Job overview
Senior Pharmacy Assistant - Band 3
Are you looking for a new challenge & an opportunity to develop more from your role? We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and ambitious Senior Pharmacy Assistant to join our team at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
This is a fixed term band 3 position working on a rotational basis throughout various clinical areas of the site including inpatient dispensary, cardiac, oncology and respiratory. It will involve working closely with nurses and healthcare professionals, helping to maintain good stock control and promoting adherence to the safe and secure handling of medicines.
The post holder will be a team player and keen to continue to improve quality standards within the department. This position offers the opportunities to learn new skills whilst gaining experience in a medicines management environment. Day to day duties will include the dispensing of medicines at ward level, transcribing of medicines and POD checking. You will be supported in your role to complete these aspects of the MOPs accreditation.
We welcome applications from pharmacy assistants who hold an NVQ level 2 qualification in pharmacy services. You must possess excellent interpersonal, problem solving and time management skills and be able to work with a wide range of professionals.
Main duties of the job
The key focus of this role is to provide safe and secure stock control within pharmacy inpatients and chemotherapy dose banding dispnesary, wards and clinical areas. They will assist in the supply and dispensing of prescribed items, receive and put away stock including dispensary consumables.
The post holder will provide an efficient and effective administrative service, operational and finance support, as well as undertake project work to enhance the service. The post holder will rotate throughout the site and clinical areas and department to gain experience
in all areas which includes support in a patient facing role, dispensaries and in the pharmacy distribution area to receive goods from across site, wholesalers and manufacturers.
The post holder will be expected to work with minimum day to day supervision and to use their initiative and be proactive when issues arise. Regular communication within the team needs to be maintained in relation to working practices, procedures and any changes. A
good working relationship with colleagues and other healthcare staff needs to be fostered and maintained at all times
Working for our organisation
Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain’s leading healthcare providers.
The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.
Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.
We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
1. GCSE grades A -C or 4-9 • English Language • Maths • Double Science
2. BTEC Level 2 Certificate in the Principles and Practice for Pharmacy Support Staf
Desirable criteria
3. HEE Medicines Optimisation programme or equivalent ie competent to assess PODS and transcribe and order from drug charts
Experience
Essential criteria
4. Experience in customer care environment
5. Experience of working in a pharmacy team
6. Demonstrable stock management experience
Desirable criteria
7. Experience of working in a hospital environment
8. Experience of training others
Knowledge
Essential criteria
9. Good understanding of filing systems and data management procedures
10. Understanding of relevant legislation, e.g. Health and Safety, GDPR, Data Protection
11. Understanding of the importance of adherence to procedures and legislation Understand the importance of selforganisation and accuracy.
12. Understands issues surrounding customer care and quality
13. Interested in and have knowledge of the use of medicines
14. Understanding of stock control systems Understanding of the importance of adherence to SOPs and legislation
15. Demonstrates understanding of patient safety initiatives
Desirable criteria
16. Knowledge of medicines management systems at ward level
17. Knowledge of Safe and Secure Handling of Medicines requirements
Skills
Essential criteria
18. IT skills; Able to use Excel and Word proficiently
19. Able to plan own work and the supervision of others in a clear and organised way.
20. Able to work alone or as part of a team with different grades of staff.
21. Attention to detail and accuracy.
22. Able to work to policies and procedures.
23. Able to perform calculations. Good time management skills; Able to meet deadlines.
24. Able to communicate well with all members of the team (internal and external to Pharmacy) and externally with customers in a confident manner
25. Excellent communication skills both written and verbal, including on the telephone
26. Able to prioritise own work Confident to work unsupervised, takes initiative and uses own judgement in anticipating and dealing with queries and problems
27. Able to work calmly under pressure and to deadlines
Desirable criteria
28. Manual handling skills
29. IT skills; Able to use Excel and Word proficiently
**Visa Sponsorship Information**
Recent changes to UK immigration policy on the Health and Care Visa and Skilled Worker Visa could mean that this role is not eligible for sponsorship or that you may not meet the eligibility criteria.
Sponsorship can only be offered if this post and any individual offered employment meet all the Home Office’s requirements under the UK Skilled Worker visa scheme.
If you are applying from outside the UK or will require sponsorship, please mention this clearly in your application.
To be eligible for sponsorship, the following conditions must be met:
30. Eligible role: The position must be on the UK Skilled Worker visa list. You can check your eligibility here: -.
31. Salary threshold: The role must meet the minimum salary set by the Home Office. Please note that for roles employed under Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions, the High-Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) is not included when calculating the basic salary for the purposes of sponsorship.
32. Skill level: The role must meet the minimum skill requirement of RQF Level 6 or above (graduate level).
33. English language: Applicants must demonstrate English proficiency at CEFR level B2 or higher.
34. Other criteria: Applicants must meet all other criteria as set out by the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)