Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer - In-Patient Services

at  Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic individual to join our caring team of pharmacy assistants, technicians and pharmacists, to help deliver pharmacy services to the Trust. Full time posts are available.
Successful applicants will be rotational between ward services, in-patient dispensary and the pharmacy store, to support the delivery of a high quality service to our patients and customers.
This role is an opportunity for a pharmacy assistant qualified to NVQ Level 2 (or equiv.) in pharmacy services who has experience of working in a pharmacy environment (either community or hospital), and who is looking for a role which will challenge and develop their knowledge and skills in a hospital environment. The successful candidate must also have a good basic education including GCSE grade C (or equivalent) in Maths and English.
The Pharmacy department operates a 7 day service so all applicants must be prepared to work weekends, late nights and Bank Holiday on rotation, and to be flexible to support the requirements of the team.
Based in the North East of England we provide a range of hospital and community health services from our leading facilities, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Blaydon urgent care centre and Bensham Hospital, all within Gateshead.
Established in 2005, we were one of the first foundation trusts in the country and since then have consistently achieved the highest levels of care for patients.
We now employ around 4,800 staff and currently provide 444 hospital beds across the Gateshead region.
Our values should be the ‘golden thread’ which runs through everything we do – they are the core of who we are. Our five values can easily be remembered by the simple acronym ICORE; Innovation, Care, Openness, Respect, Engagement.
We have a number of staff networks including the BAME network, D-Ability network, LGBTQ+ Network and the Women’s Network, to challenge us and help us to constantly improve. Our armed forces network is one of our emerging networks.
The health and wellbeing of our staff is one of our highest priorities, and we offer a range of support and initiatives as part of our ‘Balance’ programme balancegateshead.com to cater for our diverse workforce, so that your individual needs can be supported, allowing you a happy and healthy working experience with us.
The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a wide range of dispensary skills, have excellent IT and communication skills. They must be able to work as part of team and also under their own initiative.

Assist in the receipt of delivered pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical items; ensuring all items received are processed correctly. The accurate and timely completion of any supporting documentation along with receipt of goods on to JAC (Pharmacy Stock Management System) and systems to support FMD.
Participate in the ordering, supply and replenishment of pharmaceutical items to wards, departments and clinic. This will be via either a top-up service, requisitions received into the department or Omnicell cabinet orders.
Maintain good stock management, handling and rotation practices in all areas of pharmacy and ward areas. Assist with drug re-calls and alerts.
Participate in the day to day maintenance and effective use of Robotic Dispensing Systems and Omnicell Cabinets, this will include addressing failures, restarts, re-stocking and counts.
Re-stock the dispensary, as required, with all consumables / disposables used in the dispensing process.
Manage and dispose pharmaceutical waste.
Assist with reception duties such as; receipt of orders and prescriptions, use of PTS (Prescription tracking), preparing completed orders and prescriptions ready for collection by delivery staff.
Use JAC to accurately dispense, a range of prescriptions and orders to include In-Patient discharge and Out-Patient prescriptions, temporary stock requisitions, controlled drugs orders, clinical trial and unlicensed medication, in accordance with agreed safe systems of work practice in safe and timely manner.
Maintain all areas of work, keeping areas clean and tidy (not general domestic duties). Complete and record environmental checks such as fridge and room temperatures.
Communicate effectively with internal and external customers including pharmacy staff, health care professionals and delivery personnel.
Ensure that Local Record Management is followed; storing, filing and maintaining all associated paperwork