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Job summary

Main area
Cancer Services
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 5
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday 08:30 - 16:45 with 45mins break)
Job ref
249-7515056
Employer
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Pharmacy
Town
Swindon
Salary
£31,049 - £37,796 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
06/11/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

Pharmacy Technician - Cancer Services

NHS AfC: Band 5

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a unique organisation, serving as the sole integrated provider in the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire system. Our scope extends beyond boundaries as we oversee adult community services in Swindon and provide acute care from the Great Western Hospital. 

Our 5,500 staff have 1.2m patient contacts a year, with 13,000 operations carried out in our Theatres, around 4,000 babies born, and our emergency attendances are now well over 100,000 per year. Those numbers only tell part of our story about what an exciting time it is to join Great Western Hospitals.

We are cultivating a culture that fosters our ambitions, prioritising equality, diversion, inclusion, wellbeing, and leadership. We aim to create an environment where every member of our team can truly thrive.

The Trust is a Disability Confident Employer; all applicants who have a disability can opt to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme, which means that, providing they meet the minimum essential criteria for the post, they will be offered an interview. We are also proudly accredited as a Veteran Aware organisation and have signed The Armed Forces Covenant.

If we receive a high volume of applications, we may close adverts prior to the published closing date. Therefore, we advise you to complete and submit your application as soon as possible.

Job overview

Ready to take your Pharmacy Technician career to the next level in Cancer Services?

We’re offering an exciting opportunity to join our expanding and modernising Cancer Pharmacy Team at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as a Specialist Medicines Optimisation Pharmacy Technician.

Main duties of the job

  • Delivering high-quality pharmaceutical care to oncology and haematology patients in our Day Treatment Unit - The Meadows and Haematology inpatient ward.
  • Collaborating with cancer pharmacists, PASU, Boots Pharmacy, and clinical teams to coordinate chemotherapy and supportive medicines.
  • Supporting patients through counselling and discharge planning to improve medicines use and reduce errors.
  • Leading on medicines reconciliation and assessing patients’ own drugs.
  • Providing administrative support for private healthcare, including:
  • Scheduling treatments and maintaining accurate cost records.
  • Working with pharmacists to calculate quotes and ensure pricing is up to date.
  • Liaising with the Private Healthcare team, Cancer Pharmacy Team, PASU, Boots Pharmacy, and the purchasing team.
  • You’ll also contribute to service improvement projects, audits, and training, and provide Accredited Checking Technician services in the dispensary.

Working for our organisation

Our STAR values – Service, Teamwork, Ambition and Respect – are a golden thread running through everything we do. These values serve as a guiding principle, driving us towards our vision of delivering great joined up services to our local community. Whether at home, in the community, or within the hospital, our goal is to empower individuals to lead independent and healthier lives.

 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • Independently deliver admission, supply and discharge services to nominated wards and clinics. Liaising directly with pharmacists, doctors and nursing staff over clinical issues as appropriate. 
  • Undertake drug histories for patients receiving their first systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) treatment on The Meadows.
  • On admission, check that the medicines prescribed for each patient conform with information from the patient, Summary Care Record (SCR), General Practitioner (GP) letter and/or nursing home and take detailed medication histories.
  • Assess whether any medicines brought in by the patient are fit for use and remove (with patient’s permission) any medicines not needed.
  • Order all medication that the patient has not brought into hospital if required.
  • Counsel patients to use their medication and provide written information as required.
  • Prioritise and organise daily workload to ensure that all required tasks are completed within allocated timescale.
  • Liaise with local pharmacies to ensure that continuing supply of medicines is provided in compliance aids at discharge.
  • Work alongside the Cancer Pharmacy Team and Boots Pharmacy to facilitate timely processing of To-Take-Away (TTAs) and supportive medications as part of the SACT prescription.
  • Work alongside the discharge team pharmacist to facilitate timely processing of TTAs and patient discharge.
  • Co-ordinate discharge team and allocate work as required, liaising with Dispensary Team Leader to ensure discharge prescriptions are managed appropriately.
  • Provide administrative support for private healthcare, including treatment scheduling and maintaining accurate cost records.
  • Work with pharmacists to calculate quotes for private healthcare treatments.
  • Ensure pricing information and product list prices are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current rates.

  • Ensure effective communications with the Great Western Hospitals Private Healthcare team, Cancer Pharmacy Team, Pharmacy Aseptic Services Unit (PASU), Boots Pharmacy, and the purchasing team to support service delivery.

Please refer to the job description for full role details and responsibilities.

Person specification

Education, Qualifications and Training

Essential criteria
  • Professional registration as a Pharmacy Technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council
  • Accredited Checking Technician qualification
  • Accredited Medicines Optimisation qualification
Desirable criteria
  • Accredited Checking Technician qualification or be eligible (1 year post qualification) and willing to work towards accreditation which will take up to a year to complete
  • Completing Pharmacy Medicines Optimisation Training Programme
  • NVQ assessor to A1 standard or equivalent or able to work towards and willing to undertake training which will take up to 18 months to complete

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Experience as a hospital Pharmacy Technician, or supervisory experience within a community Pharmacy
  • Recent practical experience in a busy Pharmacy environment
  • Experience of training individuals
Desirable criteria
  • In-depth post qualification experience in a hospital pharmacy
  • Procedure development
  • Experience of supervising, directing, organising and monitoring performance in a high-pressured environment

Knowledge and Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good and broad understanding of current hospital pharmacy practice
  • Good understanding of medicines optimisation issues and the implications for Pharmacy services
  • Good knowledge of therapeutic drug use in clinical situations gained by ongoing education and continuous professional development
  • Good knowledge of the legal requirements (Law and Ethics) for dispensing and supplying medicines, including Controlled Drugs
  • Good organisational and time management skills. Able to prioritise tasks and respond to urgent demands by diverting resources whilst managing own workload.
  • Good organisational and time management skills. Able to prioritise tasks and respond to urgent demands by diverting resources whilst managing own workload.
  • Excellent IT skills including Word, Outlook, internet, intranet and email
  • Able to make sound judgments where there are a range of options, in a non-judgemental and objective way
  • Self-motivated with ability to work flexibly whilst also supervising, motivating, inspiring and directing the team
  • Communicates clearly with patients and clinical teams, showing sensitivity and strong interpersonal skills.
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge and clear understanding of Good Distribution Practice (EU GDP 2013/C 343/01), and other relevant regulations, guidance and quality standards
  • Knowledge of the hospital pharmacy computer systems (CMM, Careflow)
  • Regular formal refresher training on EU GDP at least annually if no changes in legislation have occurred

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardVeteran AwareApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyPositive about disabled peopleAge positiveDisability confident leaderInvestors in People: Goldhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/kickstart-scheme-employer-resources/kickstart-scheme-brand-guidelinesStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Step into healthArmed Forces Covenant

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Tiffany Chan
Job title
Lead Pharmacist in Cancer Services
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01793605341
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