Senior Pharmacy Assistant

NHS; Wigan; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 30,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare trust in the UK is looking for a motivated Senior Pharmacy Assistant to join its pharmacy team. The role involves responsibilities such as dispensing medications, assisting in patient counselling, and providing support in clinical trials. Ideal candidates will possess NVQ level 2 in pharmacy services and previous pharmacy experience. This position offers the chance to contribute to improving patient care within a modern, supportive environment.

Qualifications

• Basic computer skills required.
• Previous work experience in a pharmacy is necessary.
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to the role.

Responsibilities

• Receive, interpret, dispense and handout prescriptions.
• Assist in audit and surveys as directed by the line manager.
• Support medicines administration at ward level.

Skills

Ability to work in a team or on own

Methodical

Accurate

Education

NVQ level 2 pharmacy services

Job description

Go back Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Pharmacy Assistant

The closing date is 21 December 2025

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.

Are you an ambitious and looking for an exciting new challenge? Are you wanting to be an integral part of an acute Trust that embraces transformation and is passionate about delivering safe and effective care. If your answers are yes, we have the perfect opportunity for you to join our award-winning pharmacy team.

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.

Please note this vacancy may close before the advertised closing date if a sufficient number of suitable applications are received.

Main duties of the job

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. What do you need to know about the ward pharmacy service? 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.

About us

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.

Job responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

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.

Person Specification

Knowledge

• Basic computer skills

Skills

• Ability to work in a team or on own
• Methodical
• Accurate

Experience

• Previous work experience in a pharmacy

Qualifications

• NVQ level 2 pharmacy services

Additional

• May be required to lift heavy objects from time to time.
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation.

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.

Employer name

Wrightington Wigan & Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust