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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 2
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
37.5 hours per week (Recruiting 2 Pharmacy assistants with a working pattern between 15 hours to 37.5 hours per week)
Job ref
346-PH-021-26-A
Employer
Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
West Park Hospital
Town
Darlington
Salary
£25,272 - £27,476 pro rata, per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
23/07/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust logo

Pharmacy Assistant (Progression Post)

NHS AfC: Band 2

We are the Mental Health & Learning Disability NHS Trust for County Durham and Darlington, Teesside, North Yorkshire, York and Selby.

From education and prevention, to crisis and specialist care —our talented and compassionate teams work in partnership with our patients, communities and partners to help the people of our region feel safe, understood, believed in and cared for.

We nurture the recovery journey of anyone in need of our help. In Our Trust, everyone has a say in how they are supported and treated because we listen to every person in our care until they feel understood. Our patients, their families and carers work together with us towards better mental health.

We’re committed to new thinking that improves the wellbeing of our region. We connect with our communities and partners to get mental health care right, in areas that really need it.

We won’t rest until everyone in our region has the mental health care they need, to lead their best possible life.

Job overview

TEWV pharmacy team are recruiting a dispensing assistant to join our pharmacy at West Park Hospital, Darlington. This new post will allow the successful candidate to progress from a band 2 to a band 3 senior pharmacy assistant after completing the relevant criteria required.

The successful applicant will be an exceptional team player with good communication and interpersonal skills who are enthusiastic and committed to join our team.  Ideally applicants will have previous experience in working within a pharmacy as a dispensing assistant, but this is not essential.  Applicants own transport is desirable but not essential.

This is an exciting time to join a supportive team with development opportunities in a growing NHS pharmacy team.

You must have the Right to Work in the UK in order to be successfully appointed to this role. Please note, this role does not meet the required eligibility criteria for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa and therefore the Trust is unable to offer sponsorship for this particular role.

Main duties of the job

The successful applicant will work under pharmacy SOPs to provide medicines top up and stock management for wards, with supervision available from pharmacy technicians. They will dispense medication against prescriptions and requisitions, calculating appropriate doses and doses for both inpatient and outpatients following SOPs, ensuring prescriptions and requisitions are legal and safe.

You will receive medication supplies from wholesalers and electronically record this and remove unwanted medication from the wards to determine what is suitable for return or destruction as per policies. You will dispense controlled drugs forward stock and named patients following all legal requirements.

They will maintain up to date knowledge and competency in the skills required to perform safely and effectively in the role and to undertake relevant statutory and mandatory training and to be responsible for personal development agreed with line manager.

Working for our organisation

The pharmacy team in TEWV has over 100 team members including drivers, pharmacy assistants, administration, nurses, pharmacy technicians and pharmacists.  Individual team members are spread across multiple sites, with a dispensary in each of our 3 localities.  The locality teams work independently, but come together to agree standards and best practice, learning from each other and trying to improve.

We developed a 5-year Medicines Optimisation and Pharmacy framework which was created with the teams to produce a shared set of themes and priorities.  This is 'Our Journey to Change'

Our values are Respect, Compassion and Responsibility.  If you are a kind, supporting, honest, ambitious team member who thrives on being inclusive and working in partnership - our organisation may be a fit for you.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached job descriptions and person specifications for further detailed information to ensure that you meet the role criteria before applying.

This job advert may close early if a high volume of applications have been received. If interested, please apply for this post as soon as possible.

Person specification

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of stock management customer care setting
  • Telephone, email and internet experience
  • Experience of working supportively within a team
Desirable criteria
  • Experience of working in pharmacy environment
  • Experience with the use of appropriate software packages including Excel and Word

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good communication skills - both oral and written including good telephone manner
  • Good organisational skills
  • Ability to work under supervision, and independently as appropriate
  • Customer care
  • Accuracy and attention to detail
Desirable criteria
  • Able to demonstrate good organisational and time management skills
  • Manual dexterity – medication handling
  • An ability to receive, interpret, analyse and deliver information

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Basic general education, GCSE grade D or above in English and Maths
Desirable criteria
  • NVQ or equivalent level 2 pharmacy

Employer certification / accreditation badges

We are a Living Wage EmployerVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveImproving working livesArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerNHS Rainbow badgeStep into healthArmed Forces CovenantBetter Health at Work Gold Award

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

This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. Please complete and submit your application in good time to avoid disappointment.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Jane Heslehurst
Job title
Lead Pharmacy Technician
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07531852941
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