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Job summary

Main area
Chemotherapy Services
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 6
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (You’ll be part of a service that operates between 8:00am and 6:30pm, working a 37.5‑hour week on a 7.5‑hour shift pattern within these hours. The role includes participation in our rota for weekend working (approximately 1 in 5), along with some bank holidays and occasional ad‑hoc out of hours cover.)
Job ref
196-LIS10402M
Employer
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Guy's Cancer Centre, Guy's Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£46,419 - £55,046 p.a inc of HCA
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
20/04/2026 23:59
Interview date
05/05/2026

Employer heading

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust logo

Principal Aseptic Production Technician - Chemotherapy Services

NHS AfC: Band 6

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions. 

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.



Job overview

This is an excellent opportunity for a highly skilled and motivated aseptic services technician to step into a key leadership position within our specialist chemotherapy aseptic preparation and dispensing unit. You will play a central role in delivering safe, high‑quality, and responsive pharmacy services to patients across our Cancer Centre and its satellite units, contributing directly to the care of individuals undergoing complex cancer treatments.

As part of a well‑established and forward‑thinking team, you’ll help drive service development, uphold quality standards, and support the continuous improvement of our aseptic operations.

This role is open to registered pharmacy and production technicians, who are registered with the GPhC and Science Council respectively. Please refer to the Person Specification for full details on the qualifications and experience required

Main duties of the job

The person will be responsible for:

The daily technical and operational management and oversight of the Chemotherapy Preparation and Dispensing Unit.

Ensuring the quality management system is fully implemented, maintained  and GMP compliant.

Collaborative working alongside other Cancer services and Pharmacy teams, Procurement, Engineering and External Contractors to regularly review service delivery, stock holdings, and unit maintenance.

Working for our organisation

The Pharmacy Chemotherapy Preparation Unit is a multicultural, friendly and very hard working team of over 35 staff.

We prepare and dispense over 3900 units of chemotherapy doses per month. 

You will have the opportunity to contribute to innovative service delivery developments and improvements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To ensure the chemotherapy unit’s quality system is fully implemented and deviations are reported appropriately. To ensure all changes and other actions are assessed and implemented following standard operating procedures.

To be overall responsible for the workflow management and planning of all aseptic preparations.

To be responsible for the day to day management and allocation of all technical staff.

To undertake when required the roles of the senior technician including aseptic preparation and dispensing of chemotherapy and other products, and to act as a supervisor checker within aseptic areas.

To act as a role model to staff working throughout the department.

To undertake any other reasonable duties as specified by the highly specialised chemotherapy production pharmacists or chief technician.

To lead in the recruitment and selection of staff to the Trust’s chemotherapy aseptic units and assist in recruitment to the pharmacy as a whole.

To lead annual stock takes and internal audits.

Person specification

Skills and Ability

Essential criteria
  • Demonstrated ability to train and assess others in a GMP compliant manner
  • Demonstrated ability to apply specialist knowledge GMP, GCP & Quality Assurance to maintain, develop and validate an aseptic unit quality system and service provision.
  • Demonstrated ability to organize and have oversight of stock management
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of professionals and patients, using clear written and spoken English, and overcoming barriers to understanding in a multidisciplinary team.

Previous Experience

Essential criteria
  • Demonstrates knowledge, experience and competence in aseptic preparation or manufacturing either within or outside NHS pharmacy aseptic units.
  • Multidisciplinary working with professionals, whilst operationally managing and planning aseptic services supply.
  • Demonstrated experience of a senior role (minimum NHS AFC B5) as a team leader within aseptic services
  • Demonstrated ability to initiate and complete quality system entries such as deviations, change controls and CAPAs. Demonstrates ability to ensure all required actions are appropriately evaluated, completed and documented in a timely manner.
Desirable criteria
  • Direct participation in an EL(97)52 or MHRA audit
  • Demonstrated experience of ability to appraise staff and set performance objectives.

Qualification and Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • QCF/NVQ Pharmacy services Level 3 plus an accredited underpinning knowledge (BTEC in Pharmaceutical Science or equivalent) or Level 3 Science Manufacturing Technician or equivalent
  • Relevant leadership and management experience - portfolio that demonstrates acquisition of this level of specialist knowledge
  • Registered as a Pharmacy Technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council GPhC or Science Manufacturing Technician registered with the Science Council (RSci)
Desirable criteria
  • Relevant leadership and management underpinning knowledge or working towards e.g. CMS/DMS post graduate studies or equivalent
  • Relevant University courses to aseptic services

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Timewise helps businesses to attract and develop the best talent through flexible working.Care quality commission - GoodDisability confident employer

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Corina Ragazan
Job title
Chief Pharmacy Technician - CPDU
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
02071887940
Additional information

Shihab Rahman

Deputy Accountable Pharmacist

[email protected]

 

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