invited to participate in overseas research projects, providing an international dimension to their training.

• Teaching Simulations & Professional Practice
  From Year 1 onward, you engage with simulated clinical exercises, case studies, and lab-based learning that mimic real pharmacy decision-making and procedures.

• Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs)
  The course uses EPAs—professional tasks like dispensing medicine or counselling patients—that you must master to progress. They don’t carry student credits but are compulsory and real-world focused.

• Continuous Academic and Personal Support
  Every student is assigned a personal tutor from the Pharmacy team. The university offers workshops on employability, study skills, and well-being. This support runs throughout—from the foundation year through to the final year.

Completing this degree opens multiple strong pathways—professional pharmacy, academia, research, healthcare, and beyond.

Professional Registration & Early Career

• Path to Pharmacist Registration
  After graduating, you start a Foundation Training Year as a trainee pharmacist. Once that’s done and you pass the licensing exam, you register as a qualified pharmacist.

• Career Fields

  • Community Pharmacy: Dispensing, patient counselling, and increasingly, clinical services and vaccines.

  • Hospital Pharmacy: Working in hospital teams, managing patient medication, optimizing therapies, and supporting specialized services.

  • Primary Care (GP Practice): Advising doctors on safe prescribing, helping manage chronic conditions, and reducing medication errors.

  • Industry & Beyond: Roles in pharmaceutical companies, clinical trials support, drug safety, regulatory affairs, and healthcare innovation.

Alternative Career Routes

• Scientific Research & Academia: Continue into MSc or PhD, or enter teaching, drug research, or educational design.

• Policy, Advocacy & Communications: Work in public health bodies, NGOs, medical writing, or health policy.

• Specialist Streams: With further training, become prescribing pharmacists or specialize in fields like oncology, mental health, or pediatrics.

Employability & Salary Outlook

• The vast majority of pharmacy grads are working or studying six months after finishing the degree.

• Starting salaries for NHS pharmacists are typically over £35,000, rising to £43,000–£60,000 after a decade of experience.

• Community pharmacists can start around £50,000 depending on location and role scope.

• Non-traditional routes—like industry or policy roles—often offer competitive or higher salaries, depending on experience and responsibilities.