To become a pharmacist, you'll need to complete a master's of pharmacy (MPharm) degree, approved by the General Pharmaceutical Council which takes 4 years. 

You'll then need to complete the pharmacist foundation training scheme which takes 1 year.

If you do not have the qualifications to get onto a master's of pharmacy degree, you could do a pharmacy foundation degree which takes 2 years.

You could then take a job as a pharmacy assistant or pharmacy technician and apply to join the master's degree in its second year.

Entry requirements

You'll usually need:

• at least 1 A level, or equivalent, for a foundation degree
• 2 or 3 A levels, or equivalent, including chemistry

You'll need:

• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
• sensitivity and understanding
• customer service skills
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• maths knowledge
• excellent verbal communication skills
• the ability to read English
• to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently

You'll need to:

• pass background checks

As a pharmacist you could:

• dispense medicines in a pharmacy, hospital or GP practice
• give advice about prescriptions, drug dosages, risks and how to use and store medication
• run screening programmes and buy, test and distribute medicines in a hospital
• manage stock and supervise and train staff like junior pharmacists
• do research into new medicines or run clinical trials

You could work in an NHS or private hospital, at a GP practice, at a university, at a store or at a research facility.