Senior Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer

NHS; Orpington; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS Trust is seeking a highly motivated Senior Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer to join their team in Orpington Hospital. This role involves dispensing medications, ensuring compliance with legal requirements, and supporting the pharmacy's operations. Applicants should have relevant experience in a pharmacy setting, strong organizational skills, and a commitment to providing excellent patient care.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of pharmacy dispensary procedures.
• GCSE level education in Maths and English.
• Experience with pharmacy computer systems.

Responsibilities

• Dispensing medicines for inpatients and outpatients according to departmental protocols.
• Facilitating fast-track dispensing for patients.
• Overseeing the safe handling and storage of medicines.

Skills

Knowledge of pharmacy computer systems

Experience of dispensing medication

Ability to communicate effectively

Organizational skills

Education

GCSE Maths and English, grade C or above

NVQ Level 2 certificate in pharmacy skills

Job description

Go back King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Senior Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer

The closing date is 06 July 2025

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

o Dispensing medicines for inpatient, discharge and outpatient prescriptions ensuring the work is carried out accurately, safely and efficiently following current departmental procedures.

o Facilitating the 'fast track' dispensing of medicines as needed for patients.

o 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.

o Accurately dispensing private, compassionate and unlicensed use prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures and legal requirements for record keeping.

o Conducting reception duties and answering the telephone promptly and politely as needed.

o Processing to-follow prescriptions in accordance with departmental procedures.

o Overseeing the safe receipt, handling and storage of medicines in the dispensary.

o 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.

o Supporting the supervision of assistants in the team through the organisation and prioritisation of workload.

About us

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.

Job 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:

To deal with queries and respond to them promptly

To relay complete and accurate information

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

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

Education & Qualifications

• 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

• 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

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.

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

£29,176 to £30,225 a yearper annum incld HCA