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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
Band 2 / Apprenticeship
Contract
Permanent / 18month fixed term apprenticeship. To be discussed at interview.
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Flexible working
  • Compressed hours
37.5 hours per week (including late nights, bank holiday and weekend working requirements)
Job ref
412-DCSS-7428225
Employer
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Pharmacy Department, Leighton Hospital
Town
Crewe
Salary
Apprenticeship wage unless pharmacy NVQ qualification.
Closing
08/12/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer - Apprenticeship - Entry Level

Band 2 / Apprenticeship

Job overview

We're inviting bright, keen people looking for an interesting job and a new challenge to join us as an Assistant Pharmacy Technical Officer in our Pharmacy team.

In this role, you'll work in a hospital Pharmacy, under the supervision of registered Pharmacists and Technicians, mainly within the dispensary and stores areas, helping the team to keep track of our stock and support the dispensing of medicines to hospital inpatients and outpatients.  

If you thrive in a role that offers variety, we definitely want to hear from you!  Ideal candidates will be patient-focused, eager to learn, hardworking, and capable of handling pressure during busy periods. 

A note to anyone currently working in either a hospital or community Pharmacy, these roles would be ideal for you, and in these circumstances the apprenticeship element would not be a mandatory requirement of the role.

Main duties of the job

As an Assistant Technical Officer, your responsibilities are as follows:

Pharmacy Stores Responsibilities:

  • Topping up stock medicines for use in wards and clinical areas across the Trust using a predefined stock list.
  • Receiving medicines into the Trust, ensuring accurate documentation and organisation, and appropriate storage and handling.
  • Handling the recycling process for medicines no longer required by patients or ward areas.
  • Following guidance and instructions carefully whilst working in a fast-paced environment.
  • Working across both Leighton Hospital and Victoria Infirmary Northwich sites is required. Travel between the sites is required using own transport or public transport, with travel expenses reimbursed in line with the Trust Expenses Policy.

Dispensary Responsibilities:

  • Dispensing medicines for both inpatients and outpatients against prescriptions.
  • Preparing medicines for discharge
  • Ensuring you are careful and follow guidance and instructions carefully throughout

In both settings, your role is vital. Your attention to detail, commitment to accuracy, and dedication to patient wellbeing will contribute significantly to the high standards of service we uphold in the Pharmacy Department. This position offers a well-rounded experience, allowing you to make a meaningful impact on the entire medication management process.

Working for our organisation

Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides a full range of hospital and community services for people across East Cheshire (population 399K) and West Cheshire and Chester (population 357K). The Trust provides high quality planned and emergency care, cardiac, critical care,child health, maternity services and intermediate care at Leighton Hospital in Crewe, Victoria Infirmary in Northwich, and Elmhurst Intermediate Care Centre in Winsford.

Mid Cheshire is one of the largest local employers with around 5,500 staff across its sites. We support our staff through engagement, training and development, recognising that this impacts positively on the care we provide our patients by helping to attract the very best staff.

Our Trust strategy has been developed to support us to create clinically and financially sustainable services that are best able to meet the changing and growing needs of the local population. There is no single answer but, working with our partners, we will collaborate in new and innovative ways so that we can truly transform the way we operate as a health and care system. With patients at the heart of everything we do, we will harness the benefits of digital technology, maintain investment in enhancing our infrastructure via our new-build programme and empower our staff to continue to provide the very best care possible.

 

 

 

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The details of the main responsibilities are listed on the Job Description and on the person specification.

We are committed to fostering a culture of training and development, encouraging applications from those without an NVQ/QCF Level 2 in Pharmacy Services as well as those that already have achieved the qualification.  Candidates who don't possess the NVQ/QCF Level 2 will be entered into the department through an Apprentice training position, with the expectation of progressing into ATO roles. If you are a successful candidate without the NVQ/QCF Level 2 Pharmacy Services, you will be supported to achieve this whilst working in the role.

 

 

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Good general education
Desirable criteria
  • 4 CCSEs (or equivalent) Grade C or above including Maths and English
  • NVQ / CQF Level 2 in Pharmacy Skills

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience of working in a team
Desirable criteria
  • Experienced in hospital pharmacy

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Ability to follow instructions carefully
  • Ability to learn
  • Ability to communicate with lots of different types of people
  • Ability to work in a busy, fast paced environment
  • Ability to demonstrate close attention to detail
  • Ability to travel between sites of work as required

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyArmed Forces Covenant (Silver Award)Care quality commission - GoodDisability confident employerNHS Rainbow badgePrince's Trust - Proud to support the Prince's trust - Youth can do itNational Preceptorship for Nursing Quality MarkArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application numbers

We expect to receive a very high level of applications for this vacancy, and due to this a limit has been set on the number of applications we are able to receive. Once this limit is reached the vacancy will close. We would urge interested candidates who meet the specification to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Katie Schofield
Job title
Chief Pharmacy Technician - Operational Support
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01270 612320
Additional information

Nick Bourne

Chief Pharmacy Technician - Procurement, Stores and Distribution

[email protected]

01270612320

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