Pharmacy Assistant

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, highly motivated and proactive pharmacy assistant with excellent communication, organisational and interpersonal skills to join the cancer pharmacy team at the Horton.

This post would suit somebody with either a hospital pharmacy background, or with community pharmacy experience wishing to make a change into the hospital environment, for which appropriate training will be provided. You must have successfully achieved the relevant units of pharmacy services skills NVQ level 2 (QCF) or an equivalent GPhC accredited training programme. Applications for part-time/flexible working considered..

Did you know that there is an estimated 3 million people living with cancer in the UK, rising to 3.5million by 2025, 4 million by 2030 and 5.3 million by 2040? And on average, someone is diagnosed with cancer every 90 seconds in the UK?

However, it's not all doom and gloom! Average survival is now estimated to be over 10 years from diagnosis (up from average survival time of one year In the 1970s and six years in 2007).

Main duties of the job

Key roles include:

• Work in reception area taking in prescriptions

• Delivery of high-quality pharmacy services for out-patients and day treatment patients
• Labelling and dispensing prescriptions
• Providing support and ordering medications for patients on oncology and haematology wards following suitable training
• Provide Support to the Cancer Pharmacy Team
• To be aware of and be involved in customer service
• Patient counselling
• Working as part of a team
• Opportunity to work in both ward and dispensary area.

About you

• You will respond to enquiries and requests from staff, patients and carers and ensure appropriate and accurate information is readily available, and to escalate questions and problems to other members of the pharmacy team when needed. You will be expected to form good working relationships with staff from all the different groups within the Cancer Services and work together as part of a team.

• You should ideally have experience of working as a qualified Pharmacy Dispensing Assistant, using computer systems for dispensing and stock control and have good communication, be well organised and able to use your own initiative.

Working for our organisation

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. Find out more here www.ouh.nhs.uk

The Trust comprises of four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

Person specification

Qualities

Essential criteria

• NVQ2 in pharmaceutical sciences
• Experienced dispenser
• Experience of stock management
• Able to work as part of a team and independently
• Proven time management skills
• Able to use own initiative appropriately
• Good verbal communication skills
• Willing to travel between sites
• Enthusiastic and responsible attitude
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Adaptable to change
• Respectful towards colleagues and patients
• Willing to work in clinical areas with infectious diseases patients

Desirable criteria

• Previous NHS experience
• Experience of using the local pharmacy computer system
• Experience of hospital pharmacy
• Well organised
• A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs
• Experience of a changing work environment

Applicant requirements

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.

Application numbers

Please note that this job advertisement will close automatically once the application limit is reached, regardless of whether this occurs before the advertised closing date.

Documents to download

• B3 Pharmacy Assistant - Dispensary and Ward Based (PDF, 288.4KB)