Prison Services Pharmacy Technician

Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust; Shaftesbury; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxleas Prison Services Ltd (a subsidiary of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust) provides pharmacy services to several prison contracts in the region. The Pharmacy Technician role involves medicines management, dispensing, and ensuring high standards of practice within a prison setting.

Applicants must meet GPhC registration requirements, have NVQ3 in Pharmacy Services, and be willing to undergo National Security Vetting.

Qualifications

• NVQ level 3 Pharmacy Services or equivalent.
• Registration with GPhC as a pharmacy technician.
• Evidence of CPD.
• Working towards Accredited Checking or MM Technician Certificate

Responsibilities

• Provide medicines optimisation and administration in the prison.
• Supervise assistants in dispensing and ensure SOP adherence.
• Undertake medicines reconciliation and stock control; monitor expiry dates.
• Support the Senior Prisons Technician with SOP development and updates.

Skills

SOPs knowledge

Pharmacy IT systems

Problem solving

Mental health understanding

Education

NVQ level 3 Pharmacy Services or equivalent

GPhC registration as a pharmacy technician

CPD evidence

Accredited Checking / MM Technician Certificate (in progress)

Tools

Pharmacy Manager

JAC

Microsoft

Job description

Are you ready to unlock your potential within a challenging, creative and fast paced work environment? Do you want to work with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past?

Our healthcare team have a real impact on promoting health and well‑being to those in prison and we pride ourselves on using skills and strategies that instil hope for patients future resettlement back into the community. We directly deliver Mental Health, Physical Health, Pharmacy and Clinical Substance Misuse in an integrated healthcare delivery model to provide effective and responsive care to improve wellbeing and support better outcomes in the future.

As part of our pharmacy service (OPS), you will enjoy all the benefits of NHS AfC employment (inc pension) with the opportunity to work within a forward-thinking service, who encourage career and personal development to all staff to increase their clinical and interpersonal skills.

Important Sponsorship Information for this post: We are currently unable to offer a certificate of sponsorship for this post.

Main duties of the job

As a Pharmacy Technician, you will be providing a medicines management service to patients within the prison with the professional support of a prison service pharmacist. You will administer medicines to patients against a valid prescription, ensuring this is taken correctly, provide advice to patients about the appropriate use of medicines and promote healthy lifestyles to aid their rehabilitation.

You will dispense prescriptions and stock items, whilst supervising assistants when in the dispensary. There will also be elements of stock control involved in your role, such as undertaking stock top-up services and reviewing expiry dates and storage facilities for all medicines, reporting any deficiencies to the prison service pharmacist.

Wondering what it’s like to work within offender healthcare?

“I really enjoy working in the Pharmacy Service for Oxleas, my role is extremely varied and I work within a very supportive team. I find my role rewarding as it is all about enabling patients’ rehabilitation and I enjoy interacting with patients daily and building relationships with them. Oxleas are a good employer and there are plenty of opportunities to be supported through qualifications and training which then allows you to progress through different bands within the team.”

Working for our organisation

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children’s centres, schools and people’s homes.
We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We Listen
• We Care

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Task and Responsibilities

• To provide a medicines optimisation services to the prison.
• To provide a medicines administration service to offenders at the medicines administration times as part of a 7 day per week rota.
• To undertake medicines reconciliation for prisoners admitted to the prison.
• To supervise assistants, when in the dispensary in providing dispensing services.
• To be an accredited checking technician providing final dispensing checks or medicines optimisation qualification.
• To ensure high standards of work in the dispensary, in clinics and for when out on the wings and to ensure all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are read and adhered to.
• To assist the Senior Prisons Technician with writing, updating and monitoring the use of medicines optimisation SOPs.

(Full JD can be downloaded in supporting documents section)

Oxleas Prison Services Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and provides the pharmacy services to the prison pharmacy contracts. Due to the recent contract award from NHS England, we are now providing pharmacy services (OPS Ltd) and Healthcare Services (Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust) to the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Devon and Dorset Prisons and are recruiting to newly established posts.

Oxleas Prison Services Ltd and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust has a long history of innovation, with established prescribing guidelines, excellent relationships with medical staff, a strong culture of leading clinical audit and research projects and an excellent publication record. All of these attributes we wish to extend to the prison pharmacy and healthcare services.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE READ:

All applicants must be willing to undertake National Security Vetting in order to work in a Prison Setting. This will be completed as part of the pre-employment checks through Oxleas and the prison vetting team.

You will need to provide:

• Proof of right to work documentation
• Proof of ID, needs to include 1 photographicID
• Proof of address documentation
• Non-UK passport holders will need to have correct documentation (right to work in the UK) and a Home office Share code.

Address History:

5 years address history will be needed.

Applicants that are not UK Passport holders who provide less than 5 years UK address history will need to provide a Police Certificate which must be in English from where they resided previously.

Applicants who are UK Passport holders who have lived abroad for a period of more than six months during the last three years will need to provide a certificate of good conduct or an overseas police check in English from the countries resided in or visited.

If the country you have resided in is not listed here, you can obtain the necessary information by contacting the relevant Embassy or High Commission for that Country. Their contact details can be found on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office website (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en).

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• NVQ level 3 Pharmacy Services or equivalent
• Registration with GPhC as a pharmacy technician
• Evidence of CPD
• Working towards Accredited Checking or MM Technician Certificate

Experience

• Previous experience of working in a pharmacy
• Previous prison or mental health pharmacy experience

Skills and abilities

• Good knowledge of working within a set of SOPs
• Ability to use (or learn to use) computer packages including Pharmacy Manager/ JAC and Microsoft
• Ability to use initiative to problem solve
• Some understanding of mental illness and substance misuse and their treatment

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace that welcomes and supports individuals of all abilities. Remember, if you meet the minimum criteria for this role and you have a disability, you can be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme - Please ensure you select this on your application form. We would encourage you to be open about your needs so we can work with you to design a comfortable and accessible interview experience. Any information you provide regarding a disability or a need for adjustments will be treated in confidence and will only be shared with colleagues who are supporting this request.

If you require any adjustments to participate fully in the interview process, please let us know by adding the relevant details when scheduling your preferred interview date and time. Please feel free to contact the appointing manager to discuss your needs.

We encourage applicants to contact the hiring manager before their interview, if they have any questions about the role or the process. This is a great way to get clarity and prepare effectively for the interview.

If you have declared you are part of the armed forces community, you may be asked to provide evidence during the recruitment process. If you misrepresent this information, your offer may be withdrawn. For Armed Forces specific support, see our webpage: https://oxleas.nhs.uk/armed-forces-community/

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

If you choose to use AI or other tools to assist in writing your application, it's essential to personalise this information, particularly your supporting information section. While AI can help streamline the writing process, these tools cannot fully grasp the context or requirements of the job you’re applying for. There is also a risk that it can generate false or misleading information. AI-generated job applications can often be generic, impersonal and may not accurately reflect your qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experiences. It is crucial that you personalise your supporting statement by articulating these in your unique voice. Relying solely on AI to write your application or supporting information section is not advocated by Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and could negatively impact your chances of success in the application process.

We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct.Please note that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prohibited during the interview process.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.