Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the healthcare profession at the intersection of science and patient care, concerned with the safe and effective use of medicines. Pharmacists are experts in drugs: their chemistry, their pharmacological effects, their interactions and their appropriate use for specific patients and conditions. They work across community, hospital and clinical settings, and their role has expanded significantly in recent years to encompass independent prescribing, medication review, long-term condition management and public health interventions.

A pharmacy degree is a demanding professional qualification that opens the door to a graduate-entry profession with clear career structures and strong employment prospects.

At Reading, this four-year programme leads to a Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) qualification and includes a foundation year option for students who benefit from additional preparation before the main degree begins. The programme covers pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, clinical pharmacy, patient communication and professional practice. Substantial placements in community and hospital pharmacy settings run throughout the programme, giving you the clinical experience and professional development that registration requires.

Reading has a pharmacy school with active research links to industry and the NHS. The typical entry tariff is 136 UCAS points.

Graduates complete a foundation training year before registering with the General Pharmaceutical Council, which allows them to practise as pharmacists. Career paths include community pharmacy (independent, multiple and supermarket based), hospital pharmacy (dispensary, ward-based and specialist clinical roles), primary care, industry (pharmaceutical manufacturing, regulatory affairs and clinical trials), academic research and military pharmacy. The profession has been growing in clinical scope and responsibility, and pharmacists are increasingly integrated into GP practices, community health teams and specialist clinical services as key healthcare professionals.