Pharmacy Assistant/Porter - Supply and Distribution

Job overview

The pharmacy department are delighted to be able to offer a vacancy for a Pharmacy Porter/Assistant where no two days will be the same!

Why, you ask? There are a range of duties and responsibilities that you will receive training in. You could be providing a top up of medicine stock to our hospital wards one day and then dealing with our external customers the next processing their orders.

In this role, you will need to be enthusiastic, motivated and demonstrate a desire to contribute towards developing our services. It would be an advantage if you had previous pharmacy or stores experience, however full training and support will be provided.

Our core working hours are Monday to Friday (8am until 7pm), with weekends and bank holidays managed on a rota basis (9am until 6pm). All shifts are 7.5 hours with a 30-minute unpaid lunch break. For those applying for this part time role, please be aware that this requires committing to the same days each week Monday to Friday for a full 7.5 hour shift.

Successful applicants will be funded to complete the Buttercups Level 2 – Support Staff Course for Pharmacy Assistants.

Please be aware that large parts of this role involve working in our pharmacy stores warehouse and involves significant manual handling of products. These require onwards delivery to wards and departments throughout the hospital so our patients have access to the medicines they need. There is also a requirement to use both hand and electric pallet trucks.

Main duties of the job

This post is an ideal stepping stone for those looking to progress in pharmacy. We have regular opportunities for you to develop yourself in this role particularly as our services continue to expand.

So what will you be working on on a day to day basis? Your main duties within this role will include providing an effective medicine supply service to wards/departments across the Trust and to external customers such as Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust , Ambulance stations, Private hospitals and other NHS hospitals. You will process, pick, pack and deliver all pharmacy orders for the Trust and even be responding to any robot issues. Your days won't ever be boring!

You will support training and development of other staff; maintaining quality and standards by contributing to the development and implementation of new services, processes and procedures to deliver services in line with professional, local and national directives.

Further information can be found in the job description and if you would like to know more prior to interview, why not get in touch and come and visit us. We are more than happy for you to spend some time with us so that you can see what we do.

If you are considering applying then please contact us for more information, we can also arrange a visit for a tour of our department!

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Duties to include, but not be limited to:

• Communicates all relevant information and advice to the pharmacy, nursing and medical teams; patients and service users; and with external organisations as required
• Provide an effective ward top up service to wards/departments of the Trust
• Provide an effective medicine supply service to external customers who include Lancashire Care, Ambulance stations, GP’s, Private hospitals and other NHS hospitals.
• Provides an effective reception service whilst working on the phone rota, receiving incoming work and dealing with customer enquiries.
• Receive all incoming orders in line with MHRA and Good Distribution Practice.
• Carries out housekeeping duties to maintain good environmental standards
• Contribute to effective team working within pharmacy
• Acts as a role model, presenting a positive image of self, team and the organisation
• Develop positive relationships with internal and external key personnel
• Comply with legal and organisational requirements, standards and codes of practice on equality, diversity, discrimination and rights relevant to own role and responsibilities
• Maintain and develop own competence and seeks to extend the scope of personal knowledge and skills within scope of role and professional practice, policies and legislation
• Supports the training and development of pharmacy team
• To ensure the quality of quality of service provision
• Comply with current legislation, policy, good practice, organisational and professional codes of practice and ethical standards
• To ensure any incidents and near misses are identified, reported and recorded according to Trust policy.
• Contribute to the formal handling and investigating of complaints, error reports, accident/incident reports and monitor for preventative and/or corrective action and improvement
• Proactively manage risk and maintain safety, conforming to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines
• To contribute to the delivery and achievement of the department Service Plan and specific service improvements
• To support the department to deliver efficiency and financial targets.

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.