Employer Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Great Western Hospital Town Swindon Salary £24,937 - £26,598 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 29/01/2026 23:59
Rotational Pharmacy Assistant
Band 3
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a unique organisation, serving as the sole integrated provider in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire system. Our scope extends beyond boundaries as we oversee adult community services in Swindon and provide acute care from the Great Western Hospital.
Our 5,500 staff have 1.2m patient contacts a year, with 13,000 operations carried out in our Theatres, around 4,000 babies born, and our emergency attendances are now well over 100,000 per year. Those numbers only tell part of our story about what an exciting time it is to join Great Western Hospitals.
We are cultivating a culture that fosters our ambitions, prioritising equality, diversion, inclusion, wellbeing, and leadership. We aim to create an environment where every member of our team can truly thrive.
The Trust is a Disability Confident Employer; all applicants who have a disability can opt to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme, which means that, providing they meet the minimum essential criteria for the post, they will be offered an interview. We are also proudly accredited as a Veteran Aware organisation and have signed The Armed Forces Covenant.
If we receive a high volume of applications, we may close adverts prior to the published closing date. Therefore, we advise you to complete and submit your application as soon as possible.
Job overview
At the time of advertising, this role does not meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. For this reason, we are unable to sponsor anyone for a skilled worker visa for this role. We are happy to accept applications from candidates who can prove their right to work in the UK or via alternative visa routes. Such applications will be considered alongside all other applications.
Are you passionate about patient care and ready to take the next step in your career? Our friendly and forward-thinking Pharmacy Department is looking for an exceptional individual to join our dynamic team.
Working alongside a supportive multidisciplinary group, including Pharmacy Technicians, Assistants, Pharmacists, Nurses, and Clerical staff, you’ll play a vital role in ensuring the safe and effective use of medicines across our service. In this varied and rewarding role, you’ll develop your dispensing skills within the Dispensary, work with Stores & Distribution areas and engage directly with patients on wards, contributing to Medicines Optimisation and Discharge Services to enhance patient care and experience.
If you’re enthusiastic, motivated, and eager to grow in a collaborative environment, we’d love to hear from you!
Main duties of the job
* Undertake general pharmaceutical duties under the supervision of a Section Manager or deputy, assisting in the provision of a safe and effective Pharmacy service in line with current policies, procedures and legal requirements.
* Work within patient services undertaking medicines optimisation duties on the wards, improving the quality of care to patients in a clinical area by means of an efficient medicines optimisation system. This will include assessing patients own medicines ensuring they are suitable for use in hospital and maintaining and ordering non-stock medicines for patients.
* Work in the dispensary dispensing prescriptions and provide support to the dispensary manager and lead technician in the day to day running of the dispensary.
* Work as part of the pharmacy stores team monitoring and maintaining ward stock levels.
All Pharmacy staff involved in all aspects of Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP 2013/C 343/01) have a personal responsibility to ensure that all activities undertaken within our hospital Pharmacy are compliant with Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP 2013/C 343/01) and all relevant department procedures are followed effectively.
Working for our organisation
Our STAR values – Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect – are a golden thread running through everything we do. These values serve as a guiding principle, driving us towards our vision of delivering great joined up services to our local community. Whether at home, in the community, or within the hospital, our goal is to empower individuals to lead independent and healthier lives.
We’re committed to investing in our people. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to complete Level 2 Pharmacy Services training (unless already obtained) and will receive continuous support for professional development and career progression.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
* Able to undertake heavy lifting and pushing/pulling on a daily basis working as part of the pharmacy stores team while monitoring and maintaining ward stock levels.
* Use the Pharmacy IT system to label and dispense medication against prescriptions, orders and Controlled Drug requests according to any prescriber instructions.
* Organise, label and prepare compliance aids (Dosette boxes)
* Assess POD drugs against TTA prescriptions, endorsing with relevant information and documenting any discrepancies.
* Use the prescription tracking system to book in and track prescriptions at each stage in the process, logging work collected by the porters or ward staff.
* Support the team leader in the management of the prescription tracking system to ensure prescriptions are completed within the allocated turnaround times.
* Work with minimal supervision to provide an admission, supply and discharge service to nominated wards. Liaising directly with pharmacists, doctors and nursing staff as appropriate.
Please see attached JD for full responsibilities
Person specification
Qualifications
* QCF level 2 in Pharmacy services – or willing and able to work towards
* GCSE or equivalent in Maths and English grade C or above
* Knowledge of procedures for Pharmacy Services – on the job training, experience to NVQ3 or equivalent
* Previous training in the Pharmacy services with a good education and understanding of GDP
Experience
* Working within a team
* Managing own workload to meet the needs of a service
* Previous hospital pharmacy experience
Thank you for expressing interest in this role. For further employer guidance, please review the attached supplementary applicant information.
Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used, then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.
Certificate of Sponsorship
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, subject to eligibility of the role for a skilled worker visa and salary requirements. Not all roles in the Trust are eligible for sponsorship.
Eligibility for this role requires:
* Current right to work in the UK, subject to verification.
* Qualification of the eligibility sponsorship criteria
Current employees should be aware that this position is advertised as a Great Western Hospitals position and appointment ends any TUPE protection.
Candidates are responsible for covering the cost of their own DBS check if required: £21.50 for a Standard DBS check, recoverable from the first pay, or £49.50 for an Enhanced DBS check, divided and recoverable over the initial two pay periods. Payment for DBS checks for bank posts must be settled prior to commencement. Apprentices are exempt from DBS payment.
We are committed to supporting our staff in achieving a healthy work-life balance through flexible work arrangements. Upon joining the Trust, you have the right to request flexible working, with an unlimited number of requests allowed.
Upon acceptance of a job offer, your information will be transferred to the national NHS Electronic Staff Records System. All communication regarding your application will be conducted via email; please ensure to check your junk/spam folders as emails may occasionally be filtered there.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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.
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