Laboratory facilities completed ahead of first Pharmacy students joining Suffolk

The final phase of facilities for the University of Suffolk’s new MPharm Pharmacy course have been completed, ahead of the first students starting the course next week.

The second phase of work in the James Hehir Building features specialist life science and pharmaceutical labs which will be used by students on courses including Pharmacy, Nutrition and Human Health, Biology, Biomedical Science, and Wildlife, Ecology and Conservation Science.

The pharmaceutical labs have been equipped with a range of specialist pharmaceutical and analytical science equipment, enabling students to experience how medicines are formulated and produced. This includes preparing creams by hand and manufacturing tablets using a dedicated tabletting machine, to exploring new technologies such as pharmaceutical 3D printing.

They will also have access to advanced analytical instruments including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and UV spectroscopy, which will allow students to investigate medicines and develop the scientific reasoning that underpins modern pharmacy practice.

The work follows the first phase of pharmacy development in the University’s Health and Wellbeing Building, where a pharmacy practice suite, mock dispensary, and telehealth room for practising video consultations, were completed in the spring.

The first students on the four-year integrated Master’s course will begin on Monday next week.

Professor Paula Kersten, Dean of the School of Health, Sciences and Society, said: “The completion of work in the James Hehir Building means students on all of our life sciences courses can benefit from excellent facilities that will ensure they can develop the skills to thrive in their future careers, whether that is in pharmacies, primary care facilities, private practice, laboratories or in the field.”

The Pharmacy course has been developed to help address the key skills demands in the industry locally, regionally and nationally.

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published in 2023 outlined a need to increase the number of pharmacists nationally by 31-55 per cent, and ambitions to increase training places for pharmacists by nearly 50 per cent by 2031-32.

Suffolk’s programme has been developed to prepare students to be confident, future-ready pharmacists, designed around real-world healthcare practice.

It will equip students with important skills in digital pharmacy, clinical reasoning and patient-centred care, combining a strong foundation in pharmaceutical science with hands-on clinical experience.

That includes 14 weeks of placements over the four years, including an elective placement in their final year.

The university is currently working towards accreditation of the programme with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), upon the graduation of its first cohort in 2030, with the course being provisionally accredited in the meantime.

Dr Georgina Marsh, Head of Pharmacy and Prescribing at the University of Suffolk, said: “We can’t wait to welcome our first students on the course next week. The completion of the labs in the James Hehir Building is the final phase of work to ensure our students can learn in modern, bespoke facilities, enabling them to gain hands-on practical experience and develop the scientific understanding and critical thinking skills that form the foundation of safe and effective clinical pharmacy practice.

“The course will play a vital role in training our future pharmacy professionals who will be serving our communities in the years to come.”

The completed laboratory facilities are the latest in the university’s estate development programme. Earlier this year, the new library opened in the Waterfront Building which also featured group and communal study areas and one-to-one meeting spaces.

Over the summer, new postgraduate and quiet study spaces were completed on the third and fourth floors of the Waterfront Building, while work on a new Student Hub in the old Library Building is continuing over the autumn.

The work in the James Hehir Building has been completed by Concertus and Seamans. The library and study spaces in the Waterfront Building were delivered by Concertus, with Barnes Constructions completing phase one (main library and first floor study area) and Pentaco Construction developing phase two (third and fourth floors study areas).

The building work has been part of an ambitious investment in the campus and will be completed with the creation of a dedicated student hub and home for the Students' Union in the former library building.

To find out more about studying on the Pharmacy course, visit the course page here.