Senior Pharmacy Technician - Dispensary Services

Liverpool University Hospitals Nhs Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 38,000 - 46,000; Full time

Job summary

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises major hospital sites and provides general and specialised care across the Merseyside region. The Senior Pharmacy Technician role is based in the Broadgreen dispensary, leading a team and delivering patient‑focused service.

You will train staff, supervise dispensary activities, and work across shifts including evenings and weekends as required by the Trust. Strong leadership and hospital pharmacy experience are essential.

Qualifications

• Essential NVQ Level 3 in Pharmacy Services or equivalent.
• GPhC registration with accurate checking certificate.
• Significant hospital pharmacy experience.
• Experience in education and training of staff.

Responsibilities

• Plan, supervise and mentor dispensary staff including students.
• Accuracy check prescriptions and ensure safe dispensing.
• Manage training needs and maintain SOP compliance.
• Oversee stock control, daily reconciliations and CDs handling.
• Maintain quality standards and participate in service improvement.
• Liaise with pharmacists, technicians and teams to prioritise work.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Training & mentoring

Supervision

Accuracy checking

Education

NVQ Level 3 in Pharmacy Services

BTEC in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Tools

WellSky

Pharmacy computer system

Job description

Job summary

Are you an experienced final accuracy checking pharmacy technician who has significant experience of working in a hospital pharmacy?

LUFHT may have the perfect opportunity for you.

We are looking for a Senior Pharmacy Technician based in the dispensary on the Broadgreen site, who can act as a great role model, provide excellent training and demonstrate our trust values.

You must be able to show great leadership qualities, a broad experience of working in a pharmacy and knowledge and understanding of working in a hospital.

We want to recruit a Senior Pharmacy Technician who is enthusiastic, motivated who will work to our professional standards to provide an efficient and patient focused service.

Main duties of the job

In the role as a Senior Pharmacy Technician, you must have excellent communication skills, attention to detail and be flexible as you will you will work within our dispensaries, alongside, pharmacy assistants, pharmacy technicians and pharmacists.

You will be required to supervise work of pharmacy assistants, technician and students ensuring work is prioritised appropriately and play a key role in training and development of staff to maintain a quality and standards of work.

You will be required to participate in evening, weekend, and Bank Holiday working in keeping with the Pharmacy Directorate arrangements and the needs of the Trust.

About us

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients.

UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.

For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West.

Aintree University Hospital is the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside and hosts a number of regional services including an award-winning stroke facility. Broadgreen Hospital is home to elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation. Liverpool Women's Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK's largest single site maternity hospital each year. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.

For roles at Liverpool Women's, visit their careers page.

