High-Cost Drugs & Homecare Pharmacy Assistant

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Swindon; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in Swindon is inviting applications for the role of High-Cost Drugs & Homecare Pharmacy Assistant. You will support the pharmacy team in managing homecare medications and ensuring patient care is prioritized. The ideal candidate should have or be willing to work towards a QCF level 3 in Pharmacy services and exhibit strong teamwork skills. Your contributions will include processing prescriptions and working with clinical teams to ensure proper funding and medication supply. Join us to develop your career and enhance your skills.

Qualifications

• Experience in a team environment.
• Ability to manage own workload and meet service needs.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Excel and managing joint email boxes.

Responsibilities

• Support lead pharmacy technician in homecare operations.
• Process and check homecare prescriptions for legality.
• Manage invoices and track medication prescriptions.
• Ensure prior approval of funding for homecare prescriptions.
• Control stock and ensure high cost medications are supplied correctly.

Skills

Teamwork

Managing own workload

Microsoft Excel

Education

QCF level 3 in Pharmacy services or willing to work towards

GCSE in Maths and English grade C or above

Job description

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

High-Cost Drugs & Homecare Pharmacy Assistant

The closing date is 02 January 2026

At the time of advertising, this role does not meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. For this reason, we are unable to sponsor anyone for a skilled worker visa for this role.

We are happy to accept applications from candidates who can prove their right to work in the UK or via alternative visa routes. Such applications will be considered alongside all other applications.

Are you looking to join a friendly and progressive pharmacy team, which is focused on ensuring that all our patients receive safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient medicines?

The successful candidate will support our Lead Pharmacy Technician (Homecare and Blueteq) in the management of homecare medication to our patients. You will also help the ophthalmology clinical area with the controlled supply of high cost stock as well as working with the Blueteq pre‑approval funding process to ensure that their patients have the correct funding in place. You will also help the gastroenterology team in managing the flow of homecare prescriptions and ensuring funding is in place.

Core duties of the job

In joining our team, we would like you to support our culture of improving together, inspire other team members, embrace change and demonstrate a patient‑centred approach. In return, we will support you in developing your knowledge and skills, and in your future career development.

We embrace new technologies. Our pharmacy robots are invaluable members of our team; electronic prescribing is well-established in almost all inpatient and outpatient settings at Great Western Hospital; we use CareFlow EPR electronic patient records system and NerveCentre for electronic pharmacy handover notes.

About us

STAR VALUES

Our STAR values - Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect - are a golden thread running through everything we do. These values serve as a guiding principle, driving us towards our vision of delivering great joined up services to our local community. Whether at home, in the community, or within the hospital, our goal is to empower individuals to lead independent and healthier lives.

Job responsibilities

• To provide support to the lead pharmacy technician working with the homecare team to assist in the delivery of the team's key objectives, completion of the teams agreed tasks and actions, and documentation as per pre‑set processes
• To book in and process homecare prescriptions, checking prescriptions to make them legal and complete; to create purchase order numbers and send the prescriptions to the suppliers
• To pay the invoices from the suppliers and to book the medication out to the patients' profile
• To monitor and action emails to the joint box
• To work with gastroenterology to ensure homecare prescriptions are managed when requested and that the patient has prior approval of funding before prescriptions are sent to pharmacy
• To work with ophthalmology, in the supply of high cost medication, controlling stock and ensuring prior approval of funding is in place

It is expected that the post holder will undertake in‑depth training and obtain a QCF level 2 in Pharmacy services unless you already hold a relevant qualification.

Person Specification

• QCF level 3 in Pharmacy services - or willing and able to work towards
• GCSE or equivalent in Maths and English grade C or above

Experience

• Working within a team
• Managing own workload to meet the needs of a service
• Previous work with spreadsheets on Microsoft Excel
• Previously managed joint email boxes

Other job‑related requirements

• Working within a busy office environment

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust