pharmacy assistants

Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust; Wigan; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization in the UK is seeking a Senior Pharmacy Assistant for its Pharmacy Department. The role involves improving key performance indicators and supporting medication administration in an integrated care setting. Candidates should demonstrate excellent communication, motivation, and the ability to work under pressure. This position is crucial for ensuring safe and effective care through teamwork and commitment to the organization's values.

Qualifications

• Experience with dispensing and handling prescriptions.
• Ability to support patients and staff in medication processes.
• Understanding of departmental procedures for pharmacy operations.

Responsibilities

• Interpret and dispense prescriptions as per operational procedures.
• Supply medication to wards and manage pharmacy stock control.
• Assist in clinical trials and audits under supervision.

Skills

Motivation

Excellent communication skills

Ability to work under pressure

Education

Background as a pharmacy assistant

Job description

Overview

As part of the multidisciplinary team you will improve key performance indicators such as time to discharge and length of stay and support medicines administration. The pharmacy department is fully modernised and we have an integrated electronic health record / electronic prescribing system. All assistants are expected to work very closely with a well‑established team of pharmacists and technicians to ensure our services are safe, effective and caring. This approach has been shown to reduce length of stay; get patients home earlier in the day, reduce readmission rates, reduce drug expenditure, and improve patient and staff experience. You will spend your working week on your ward or in the dispensary. You will actively participate in the multi‑disciplinary team supporting medicines administration and processes related to admission and safe discharge.

Working for our organisation

Choose Well – Choose WWL. Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that 'happy staff, makes for happy patients'. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement, and living our values 'the WWL Way'. WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

Key results from the job holder

• To receive, interpret, dispense and handout prescriptions in line with departmental standard operating procedures.
• To undertake patient counselling in the pharmacy/wards under the supervision of a pharmacist or more senior pharmacy technician and in accordance with pharmacy procedures.
• To supply medication to wards, departments and other agencies.
• To recycle or destroy medicines returned from wards, departments and external agencies.
• To order, issue and receive medication and maintain pharmacy stock control system.
• To check expiry dates and safe storage of medicines within areas of responsibility ensuring effective action is taken when necessary.
• To participate in clinical trials under direct supervision ensuring relevant details are maintained in trials documentation.
• To assist in audit and surveys as directed by line manager.
• To support medicines administration at ward level.

Planning and Organisational Duties

• To have understanding of & implement relevant departmental procedures.
• To suggest improvements to departmental procedures through line management where appropriate.

Communications and Key Working Relationships

• To communicate in a professional manner, factual information about availability of medicines to other Trust staff, external departments and patients.
• To participate in the induction training of student technicians, pre‑registration pharmacists and other relevant members of the pharmacy team.
• To train and supervise the work of pharmacy assistants.

Recruitment Information for Applicants

Information for Applicants. If you choose to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting statement to reflect the skills and experience to match your job application. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting statement is not advocated by Wrightington Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as it could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process. Please refer to the attached "Applying for a role in the NHS guidance" for further information regarding the use of AI. The Trust reserves the right to close adverts earlier than the stated closing date if there is a high volume of applications. We endeavour to inform all applicants of the outcome of their application by email or SMS text message.

Guidance on Completing Your Application

Applications are scored against the person specification, therefore we recommend that you use the supporting information section of your application form to demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for the role, providing illustrative examples where possible.

On-Call

Please note that some roles may require you to participate in an on‑call rota, if the role is predominantly operational.

Continuous Service

WWL has signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. and will recognise your continuous or 'unbroken' service in any Greater Manchester Local Authority or NHS organisation, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or Greater Manchester Combined Authority; giving you access to our service‑related benefits.

About the Role

Due to considerable investment the Pharmacy Department at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are seeking to appoint motivated and dynamic senior pharmacy assistants. If you are ambitious and looking for an exciting new challenge and want to be an integral part of an acute Trust that embraces transformation and is passionate about delivering safe and effective care, this is the opportunity for you. Directly accountable to a Lead Pharmacy Technician you will help the team to shape services and standards, driving improvements in medicines optimisation. You will have a good background as a pharmacy assistant and will use your skills already acquired to deliver high quality care to our patients. You will need to be motivated, with excellent communication skills and the ability to work under pressure, to provide excellent patient care and deliver the Trust's Medicines Optimisation strategy.