Hi,
Has anyone done a pre-reg with co-op or know anything about what co-op's preg training's like? I've heard Boots pre-reg training is meant to be really good, but don't know much about co-op's?
Thanks for any help/advice
Last edited by smiley7; 5th, August 2011 at 05:13 PM.
Do you have a choice? Many are looking for placement and unable to get one. All you need is registration and both organisations are professional with well established teams to enable you to get registered.
I've just completed my pre-reg training with The Co-Operative. This is a brief synopsis of my experience with them.
They take you on four training conference sessions through the year, typically three months apart. There were about 40-50 pre-regs in the whole country with The Co-Operative last year and it was quite tough to get a placement with them, so kudos to you for being able to secure one. This year the first conference was held at Cardiff whilst the three subsequent ones were held in Manchester. The conferences lasted for three days each. They made us share rooms with other pre-regs of the same sex. People who lived within two hours drive from the conference location were not given a hotel room for the night before the first day of the conference and were made to travel there in the morning.
The training days were okay. There were some things that were of benefit for us and others which I think were a waste of time. We were given a training book which is usually given to counter assistants to complete at the start of the year. It was mostly basic stuff and I ignored it. We were also given post conference work most conferences to do which was semi-useful. We also had a mock exam during our last conference which was marked and the results returned to us. This helped me identify areas of weakness in my knowledge.
One other thing The Co-Operative did for us was to send us monthly BNF quiz's. These were OK and some months we didn't get them. There's plenty of material emailed between pre-reg's which is as good or even better so you won't miss anything by not having access to them.
The Pre-Reg product was a 'business' project and had absoluteness nothing to do with us passing the pre-registration. It was all about analysing our competitors and seeing how we could increase our business as a company. It was a total waste of time and a lot of us felt furious about having to do it.
Most things are paid for such as travel expenses and exam fees. You are supposed to be given 30 mins a day of study time whilst doing your pre-reg but if you get this is dependant on how you can negotiate with your manager. Other pharmacies give more than 30 mins a day. For example, a friend of mine got 4 hours a week whilst we only got 2.5 hours.
The Co-Operative offer no bonus each year whilst a company like Boots do. This might be something to keep in mind. Boots also tends to be better with study time and letting you have days off for training days. A friend of mine who did his placement at Boots was allowed to have paid time off work to go and do the mock exams and training days offered by the university we went to.
Over all, comparing my experience to those of my friends who did it with Boots, I would have rather done it with Boots.
I think I missed out quite a lot of things but this is what came to mind whilst I was writing this. Hope this helps.
Ritalin
Last edited by Ritalin; 5th, August 2011 at 05:45 PM.
Bear in mind I think most big places want you to do some kind of business project. They all take your valuable study time away but unless you do pre-reg with an independant the simple truth is a large part of your future job will be trying to get the company MONEY. lol. So may as well frit your teeth and get through it early. (and if you come up with a multi-million pound new pharmacy scheme, keep it for yourself!!)
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