Pharmacy Assistant - Patient Services

Job overview

Are you looking for a career in Pharmacy that offers excellent development prospects? Our Patient Services department are hiring!

We offer an exciting opportunity to start your Pharmacy career as a Band 2 Pharmacy Assistant in a forward-thinking, diverse and inclusive department where we adopt an open, honest culture where all voices are heard and ideas for improvement encouraged.

Our department is a fast-paced environment where you will need to be able to react flexibly both as an individual and as part of a team. Within the Patient Services team, you will be instrumental in delivering excellent patient care. This is a progressional post where you will learn new skills within the dispensary and clinical services and will be the start of an incredibly rewarding career in Pharmacy.

All the relevant in-house and nationally recognised training will be provided with progression to a Band 3 Pharmacy Assistant on successful completion.

Applicants need to have a good standard of education demonstrating numeracy and literacy and will be required to complete a literacy and numeracy assessment during interview with a minimum 90% pass rate.

Main duties of the job

This post provides operational support to the dispensary, clinical pharmacy and distribution teams. It is line managed by the Patient Services Leadership team.

• To assist in the day-to-day duties of the dispensary, clinical pharmacy and all aspects of patient services within the pharmacy department this includes but is not limited to reception cover, general dispensing duties, assisting with stock control and delivering to ward and department areas.
• To undertake dispensing of prescriptions in an accurate and timely manner and to use professional knowledge to ensure that such duties are performed in accordance with Good Dispensing Practice.
• Confident in the use of all digital system relating to pharmacy.
• To support the accredited medicines optimisation pharmacy technicians and pharmacists at ward level.
• To order, pick, deliver and put away drugs for pharmacy.
• Ensure compliance with Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP 2013/C 343/01) undertaken within NBT Pharmacy.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see job description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

Dispensary & Reception Duties •    Receipt of prescriptions and drug requests from patients and staff. •    Selling over the counter medicines to staff and members of the public. •    Handling NHS prescription charge transactions. •    Accurate and timely dispensing prescriptions, including controlled drugs. •    Generation of labels and booking out of medicines using pharmacy stock control system. •    Replenish the stocks of dispensing sundries (bottles, cartons etc.). •    Deals with enquiries from wards, departments and patients. •    Receiving requests and handing out medications to patients and members of staff. •    All activity undertaken within NBT Pharmacy is compliant with Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP 2013/C 343/01) and all relevant departmental procedures.  •    Delivering of medication to wards and departments.

Ward Based Services On wards working closely with the Clinical Pharmacist, Ward-based Technicians and Patient Services Leads to: •    Ensure seamless care in the provision of medicines. •    Facilitating ward-based discharges, maintaining equipment used in the dispensing process including replenishing of medications used. •    Ensure that when patients are transferred between designated wards that information and medication is transferred as appropriate. •    Dispense supply requests as required by Ward-based Technicians and Ward Pharmacists in a timely manner. •    Minimise waste and reduce risk to patients by ensuring appropriate storage of all medicines supplied. Processing items of medication for return or destruction. •    Ensuring appropriate storage of medicines on the ward to decrease medicine related errors. •    Support the review and maintenance of ward stock lists to support a reduction in missed doses and financial cost effectiveness.

Distribution  •    Visiting wards to carry our stock checks ordering against stock balances as well as ensuring that stock is rotated, and storage conditions are maintained and fit for purpose. •    Process emergency stock medication requests in a timely manner. •    Issue pharmaceutical products to wards, departments and other hospital units following Standard Operating Procedures. •    Ensure that stock is issued accordingly to stock rotation procedures.  •    Deal with routine stock enquiries from wards and departments. •    Taking issued pharmaceutical products back up to the ward/department and ensuring that they are stored securely at ward level. •    Ensure that pharmaceutical products that require transportation off site are dealt with accordingly in line with Standard Operating Procedures.