Pharmacy Stock Controller Senior Assistant

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust; Colchester; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A NHS hospital trust in Colchester is seeking an experienced Pharmacy Stock Controller Senior Assistant. The role involves stock management, collaboration with pharmacy teams, and improving inventory processes. Candidates should have proven experience in stock control within the pharmacy sector, with a focus on safe medication practices. This position offers career advancement within a supportive team environment with a commitment to patient care.

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

27 days annual leave

NHS discounts

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a stock controller in a similar industry.
• Extensive experience working as a Pharmacy Assistant.
• Experience using Ascribe stock control software or similar system.

Responsibilities

• Assist the pharmacy department in providing a comprehensive service to patients.
• Oversee inventory audits and maintain reports of losses.
• Contribute to financial control of medicines as per the Trust formulary.

Skills

Stock control experience

Working with pharmaceutical robots

Patient consultation skills

Experience working in a hospital pharmacy

Computer literacy

Education

NVQ level 2 Pharmacy or equivalent

GCSE in Maths grade C/4

Tools

Ascribe stock control software

Job description

Overview

Go back East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust

Pharmacy Stock Controller Senior Assistant

The closing date is 28 September 2025

Are you experienced in stock control? Looking for a career change or to further your career in pharmacy in an acute hospital trust?

We are looking for an experienced stock control assistant to work within a pharmacy setting and to join our friendly team at the Colchester Hospital Pharmacy within the ESNEFT trust. We are looking for an enthusiastic and innovative thinking stock controller to compliment our current team and enhance our stock inventory, whilst working alongside the pharmacy team.

Monitoring our current stock inventory and exploring ways we can improve our processes to ensure that we maximise our medication optimisation within the Trust.

It is essential for us to strategically plan our stock to minimise any potential financial losses. Collaboratively working with both sites in ESNEFT to come up with effective strategies to enhance our inventory management.

You will have the opportunity to continue to develop and improve our processes for the accountability of stock hold including closely monitoring of High Cost Drugs.

Main duties of the job

• Assist the wider pharmacy department in providing a comprehensive pharmacy service to patients
• Support the lead technicians for stock control, focusing on high cost / high risk drugs
• Oversee inventory audits (stock checks) and maintain reports of losses
• Be a trained super user for the automated dispensing (pharmaceutical robot) ensuring maximum optimisation (BD Rowa & CII Safe)
• Contribute to the financial control of medicines by ensuring that all medicines are utilised in compliance with the Trust formulary
• Assist the Chief Pharmacy Technician and Dispensary Managers with the induction, training and development of staff working within the pharmacy department
• Minimise medicines associated risk and ensure medication safety in accordance with local and national guidance
• Work collaboratively with wider Pharmacy colleagues to ensure the optimal and cost effective use of medicines within the dispensary environments; minimising drug wastage accordingly
• Importance of maintaining open communication between both sites. By doing so, we can maximise stock efficiency and avoid any unnecessary waste
• Oversight of stock takes where required
• Assist to maintain the Out of hours / Emergency cupboard. Replenish stock when needed and regular date checking. Rotation of stock between the emergency cupboard and the dispensary stock to avoid wastage

About us

We are ESNEFT and we provide hospital and community health services to almost one million people across east Suffolk and north Essex. Our dedicated staff deliver care from acute hospitals in Colchester and Ipswich, community hospitals, surgeries, community clinics and in patients' own homes.

We are one of the largest NHS organisations in England, employing more than 12,000 staff.

We pride ourselves on supporting our staff. We offer a wide range of training and development opportunities, as well as flexible working options.

Along with supporting you to achieve your career goals we offer a generous pension scheme, unsocial hours payments (where applicable), 27 days annual leave on commencement (pro rata) and access to a range of NHS discounts. Our Staff Health and Wellbeing programme offer a variety of services.

Our philosophy is that Time Matters to everyone. Across the Trust, we concentrate on improving the things we do and removing those which cause time delays for our staff and patients.

We are investing in our commitment to Time Matters with a partnership with leading electronic patient record (EPR) supplier Epic. This digital transformation will bring what's widely regarded as the world's best EPR system to ESNEFT, transforming life in hospital for staff and patients.

If you are passionate about patient care and want to develop your skills and knowledge, then we want to hear from you.

Find out about living and working here - www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPu7HphU8A

Job responsibilities

For full details of the responsibilities and duties of this role please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Experience

• Proven experience as a stock controller in a similar industry
• Extensive experience working as a Pharmacy Assistant
• Working with patient identifiable and commercially sensitive information
• Experience of multi-organisational/partnership working
• Experience of dealing with a variety of issues and managing a changing workload with competing demands, including a range of basic administration and complex administrative support and delivering it to a consistent level of quality
• Experience of service development across a range of deliverables and monitoring compliance/progress
• Previous experience working with a pharmaceutical robot
• Previous experience dispensing, issuing and receiving controlled drugs
• Experience of working within a hospital pharmacy or other relevant clinical/operational environment
• Experience using Ascribe stock control software or similar system

Knowledge

• NVQ level 2 Pharmacy or equivalent, or higher level qualification in Pharmacy or other fields.
• GCSE or equivalent in Maths grade C/4 or above
• Industry qualifications in stock control Patient Consultation Skills

Knowledge

• Computer literacy of standard databases
• Relationship (specifically to pharmacy) between secondary and primary care
• Standards for Pharmacy Professionals

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.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust