Pharmacy Assistant – Patient Services

Job Overview

Are you looking for a career in Pharmacy that offers excellent development prospects? Our Patient Services department is hiring a Band 2 Pharmacy Assistant. This role offers an exciting opportunity to start your pharmacy career in a forward‑thinking, diverse and inclusive environment where an open, honest culture encourages all voices and ideas for improvement.

Our department is a fast‑paced environment where you will need to react flexibly both as an individual and as part of a team. Within the Patient Services team you will be instrumental in delivering excellent patient care. This is a progressional post where you will learn new skills within the dispensary and clinical services and will begin a rewarding career in Pharmacy. All the relevant in‑house and nationally recognised training will be provided with progression to a Band 3 Pharmacy Assistant on successful completion.

Applicants must have a good standard of education demonstrating numeracy and literacy and will be required to complete a literacy and numeracy assessment during the interview with a minimum 90% pass rate.

Main Duties

• Assist in the day‑to‑day duties of the dispensary, clinical pharmacy, and all aspects of patient services within the pharmacy department, including but not limited to reception cover, general dispensing duties, stocking control, and delivery to ward and department areas.
• Dispense prescriptions accurately and in a timely manner, applying Good Dispensing Practice.
• Use all digital pharmacy systems confidently.
• Support accredited medicines optimisation pharmacy technicians and pharmacists at ward level.
• Order, pick, deliver and put away drugs for pharmacy.
• Ensure compliance with Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP 2013/C 343/01) within NBT Pharmacy.

Dispensary & Reception Duties

• Receipt of prescriptions and drug requests from patients and staff.
• Sell over‑the‑counter medicines to staff and members of the public.
• Handle NHS prescription charge transactions.
• Accurately and timely dispense prescriptions, including controlled drugs.
• Generate labels and book out medicines using the pharmacy stock control system.
• Replenish stock of dispensing sundries (bottles, cartons, etc.).
• Deal with enquiries from wards, departments, and patients.
• Receive requests and hand out medications to patients and staff.
• All activity is compliant with Good Distribution Practice and departmental procedures.
• Deliver medication to wards and departments.

Ward Based Services

• Work closely with the Clinical Pharmacist, Ward‑based Technicians and Patient Services Leads to ensure seamless care in the provision of medicines.
• Facilitate ward‑based discharges and maintain equipment used in dispensing, including replenishing medications.
• Ensure that when patients are transferred between designated wards, information and medication are transferred appropriately.
• Dispense supply requests from Ward‑based Technicians and Ward Pharmacists promptly.
• Minimise waste and reduce risk by ensuring appropriate storage of all medicines supplied and processing items for return or destruction.
• Support the review and maintenance of ward stock lists to reduce missed doses and improve cost‑effectiveness.

Distribution

• Visit wards to conduct stock checks, order against balances, and ensure stock rotation and storage conditions are maintained.
• Process emergency stock medication requests in a timely manner.
• Issue pharmaceutical products to wards, departments and other hospital units following Standard Operating Procedures.
• Ensure stock is issued according to rotation procedures.
• Handle routine stock enquiries from wards and departments.
• Retrieve issued pharmaceutical products back to the ward/department and ensure secure storage at ward level.
• Ensure pharmaceutical products requiring off‑site transportation are handled in line with Standard Operating Procedures.

Person Specification

Education / Training / Qualifications

Essential: Good general standard of education demonstrating numeracy and literacy.

Desirable: Level 2 Buttercups Pharmacy Support Worker – Dispensary units or equivalent.

Work Experience

Desirable: Previous employment in hospital or community pharmacy.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Basic IT competencies, including accurate data entry.
• Time management skills.
• Good written and spoken English with excellent communication skills.

Personal Qualities / Special Circumstances

• Ability to work well under pressure, self‑motivated, and able to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Willingness to be trained and instructed.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

• We are an equal opportunities employer actively working toward a diverse workforce and aim to recruit and retain a workforce that represents the rich diversity of the local population at all levels.
• The Trust is committed to investing in and caring for all staff, supporting health, wellbeing, and career development through management and training.
• Bristol NHS Foundation Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
• Applicants must be able to speak fluent English to an appropriate standard, as assessed at interview, to comply with Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016.
• If you require visa sponsorship, please confirm eligibility under the UKVI points‑based system.
• The Trust uses electronic new‑starter forms on Trac for personal details, securely stored and used to establish the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• By applying, you agree to Bristol NHS Foundation Trust transferring information to its preferred applicant management system and, if offered a job, to the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
• Please be aware of scams – we will only communicate via @recruit.trac.jobs or nhs.net e‑mails and will never ask for payments.

Important

Please note that if you apply for a position with this Trust, you may be contacted via Trac or e‑mail for interviews. We recommend regularly checking your Trac account and email.

Due to the high number of applications, we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore, please apply as soon as possible if you meet the requirements.

Only candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted.

Interviews usually take place within three weeks of the closing date.

When providing reference details, please supply correct work‑related email addresses. Referees must be persons known to you in a line‑manager or professional lead capacity.

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