Job summary
- Main area
- John Radcliffe Pharmacy
- Grade
- Band 3
- Contract
- Permanent: Permanant
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday -Friday 9-17:15, weekends, bank holidays and late shifts as per rota.)
- Job ref
- 321-CSS-7627510-B3-PUB
- Employer
- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- John Radcliffe Hospital
- Town
- Oxford
- Salary
- £25,760 - £27,476 per annum pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 22/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Pharmacy Assistant
Band 3
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research.
The Trust comprises of four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
Our values, standards and behaviours define the quality of clinical care we offer and the professional relationships we make with our patients, colleagues and the wider community. We call this Delivering Compassionate Excellence and its focus is on our values of compassion, respect, learning, delivery, improvement and excellence.
Many of our recruitment programmes use Value Based Interviewing to identify those who have the skills we seek, who share our values and who are able to deliver compassionate excellence from the outset. We know that this makes a significant difference to your job satisfaction and above all the outcomes and experience of our patients and their families. For more information about our Values and Value Based Interviewing please visit www.ouh.nhs.uk/about/vision-and-values
Job overview
Hello!
My name is Alice Smilie, I am the Operational Manager of the John Radcliffe Pharmacy. I am privileged to lead our very hardworking, friendly, and committed Dispensary team in providing a dispensary service, supplying inpatient, outpatient, and discharge medication to Patients of the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic, highly motivated and proactive pharmacy assistant with excellent communication, organisational and interpersonal skills to join the John Radcliffe dispensary team.
This post would suit a qualified Pharmacy Assistant with either a hospital pharmacy background, or with community pharmacy experience wishing to make a change into the hospital environment, for which appropriate training will be provided. You must have successfully achieved the relevant units of pharmacy services skills NVQ level 2 (QCF) or an equivalent GPhC accredited training programme.
Main duties of the job
The Pharmacy assistant role is varied, where you will be required to assist in the smooth running of an assigned area under direction of our Dispensary Co-ordinators and Senior Technicians. You will support the training of pharmacy apprentices, trainee technicians and pharmacists working alongside you.
We are lucky to be supported by ever evolving technology, with electronic prescribing and a robot to support the labelling and dispensing of medications. The successful applicant will be trained in the full use of the robotic system.
You will support both dispensary and stores functions on the John Radcliffe Hospital site, labelling and dispensing discharge prescriptions, in-patient medication, and controlled drug requests, providing a ward and fluid top up service to clinical areas, receipt deliveries and be involved in stock management procedures including expiry date checking and processing drugs returned from inside the hospital.
The successful applicant will also answer the phone to our service users, and cover both staff and out-patient reception, requiring excellent customer service and communication skills.
Working for our organisation
The dispensary team is a friendly and hardworking team of 25 staff ranging from Pharmacy Assistant apprentices, through to band 7 Technicians. Many of our staff progress from this level to become Pharmacy Technicians or take other roles within the wider Pharmacy team, this role is ideal for gaining that experience to progress further in your career.
This is a full-time position 37.5 hours per week Monday to Friday, with working hours of 9:00-5:15pm. You will also be required to participate in weekend, bank holiday, early and late duty rotas as per rota.
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the country. It provides a wide range of general and specialist clinical services and is a base for medical education, training and research. Find out more here www.ouh.nhs.uk
The Trust comprises of four hospitals - the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and the Horton General Hospital in Banbury.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Dispensary
- To provide daily support to the dispensary workforce.
- To use the pharmacy computer system to produce dispensing labels and to make stock issues, receipt, and transfers.
- To dispense inpatient, outpatient clinical trial and controlled drug prescriptions according to dispensary procedures.
- To assist the Stock Management Team with unpacking deliveries and filling the automated dispensing system.
- To participate in conducting of regular Controlled Drug stock checks alongside a Registered Technician.
- To be responsible for putting away dispensing stock including part packs and maintaining tidy storage areas.
- Maintaining equipment used in the dispensing process.
- To participate in the training and induction of pre-registration students and apprentices.
- To participate in the audit and development of the dispensary service.
- To provide reception cover as per the Dispensary rota, and to answer the telephone and direct queries as appropriate.
12. To Complete any pharmacy returns.
General role
- To provide training, including induction, to pharmacy support staff as required
- To undertake in-house and/or external training appropriate for the role
- To complete reports and audits as requested
- To participate in a programme of work-based training, development, and appraisal.
- To ensure confidentiality is always maintained.
- To maintain a tidy and clean working environment.
- To participate in early and late duties, evening, weekend, and bank holiday working according to the departmental rotas.
- Any other duties as requested by the Lead Pharmacist, Ward Based Technician Manager or Clinical Director of Pharmacy and Medicines Management.
Person specification
Qualities
Essential criteria
- NVQ2 in pharmaceutical sciences
- Experienced dispenser
- Experience of stock management
- Able to work as part of a team and independently
- Proven time management skills
- Able to use own initiative appropriately
- Good verbal communication skills
- Willing to travel between sites
- Enthusiastic and responsible attitude
- Ability to work well under pressure
- Adaptable to change
- Respectful towards colleagues and patients
- Willing to work in clinical areas with infectious diseases patients
Desirable criteria
- Previous NHS experience
- Experience of using the local pharmacy computer system
- Experience of hospital pharmacy
- Well organised
- A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs
- Experience of a changing work environment
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Alice Smilie
- Job title
- Dispensary Operational Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01865 221502
- Additional information
For further details / informal visits contact:
Rebecca Somerville, Hannah Newton-Oakes Senior Technicians for Dispensary, or Charlotte Woodward Senior Technician for Dispensary Stores and Robotics.
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