Job responsibilities

• Plan and co-ordinate and supervise less experienced staff working in the dispensary service to ensure that medicines are dispensed in an accurate and timely manner including unlicensed medicines and cytotoxics.
• Accuracy check prescriptions.
• Ensure the training and development needs of all staff working in the dispensary are fulfilled, for example, student technicians, support workers, rotational pharmacists, pre-registration pharmacists and technicians, in line with pre-defined training programmes.
• Ensure that adequate stocks of medicines are maintained and be responsible for the completion of the daily stock reconciliation process solving any problems identified, including correction and financial amendment.
• Undertakes basic work-based assessments e.g. pregnancy risk assessments.
• Support the deputy team lead dispensary services to organise, co-ordinate and amend the daily rotas for the dispensary services to ensure all tasks are covered.
• Co-ordinate the day-to-day supervision of the dispensary whilst acting as a role model, demonstrating and promoting the standards of care expected and creating energy and enthusiasm for service improvement.
• Undertake line management responsibility for staff absence and support the deputy team lead dispensary services to manage affected rotas.
• Undertake line management responsibility, within designated area, for staff appraisal, personal development, mandatory training compliance and any other related management tasks.
• Participate in the development, review and implementation of SOPs in consultation with the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader - Dispensary Services.
• Make judgements and decisions in the absence of a more senior member of staff within the limits compatible with technician training.
• Support quality improvement and implementation of new ways of working.
• Ensure correct handling of the various prescriptions into the pharmacy dispensary and make judgements on how to prioritise workload when urgent requests are made, liaising with appropriate personnel when necessary, using tact and diplomacy.
• Give advice and answer straight forward medication queries from patients/customers and other healthcare professionals, referring matters requiring further advice to the Team Leader and deputy team leader - Dispensary Services or relevant Pharmacists.
• Analyse and give daily feedback to dispensary staff on performance against key performance indicators using data from the prescription tracker system and Wellsky.
• Ensure all necessary paperwork and information is completed and stored appropriately in accordance with departmental SOPs.
• Implement and propose changes required to the dispensary service as directed by the line manager.
• Ensure the dispensary is kept clean and tidy and ensuring compliance with Health and Safety at work regulations, escalating when necessary.
• Liaise and provide support for the Senior Technical Service Leads and Team Leaders as required
• Ensure that an environment is created where staff feel valued and are provided with genuine opportunities for their development.
• Supervise and participate in the training of all staff working in the pharmacy dispensary including assessing competence and signing off training packs.
• Act as a mentor for technical staff undertaking accuracy checking qualification.
• Be responsible for own CPD.
• Undertakes research activities such as audit.
• Promote a culture in which multi-disciplinary teams strive for continuous quality improvement by recording and learning from mistakes whether they be human error or systems failure.
• Ensure the issuing/dispensing and traceability of medicines issued to patients is performed correctly and recorded correctly on the pharmacy computer system.
• Ensure the legal and effective distribution of goods to wards and departments within LUHFT and also to external customers who receive a service via service level agreements.
• Liaise with procurement staff to ensure that timely ordering of pharmaceuticals is met and owing/to follow orders are kept track of and processed.
• Ensure the daily stock take is performed done and stock is corrected on Wellsky as per SOP, submit this in a timely manner each weekday to the Team Leader Dispensary Services.
• Ensure Controlled Drug legislation is adhered to, CD stock levels are correct, and that SOPs are followed when investigating discrepancies, escalating to senior dispensary staff when required.
• Organise expiry date checking across the dispensaries ensuring short, dated stock is used up in advance where possible.
• Participate in routine pharmacy technician duties, when appropriate, including dispensing and accuracy checking.
• Check for prescribing errors within the limits compatible with technician training and refer back to the relevant pharmacist with any queries.
• Participate in the investigation of complaints/litigation/adverse incidents and ensure all documentation is completed.
• Provide advice on common medications such as dose and how to use.
• Check the dispensing, issuing, stock control, assembly and procurement of pharmaceuticals in accordance with relevant legislation and departmental procedures, including regular dispensing of controlled drugs and cytotoxics.
• Ensure that all work is undertaken in a timely and accurate way.
• Perform accurate dose volume checking on nonstandard volumes.
• Be a robot super user and trouble shoot complex problems and maintain efficient systems.
• Receive prescriptions from customers and hospital staff in accordance with dispensary procedures (including collecting prescription charges) and prioritise prescriptions according to urgency.
• Participate in staff rotations within the pharmacy departments across LUHFT as required.
• Participate in bank holiday, late night and weekend rotas as considered appropriate by the Chief Pharmacist or other senior managers.
• Observe regulations in respect of the Health and Safety at Work Act and Data Protection Act.
• Undertake any other duties relevant to this grade as directed by the line manager, Chief Pharmacist, or other senior managers. Education and training development Ensure the training and development needs of all staff working in the dispensary are fulfilled

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ Level 3 in Pharmacy Services/BTEC in Pharmaceutical Sciences or equivalent
• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council of Great Britain
• Accuracy Checking Certificate

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable expertise as a qualified Pharmacy Technician
• Significant experience of working in a hospital pharmacy
• Experience of education and training of pharmacy staff
• Participated in service audit
• Experience of pharmacy labelling and stock control systems

Desirable

• Working effectively within a multi-disciplinary team
• Experience of supervising staff
• Experience of using Wellsky stock control system
• Working with automated dispensing systems

Knowledge

Essential

• Ability to work alone and be a good team player
• Ability to motivate self and others
• Understanding of maintaining a live, stock control system
• Knowledge of medicines management and relevant legislation and policies

Skills

Essential

• Leadership skills
• Organisation and prioritisation skills
• Excellent oral communication skills
• Word processing, spreadsheets, email, accurate data entry skills

Other

Essential

• Enthusiasm for the position
• Lead by example - positive and optimistic
• Professional and fair approach to staff management
• Self-motivated, reliable, proactive, and conscientious
• Flexible in approach to work - ability to empathise with patients and other healthcare professionals
• Accurate and methodical with good attention to detail
• Ability to concentrate for long periods of time and to work accurately under pressure
• Ability to multitask and change from one job to another frequently, working alone and as a team member
• Participation in evening, weekend and bank holiday working
• Ability to carry out moderate to intensive physical effort throughout the working day and carry out concurrent activities including climbing ladders, stretching, bending and standing for long periods of time

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.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).