Senior Pharmacy Technician Rotational

The Pharmacy Department is looking for an enthusiastic and motivated Senior Pharmacy Technician to join our rotational senior pharmacy technician team. This exciting role offers the opportunity to gain experience while rotating across Medicines Management, Dispensary Services, and Pharmacy Technical Services, supporting the delivery of high-quality, patient-centred pharmacy care across the Trust.

The post holder will contribute to the work of the Pharmacy Service by delivering the department’s vision of an excellent Medicines Optimisation service. They will become an effective and proactive member of the team, ensuring patients receive the highest standard of care and providing advice, support, and leadership on medicines management across inpatient wards and clinical areas.

The post holder will be expected to support and supervise the work of Medicines Management Assistants, trainee pharmacy technicians, and trainee pharmacists, providing guidance and support in ward-based, dispensary, and technical services activities as part of their rotations. This role offers an excellent opportunity for a motivated technician to develop a broad range of skills while becoming a key member of the pharmacy team. The successful candidate will help ensure that all aspects of medicines optimisation and pharmacy services are delivered in line with Trust policies, professional standards, and patient safety principles.

Main duties of the job

In this rotational role the post holder will be expected:

• To provide a medicines management service to a range of specialty wards across the hospital site.
• To work as part of the near patient dispensing team supplying medication to patients both during their stay and at point of discharge.
• To liaise with all ward staff and other healthcare professionals regarding discrepancies with patients' medication to improve patient care.
• To provide advice to patients regarding their medication.
• To act as a role model and help train new and junior members of staff.
• To participate in the Accredited checking technician dispensary role.
• To contribute to the economic effective and efficient supply of medication to all wards.

In the dispensary rotation: to assist the Dispensary and Distribution Manager and their deputy in running a highly efficient and safe inpatient dispensary service ensuring the safety, quality and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets are met.

In the Technical services rotation: to assist and supervise, to a high quality, the provision of a chemotherapy compounding service and ensure the safe accurate provision of supportive medication. To support the roles of and work under the supervision of the Chief Technician & Accountable Pharmacist.

Working for our organisation

Whittington Health serves a richly diverse population and works hard to ensure that all our services are fair and equally accessible to everyone. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the way we look after our staff. We aim to employ a workforce which is as representative as possible of this population, so we are open to the value of differences in age, disability, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, and religion or belief. The Trust believes that as a public sector organisation we have an obligation to have recruitment, training, promotion and other formal employment policies and procedures that are sensitive to these differences. We think that by doing so, we are better able to treat our patients as well as being a better place to work.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities. For more detailed information regarding the main responsibilities of the role, please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Person specification

Education & Qualifications

• BTEC LEVEL 3 diploma in the principles and practice for pharmacy technicians or NVQ Level 3 in pharmacy services or equivalent.
• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Accredited for final accuracy checking.

Knowledge & Experience

• Underpinning knowledge to standards required for NVQ level 3 in pharmacy services.
• Experience of patient counselling on discharge medication.
• Hospital experience as a qualified or student pharmacy technician including the provision of ward stock top up.
• Knowledge of the principles of efficient stock control e.g. stock rotation, expiry dates, and minimum stock levels and re-order levels.
• Experience of providing training to pharmacy staff.

Skills & Abilities

• Able to manage stock effectively to ensure the availability of formulary medication whilst minimising wastage.
• Experience of working in an environment requiring attention to detail and working to pre-determined deadlines.
• Experience of using computer systems in a workplace setting.
• Previous experience of working in a hospital.
• Experience of working in an environment requiring the handling of a wide range of different but similar products.
• Ability to work under pressure whilst maintaining accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to be flexible in approach to work.
• Knowledge of local health and safety, manual handling and COSHH policies.
• Personal organisational skills, including anticipation of questions and problems.
• Able to work independently and as a member of a team.
• Previous experience of working in a hospital or retail pharmacy customer services.
• Experience of working in a large multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to manage the handling of hazardous materials safely according to local standard operating procedure.

Personal Qualities

• Reliable.
• Ability to motivate self and others.
• Commitment to Continuing Personal Development.
• Able to demonstrate ability to cope under pressure and multi-tasking correctly.
• Good organisational skills.

SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN AND ADULTS

To comply with the Trust’s Safeguarding Children and Adults policies, procedures and protocols. All individual members of staff (paid or unpaid) have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This will require you to:

• Ensure you are familiar with and comply with the London Child Protection Procedures and protocols for promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children and young people.
• Ensure you are familiar and comply with the London Multi Agency Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Pan London Procedures.
• Ensure you are familiar and comply with local protocols and systems for information sharing.
• Know the appropriate contact numbers and required reporting lines.
• Participate in required training and supervision.
• Comply with required professional boundaries and codes of conduct.

Whittington Health is committed to safeguarding all children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

We would welcome applications from individuals who are from underrepresented groups in the organisation.