Assistant Technical Officer, Aseptic Services
The closing date is 02 March 2026
We are seeking a motivated and hardworking Pharmacy Assistant to join our dedicated Aseptic team at Alder Hey Children's Hospital. In this role, you will work within the cleanrooms, accurately assembling and documenting ingredients before transferring them for preparation. You will also be involved in check and release processes, labelling and packing finished products, and ensuring the safe delivery of medicines to wards. Previous cleanroom experience is not required, as full training will be provided. This includes completing the Buttercups Support Staff Course for Pharmacy Assistants in Manufacturing, alongside relevant in‑house training packages. The ideal candidate will have strong communication skills, the ability to follow standard operating procedures, and a flexible, committed approach to work. You should be able to work effectively both as part of a team and independently, managing your workload and prioritising tasks as needed.
Main duties of the job
* Assist technicians and pharmacists in the provision of a safe and effective aseptic dispensing service with particular emphasis on assembly of drugs and equipment and performing specialised cleaning.
* Assist in the safe and effective supply of medicines to wards and departments.
* Assist in clerical duties.
* Ensure stock control is maintained in the pharmacy department and on the wards to include daily stock checks, environmental monitoring and an effective stock return/disposal system.
* Support the delivery of clinical trials through the dispensing of medicines.
* Ensure the effective replenishment of emergency drug boxes, extravasation and spillage kits to wards and departments.
* Support the delivery of pharmacy dispensing services across all areas of the department.
About us
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust is a centre of excellence in specialist paediatric care and is recognised as one of the largest and busiest children's hospitals in Europe. Within its state‑of‑the‑art facilities, the Pharmacy Aseptic Services Unit plays a vital role in supporting clinical care. The aseptic team is comprised of dedicated Assistant Technical Officers (ATOs), Pharmacy Technicians, and Pharmacists, working collaboratively to deliver high‑quality medicines. The unit prepares approximately 1,300 items per month, including CIVAS (Central Intravenous Additive Services), Parenteral Nutrition (PN), Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT), and cytotoxic preparations. In addition, the unit houses a dedicated suite for the preparation of Advanced Therapy Investigational Medicinal Products (ATIMPs), reinforcing Alder Hey's commitment to innovation and research in paediatric healthcare.
Job responsibilities
Communication Skills
1. To answer telephone and face to face queries of a routine or basic technical nature from a wide range of staff groups, in the pharmacy, referring appropriate queries to the relevant member of the pharmacy team when necessary.
2. To assist in ensuring effective communication from ward staff to the appropriate member of the aseptic team.
3. To assist in chasing up outstanding orders that have not been delivered.
4. To assist in reporting any out of stock items appropriately.
5. Record errors identified during the course of day‑to‑day duties.
Analytical Skills
1. To carry out routine duties including daily stock checks, stock returns, and maintenance of stock levels and checking expiry dates to ensure pharmaceutical waste is dealt with appropriately in a cost‑effective manner.
2. To assist with weekly stock and expiry date checks in the pharmacy store in accordance with department procedures to ensure correct storage and turnover of stock to maintain quality and potency.
3. To carry out, monitor and check the issuing, stock control, assembly and purchasing of medicines in accordance with safe systems of work.
4. To receive drug deliveries into the pharmacy and to be responsible for checking the accuracy.
5. To ensure all delivered stock is stored correctly and rotated in line with expiry dates to include fridge lines, inflammable liquids and cytotoxic drugs.
6. To receive, check and store drug requisition orders from the pharmacy stores.
7. To assist in the monitoring of fridge temperatures and any other specified equipment as required.
8. Assist in the compilation of department statistics by sorting and filing paperwork.
9. To assist in completing stock takes of all drugs.
10. To assist in ordering sharps bins, cytotoxic bins and IV giving sets.
Planning and Organising Skills
1. Participate in recording in an accurate and timely manner all actions and details relating to cleaning, batch numbers and expiry dates and cleanroom activity.
2. To assist in the delivery of prepared products to wards, ensuring correct storage and security.
3. Assist in organising the delivery and tracking of prescriptions.
4. To ensure overall tidiness of the working area in the Pharmacy department and to dispose of waste according to department procedure.
5. To assist in the dispatch of plates and swabs to Quality Control appropriately labelled and packaged.
Responsibility for Patient/Client Care
1. To assist in the supply of medications according to prescriptions that have been clinically screened and verified by a pharmacist in accordance with the safe systems of work as described above.
2. To dispense PN against prescriptions that have been clinically screened and verified by a pharmacist in accordance with the safe systems of work.
3. To assist in the assembly of drugs and sterile equipment according to the product worksheet.
4. To complete worksheet details including batch number and expiry in accordance with SOPs.
5. To carry out the transfer of drugs and sterile equipment into sterile preparation area according to standard operating procedures (SOP).
6. To label completed aseptically prepared products and outer containers and ensuring product segregation.
7. To participate in specialised cleaning and disinfection of walls, floors, ceilings and all equipment within the cleanroom according to SOPs.
8. To efficiently deal with any delivery requests from wards on a daily basis and in a timely manner to ensure best service to patient and follow up any outstanding orders/deliveries to the wards on a daily basis.
9. To follow regional guidelines for the receipt and quarantine of unlicensed specialist medicines.
10. To dispense non‑complex inpatient and outpatient prescriptions.
11. To carry out routine procedures associated with the packaging of medicines including cytotoxic, CIVAS and PN following standard operating procedures.
Responsibility for Policy/Service Development
To participate in the development of the Aseptic unit and / or service via meetings, feedback, participation with validation plans.
Responsibility for Financial & Physical Resources
1. Accurately issue IV fluids and medicines against a worksheet to the correct ward and/or cost centre in a timely manner using the Pharmacy stock control system.
2. To assist in stock control and rotation of the Quality Control agar plates and swabs used to perform environmental monitoring.
3. To assist in replenishing the Pharmacy night room.
4. To assist in the replenishment of and rotation of emergency boxes, spill kits and extravasation kits on the wards and departments.
Responsibility for Human Resources
To assist in the training of new pharmacy assistants and student pharmacy technicians.
Responsibility for Information Resources
1. To use the pharmacy computer system to issue, label and return medicines in accordance with level of training provided.
2. To participate in generating appropriate labels using pharmacy IT computer software for Quality Control purposes.
Responsibility for Research and Development
To participate in the dispensing of clinical trials and unlicensed medicines as required.
Person Specification
Education and Training
* Maths and Literacy skills
Experience
* Working accurately to standard operating procedures
* Being able to adapt to different computer packages
* Dealing with stock, stock rotation and storage
* Previous working in a Pharmacy environment
* Hygiene and maintaining a clean working environment
Knowledge
* What the post involves - general understanding
* Quality Control and what this involves
* Working within a pharmacy aseptic unit.
* Experience of hygiene and maintaining a clean working environment
* Clinical trials experience
Skills
* Good organisational skills and the ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure
* Ability to work well within various teams
* Good interpersonal skills and telephone manner
* Good attention to detail and responsible attitude towards quality and accuracy.
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.
Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust
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