Lloydspharmacy ‘reviews’ training offer days before Oriel student deadline

Pharmacy students claimed on Tuesday (October 25) they had been told by the online recruitment portal Oriel that Lloydspharmacy was removing the remainder of its advertised placements as it “cannot commit to which training places will be taking trainees in 2023”.

In response to these posts, a Lloydspharmacy spokesperson told C+D yesterday (October 26) that the multiple is “still reviewing” its training offer for 2023 “and Oriel has been updated to reflect this”.

C+D has asked Lloydspharmacy to clarify how many placements it has decided to remove from the platform, the reason behind this decision, and to specify whether it is going to advertise more placements via other platforms.

However, the multiple cannot share further information at present, the spokesperson said.

Read more: Oriel to become only route to HEE-funded foundation trainees

Pharmacy students based in England and Wales, who are due to commence their training year in 2023, were told the Oriel preferencing window would close on October 31.

Preferencing is a process during which students can select and rank the training placements they want to apply for through the Oriel system.

Meanwhile, the candidate preferencing window for students based in Scotland closed on October 26.

Solidarity on social media

As the news emerged on Twitter of Lloydspharmacy’s decision for the 2023 intake, pharmacists came forward to flag the availability of other placements for their training year.

Read more: Top tips for pharmacy students ranking their Oriel preferences

Meanwhile, some pharmacy students claimed that their peers had to re-select their preferences following Lloydspharmacy’s decision.