Advanced Pharmacy Technician - Queen Mary's Hospital

Advanced Pharmacy Technician - Queen Mary's Hospital

Band 6

Main area Pharmacy Grade Band 6 Contract Permanent Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week (includes 7 day working) Job ref 213-Division-A-8263731

Employer King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Princess Royal University Hospital Town Orpington Salary £45,953 - £54,254 per annum, including high cost allowance Salary period Yearly Closing 13/10/2026 23:59

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts with a turnover of c£2.1 billion, 1.5 million patient contacts a year and more than 14,000 staff based across 5 main sites in South East London. The Trust provides a full range of local hospital services across its different sites, and specialist services from King’s College Hospital (KCH) sites at Denmark Hill in Camberwell and at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) site in the London Borough of Bromley.

We encourage all our staff to have a healthy work/life balance. In doing so, you can apply for flexible working from the beginning of your employment. We offer an option for different circumstances.

The post holder will work as part of a dedicated pharmacy team to lead, provide, develop and evaluate operational and clinical pharmacy services to Queen Mary’s Hospital (QMH) and will support operational services at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH). The post holder will support the Specialist Pharmacist in managing the operational and clinical services and team. The post holder will liaise between pharmacy, clinical areas and departments to ensure that services are tailored to meet Pharmacy and Care Group needs wherever possible.

Main duties of the job

• Deputise for the Specialist Pharmacist and for the operational and clinical pharmacy services at QMH.
• Act as a role model in operational and clinical management at QMH, and clinical and pharmacy care groups.
• Support the Specialist Pharmacist to lead, manage and develop operational and clinical pharmacy services at QMH and contribute to the provision and management of operational services at PRUH.
• Participate in operational and clinical activities to deliver and promote high quality, cost-effective and patient-focused pharmaceutical care.
• Ensure operational and clinical pharmacy input to the care of patients, providing interface liaison and support.
• Provide patient and carer education and support and close liaison across the interface.
• Promote safe drug use within dispensary, clinical specialties and clinical areas.
• Develop, implement and audit local guidelines, policies and procedures.
• Supervise and train pharmacy staff.
• Provide education and training to healthcare professionals within and outside the Trust.
• Participate in practice and clinical research and audit.
• Work with the Deputy Chief and Principal Pharmacists and Principal and Lead Technicians to extend the boundaries of professional practice.

Working for our organisation

The Trust provides a full range of local and specialist services across its five sites. Transforming Healthcare is the vision at the heart of the King’s Strategy – 2026 to 2031. Together, we are pursuing six strategic ambitions: delivering high-quality patient care; being a great place to work; leading pioneering research, innovation and education; building strong and successful partnerships; providing timely and efficient care; and ensuring long-term financial sustainability. Achieving these ambitions will require all of us to work as one Team King’s, united by a shared commitment to our values of being caring, collaborative, inclusive and innovative. By living these values every day, we will transform healthcare for our patients, our communities and each other

We are at a pivotal point in our history and we require individuals who are ready to join a highly professional team and make a real, lasting difference to our patients and our people.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus. Everyone’s contribution is required in order to meet the goals set out in our Green Plan and we encourage all staff to work responsibly, minimising their contributions to the Trust’s carbon emissions, waste and pollution wherever possible.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For full job description and outline of main responsibilities please see attached documents.

Policy/Service Development

• To manage and develop the operational and clinical services at QMH, working with principal and lead technicians and pharmacists, and contribute to the development of operational services at PRUH.
• To lead and manage pharmacy technicians and assistant technical officers within operational services at PRUH and QMH.
• To ensure that operational and clinical processes, policies and procedures are followed by all staff.
• To maintain and develop high quality, consistent, patient-focused pharmacy services in conjunction with operational and clinical staff.
• To adhere to and maintain quality standards and performance indicators for safe medicines use.
• To support the agenda for medication waste and sustainability within the Trust by developing systems that are sustainable and minimise waste.
• To support stock management and control and initiatives to optimise these processes.
• To participate in pharmacy and clinical audits and research.
• To follow departmental procedures and dispense and check medication accurately.
• To develop procedures, policies and guidelines pertaining to the pharmacy service.
• To use pharmacy computer systems correctly and enter data accurately and ensure that data is stored and archived appropriately in accordance with local and other agreed guidelines.
• To develop and support initiatives for patient centred care.
• To support the delivery of compliant homecare services across the Trust.
• To encourage and support compliance with the formulary and departmental policies & procedures.
• To highlight operational and clinical incidents using the incident reporting system and investigate and develop corrective or preventive action plans in conjunction with the pharmacy leads for reported incidents.

• To ensure that operational and clinical services satisfy all legislation and good practice recommendations relating to the safe storage and supply of medicines.
• To provide regular activity and quality monitoring information and to use this information to develop the service and improve and/or maintain a quality service.
• To be responsible for and manage the distribution of FP10 prescription pads, ensuring secure storage arrangements in the pharmacy and when in use throughout the hospital.
• To support the safe and secure management of controlled drugs as per the legal requirements and standard operating procedures including weekly and monthly cycle counts, adjusting ward stock levels, and managing the introduction of new practice or drugs. To understand the use of the Omnicell system and train staff when required.

Person specification

Education and Qualifications

• NVQ 3 in Pharmaceutical Science or equivalent
• Professional registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Mandatory CPD to maintain fitness to practice
• Successful completion of short courses relevant to practice, to include supervisory/management qualification

Knowledge and Experience

• Knowledge of pharmacy computer systems
• Good knowledge of MS Word and MS Excel applications
• Good Management Practice
• Significant experience relevant to Hospital Pharmacy Practice with assessed competencies
• Experience of research and audit work

Skills and Competencies

• Be able to provide and receive complex information on medicines use, ward and dispensary services
• Be able to communicate effectively and accurately in both written and verbal formats with staff and patients
• Track record of successfully working within teams
• Be able to analyse information relating to service provided or individual patients where there are a range of facts requiring analysis and where a range of options need to be compared
• Be able to analyse and interpret information relating to medicines and their uses
• Be able to use presentational aids

AI tools like chatbots and virtual assistants can support you as you complete your application. For example, they can check for spelling or grammar errors, or help you to decide what to include. They shouldn’t however replace your own responses or be used to write the application for you.

Relying too much on AI can negatively impact your chances of success because automatically generated answers:

• might not be specific or relevant enough to address the criteria in the recruitment profile
• often seem generic and not personalised enough – an AI response won’t show your unique voice and perspective
• could misrepresent information about you, such as your qualifications, skills and experience

We monitor applications for any behaviour that could create an unfair advantage, and we check all references carefully. You are likely to be tested on your experience at interview, so be honest and make sure all the information in your application is correct.

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Annual Reports and Other Corporate Publications

King’s Health Partners Academic Health Science Centre Website

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Name Julie Hawkes-Reekie Job title Deputy Chief Pharmacist Email address j.hawkes-reekie@nhs.net Telephone number 01689864014

If you have problems applying, contact

Address King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Jennie Lee House
2nd Floor
Love Walk Lane
SE5 8AD
Telephone 020 3299 0072

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