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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 3
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday 9am till 5:30pm. Applicant must contribute to working late nights (10:30am till 7pm), weekends and Bank holidays.)
Job ref
214-CSTO-7722372
Employer
Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
King's Mill Hospital
Town
Sutton in Ashfield
Salary
£24,937 - £26,598 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
16/02/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

Dispensing Assistant

NHS AfC: Band 3

Thank you for your interest in this role, we would be delighted to welcome you to Sherwood Forest Hospitals.

Sherwood is nationally recognised as being an excellent place to work and deliver care. We are rightly proud of the 5,500 colleagues who work here and know that happy colleagues deliver better care.

Our teams work in a supportive, inclusive environment, which nurtures wellbeing and has opportunities for development and progression. We do not just care for our patients, we also care for you.

At Sherwood Forest Hospitals, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. As such, we particularly welcome applications from people who identify as Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic, or Disabled. We believe that a diverse team better represents the communities we serve and brings a wealth of perspectives and experiences to our work.

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Pharmacy team at Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a Dispensing Assistant. We are looking for enthusiastic, highly motivated individuals who are passionate about delivering safe, effective and patient‑centred care.

This role is ideal for someone who is hardworking, approachable and eager to develop their skills. You will receive full training to support you in providing high‑quality dispensary‑based services to both inpatients and outpatients.

As a key member of the dispensary team, you will contribute to the safe and efficient supply of medicines across the Trust. You will work closely with Pharmacy Technicians, Pharmacists and wider clinical teams to ensure patients receive the highest standard of care.

Main Responsibilities:

  • Labelling and dispensing prescriptions for inpatients and outpatients.
  • Dispensing and supplying Controlled Drugs to wards and directly to patients.
  • Receiving prescriptions from patients, carers and Trust staff, and processing medication orders from nursing teams.
  • Preparing medicines and drug charts for delivery to wards and clinics via the portering system.

If you are motivated, compassionate and ready to take the next step in your pharmacy career, we would be delighted to receive your application.

Main duties of the job

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Working for our organisation

We are an award-winning NHS Foundation Trust working alongside health and social care colleagues across the county to provide acute and community healthcare services to more than 420,000 people across Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood, and parts of Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. 

We put the patient at the heart of everything that we do and it is our aim to make sure that every patient is treated as we would want a member of our own family to be treated. At the same time, we expect our staff to be caring, kind and courteous to each other and to look out for each other. We believe that we are truly a clinically-led organisation. 

We are proud that our Trust colleagues have voted us the best acute Trust to work for in the East Midlands for seven years running in the National NHS Staff Survey, while the Care Quality Commission has rated our Trust as ‘outstanding’ for care and our King’s Mill Hospital as the only ‘outstanding’ NHS-run hospital in the East Midlands. 

Not all of our roles are eligible for visa sponsorship. To find out which roles are eligible, please refer to the shortage occupation list found here:

Skilled Worker visa: eligible healthcare and education jobs - GOV.UK

Home Office guidance has changed as of 9th April. Anyone that requires switching visa type may not be eligible for sponsorship even if the role is on the shortage occupation list.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To understand the role in more detail, please refer to the attached job description and person specification.

Person specification

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • In-house training and experience for prescription interpretation, labelling and dispensing equivalent to NVQ level 3
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge of pharmacy services.

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • NVQ Pharmacy level 2 in pharmacy services.

Further Training

Essential criteria
  • In house training programmes including labelling, dispensing, distribution, and goods receipt and returns validations.
  • Training in the use of relevant computer programmes.
Desirable criteria
  • Manual Handling Training Health and Safety Training, including COSHH, Fire and Security

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Dispensing of medicines
  • Stock control
  • Proven team member and ability to work alone
  • Proven oral and written communication skills
  • IT / Keyboard skills
Desirable criteria
  • Housekeeping skills
  • Filing and record keeping
  • Customer/patient care
  • Order assembly
  • Dispensing activities

Contractual

Essential criteria
  • Flexible approach to working hours
  • Regular attendance during the required hours
  • Weekend, extended hours and bank holiday working
Desirable criteria
  • Telephone owner.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPathway to excellenceCare quality commission - GoodCarer Friendly Employer 2021Mindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident employerCare4NottsTime to changeFair Train Silver StandardStep into healthNational Preceptorship for Nursing Quality MarkArmed Forces Covenant

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Laura Parkin
Job title
Dispensary Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01623622515
Additional information

If you would like to come and have a look around our Pharmacy dispensary prior to applying for this post or interview, please do not hesitate to contact me to arrange. Alternatively, if you have any questions please contact me using the details provided.

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