About this role
Job summary
Are you looking for the opportunity to develop your skills and career progression?
Why not try a interesting role in hospital pharmacy?
This could be your first step into a rewarding, challenging, progressive and lifelong career in hospital pharmacy.
An exciting opportunity has arisen, and we are currently seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated Senior Assistant Technical Officer to join and support our busy team in the Pharmacy Department at the Whittington Hospital. You will support the provision of pharmacy services across the Trust, and provide a professional, efficient and customer focused service following agreed departmental policies and procedures.
We are looking for a candidate who has good customer service and interpersonal skills, communicates well, and demonstrates the ability to prioritise and organise work to meet deadlines. The candidate ideally should have previous pharmacy experience and hold an NVQ Level 2 Certificate in Pharmacy Services or equivalent. But if not, you will undertake the BTEC Level 2 Certificate in the Principles and Practice for Pharmacy Support Staff through the Apprenticeship framework. You must have GCSEs in both Maths and English at Grade C (4) or above, or equivalent.
Main duties of the job
This position aims to enhance quality of patient care by contributing to an efficient medicines management service at ward level. The role supports ward services by managing ward top-ups and stock control,, while working closely with Medicines Management Technicians and Ward Pharmacists, assisting with ordering and dispensing individual patients' medicines and carrying out medicines safety checks.
Key Responsibilities:
o Contribute to medicines management tasks in assigned wards and clinical areas such as:
Ward top-ups Near-patient dispensing Stock management Evaluating PODs for potential reuse Maintaining safe storage of medication Monitoring of clinical area environments
oSupport dispensary services, including dispensing To Take Away (TTA) medications or blister packs.
o Support Pharmacy Stores in assembling stock for distribution to clinical areas, and completing returns.
Performance and Safety:
o Work accurately, effectively, and efficiently to uphold high-quality service standards for patients, staff, and departments.
o Perform medicine safety checks and environmental monitoring, recording results at every shift.
o Conduct medicines management and handling audits under the supervision of the matron, pharmacist, or pharmacy technician.
Team Collaboration:
o Actively engage as a team member.
o Ensure continuous two-way communication between the pharmacy and clinical ward areas, to maintain high standards across the Trust.
About us
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.
Job description Job responsibilities
See Job description attached.
WARD BASED RESPONSIBILITIES
Band 2 duties
To work on designated wards and perform a range of pharmacy related dutiesin accordance withset procedures.
Daily stock replenishments of medicines on assigned wards, to resolve any stock problems and communicate stock issues to the ward pharmacy team and other healthcare professionals, always upholding good medicines management practices.
To carry out regular expiry date checks and to remove any redundant or expired medication from the ward and report these to the ward pharmacist and ward manager.
Stock control and ensuring sufficient stock is kept as per stock list.
To alwaysmaintainsafe storage of medications on the ward and monitor the room and fridge temperatures to ensure medications are kept atoptimallevels.
Dispense discharge medicines on theallocatedwardsto support discharge flowand ensure pharmacy sundries are replenished regularly.
To highlight trends in excessive wastage or medication storage errors in the clinical areas.
To manage and ensure the smooth transfer between wards or return of medicines to the pharmacy department, following patient transfer or discharge, by liaising with ward staff and/or by checkingCareFlowon the Trust computer system.
Band 3 duties (in addition to above)
After a successful probation periodto undertake medicines management accreditationsfor transcribing and patients own drug (POD)checksandthencarry outtheseduties with the guidance of a qualified pharmacy technician or pharmacistonceaccredited.
Person Specification
Education/ Qualification Essential
GCSE or equivalent
Desirable
NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Previous work experience in pharmacy
Personal Qualities and Experience Essential
Ability to work under pressure whilst maintaining accuracy and attention to detail.
Desirable
Knowledge of efficient stock control
Skills and Abilities Essential
Able to organise and prioritise workload, and to meet pre-determined deadlines Computer literacy/IT skills
Desirable
Experience of dispensing all kinds of prescriptions
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.
Employer details Employer name Whittington Hospital NHS Trust
Address The Whittington Health NHS Trust
Pharmacy Department, Magdala Avenue
London
N19 5NF
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)