Senior Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Orpington; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 27,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a pivotal role as a Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer at a leading NHS foundation trust. You will play a vital part in dispensing medications at Orpington Hospital, ensuring accuracy and efficiency while supporting patients and the pharmacy team. This is an exciting opportunity for those looking to grow in a supportive environment focused on professional development and excellent patient care.

Benefits

Opportunity for professional development

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• GCSE Maths and English or equivalent required.
• NVQ Level 2 or equivalent in pharmacy skills desired.
• Ability to communicate effectively with patients and staff.

Responsibilities

• Dispensing medicines accurately for inpatients, outpatients, and discharges.
• Facilitating fast track dispensing for patients.
• Conducting reception duties and providing customer service.

Skills

Communication

Customer service

Organizational skills

Attention to detail

Education

GCSE Maths and English or equivalent, grade C or above

NVQ Level 2 certificate in pharmacy skills (QCF), BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Tools

Pharmacy computer systems

Job description

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King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£1.8 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King's College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

We encourage all our staff to have a healthy work/life balance. In doing so, you can apply for flexible working from the beginning of your employment. We offer a range of options which are designed to suit different circumstances and priorities in line with service requirements.

flexible-working

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to recruit a hardworking and highly motivated Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer, patient services to join the pharmacy team at Orpington Hospital.

You should be a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual with an eagerness to learn and provide a high standard of service to our patients and services users.

The Pharmacy department puts a strong emphasis on a learning environment and ensures that staff have the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge to their full potential and actively encourage the continuous professional development of every staff member

Main duties of the job
• Dispensing medicines for inpatient, discharge and outpatient prescriptions ensuring the work is carried out accurately, safely and efficiently following current departmental procedures.
• Facilitating the 'fast track' dispensing of medicines as needed for patients.
• Accurately supply and dispense Controlled Drugs (CDs) on request from clinical areas and discharge/ outpatient prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures and legal requirements for record keeping, storage, and transportation of CDs.
• Accurately dispensing private, compassionate and unlicensed use prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures and legal requirements for record keeping.
• Conducting reception duties and answering the telephone promptly and politely as needed.
• Processing to-follow prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures.
• Overseeing the safe receipt, handling and storage of medicines in the dispensary.
• Overseeing dispensary housekeeping activities to facilitate the smooth running of patient services. This includes but is not limited to co-ordinating expiry date checking and stock rotation on shelves, undertaking weekday filing & stock cycle counts and weekly dispensary consumables top-ups.
• Supporting the supervision of assistants in the team through the organisation and prioritisation of workload.

Working for our organisation

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK's largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of £1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 15,000 staff based across South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. The trust-wide strategy of Strong Roots, Global Reach is our Vision to be BOLD, Brilliant people, Outstanding care, Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do. By being person-centred, digitally-enabled, and focused on sustainability, we aim to take Team King's to another level.

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King's is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone's contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust's carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities
• To work in the dispensary and use the pharmacy dispensing system to dispense medicines for inpatient, discharge and outpatient prescriptions ensuring the work is carried out accurately, safely and efficiently following current departmental procedures.
• To facilitate the 'fast track' dispensing of medicines as needed for patients.
• To accurately supply and dispense Controlled Drugs (CDs) on request from clinical areas and discharge/ outpatient prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures and legal requirements for record keeping, storage, and transportation of CDs.
• To accurately dispensing private, compassionate and unlicensed use prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures and legal requirements for record keeping.
• To conduct reception duties when required where needed throughout the working day.
• To answer the telephone promptly and politely where needed throughout the working day:

Ø To deal with queries and respond to them promptly

Ø To relay complete and accurate information

Ø To recognise self-limitations and refer to a more senior colleague where appropriate.
• To deliver a customer-focused service to all patients who attend the Dispensary.
• To adhere to the highest principles of customer services when dealing with patients, staff and the public.
• To take action to ensure that to-follow medicines for patients are followed up and a supply made within a suitable timeframe. This includes referring to a more senior member of the team where long delays are identified to get advice on appropriate action to be taken.
• To facilitate the prompt replacement and recall of paediatric flying squad kits and maintain accurate records in accordance with departmental procedures.
• To undertake daily stock counts and expiry date checks as part of departmental cycle count requirements.
• To dispose of expired stocks in accordance with departmental procedures.

To attend and actively participate in weekly Patient Services team meetings and other relevant departmental meetings to contribute to improvements in service delivery

Person specification

Experience

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of pharmacy computer systems
• Experience of dispensing medication
• Knowledge of procedures for pharmacy services

Education & Qualifications

Essential criteria

• GCSE Maths and English or equivalent, grade C or above
• NVQ Level 2 certificate in pharmacy skills (QCF), BTEC Level 2 Certificate in Pharmaceutical Sciences qualification or equivalent or currently undertaking course

Skills and competencies

Essential criteria

• Be able to provide and receive routine factual information to inform work colleagues, patients/carers that may require tact and persuasion, where there may be barriers to understanding
• Be able to communicate effectively in both written and verbal formats with staff and patients.
• Be able to make judgments involving straightforward facts or situations, some requiring analysis
• Deals with routine enquiries
• Is able to organize own day to day work and activities
• Is able to plan own tasks in order to meet service requirements
• To possess highly developed physical skills in relation to accuracy
• To have basic keyboard and computer skills (word processing, spreadsheet, report generation and presentations)
• Be able to participate in frequent light physical effort for several short periods
• Be able to sit for data input and stand for dispensing
• To be able to move pharmaceutical goods
• Be able to concentrate for extended periods with a predictable work pattern
• Be methodical in approach
• Be able to provide information and advice to distressed patients in a calm and empathetic manner
• Be able to work in a busy demand-led service with occasional exposure to verbal aggression from patients, be able to work on the ward
• Able to participate in the 7-day operational model including weekend and bank holiday service
• Able to participate in the late duty service
• To be able to work cross-site

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Click here to see the range of benefits we offer
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust's criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Annual Reports and Other Corporate Publications

King's Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre Website

King's College Hospital is part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC), a pioneering collaboration between King's College London, and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• JD & PS (PDF, 336.4KB)
• Visa and Sponsorship Information (PDF, 352.6KB)