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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
Band 2
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
319-7346010JA
Employer
Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Wansbeck General Hospital
Town
Wansbeck
Salary
£24,465 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
12/08/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Northumbria Healthcare - NHCT Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust logo

Trainee Pharmacy Production Assistant

Band 2

Do you want to work in one of the best performing NHS organisations in England? Work for an organisation that was voted the best acute and combined acute and community trust in the country, based on the experience of its staff (NHS Staff Survey 2022).  Work in an organisation that supports its staff and focuses on staff experience as much as it does the experience of its patients? You can live and breathe in an area that has the cleanest air, cost effective living, great nightlife, some of the best schools with a wealth of history available on your doorstep. Sound too good to be true? Well it isn’t, this is what you get when you work for Northumbria Healthcare and, this is…the Northumbria Way!

What the Northumbria Way means for you:

  • Extensive staff health and well-being programme including access to our specialist Wellbeing Hub
  • Support and connection through a variety of Staff Network groups
  • A range of flexible working opportunities
  • Generous annual leave and pension scheme
  • Access to lease car and home electronics scheme (qualifying criteria applies)
  • Opportunities to improve your professional development through our vast training programmes
  • On-site nursery places via salary sacrifice
  • Access to savings scheme via salary sacrifice with Northumberland Community Bank

We are proud to be one of the country’s top performing NHS trusts – rated ‘outstanding’ overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We provide a range of health and care services to support more than 500,000 people living in Northumberland and North Tyneside across the largest geographical area of any NHS Trust in England. Our teams deliver care from hospitals, a range of community venues and people’s homes. Our hospitals include a specialist emergency care hospital (the first of its kind in England), three general hospitals and community hospitals. In the community we deliver a wide range of community and public health services.

We lead in innovation and quality, having opened the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub during the Covid-19 pandemic and have recently launched our Community Promise – a pledge to make a real impact not just in healthcare but on the wider factors that affect people’s lives, such as education, employment and the economy. 

If Northumbria Healthcare sounds like somewhere you could belong we would love to hear from you. Visit our website to catch up on our latest news.

Whilst Northumbria Healthcare are a highly innovative organisation, the use of Third Party Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a risk to the integrity of our Recruitment & Selection processes.  If you use AI, and it poses a risk  to the integrity your individual recruitment process, we may withdraw your application at any stage of the process. 

Job overview

Do you want to train in a CQC rated 'outstanding' Trust?

Do you want to make a difference in the fight against cancer?...

UK statistics show that in 2020, there were 2.3 million living with cancer. By 2040, the predicted number is expected to reach 5.3 million.

We are looking for candidates to join our existing team of Pharmacy Production Assistants in the Pharmacy Production Unit at Wansbeck General Hospital. (see attached document for images inside Production Unit)

We are looking to appoint a Band 2 Trainee Pharmacy Production Assistant, where you will be supported to undertake an NVQ level 2 in Pharmacy Services. This is an exciting opportunity to undertake your qualification whilst underpinning that knowledge in a highly experienced team.   

This post falls within the provisions of Agenda for Change Annex 20 - Development of Professional Roles, whereby upon completion of an agreed set of competencies (including successful completion of an NVQ level 2) you may move onto the next pay band  (Band 3) without the need for an application for a post at a higher level. 

 

Please note we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the closing date once the required number of suitable applications have been received

 

Main duties of the job

The post will be based at Wansbeck General Hospital Pharmacy Production Unit, but the post holders may be required to work at other sites within the Trust.

Weekend cover will be based at North Tyneside General Hospital to support the 7-day clinical service to the Specialist Emergency Care Hospital.

Opportunities for further development are available within our forward-thinking service.  

Previous experience in a similar post would be desirable but it is not essential.

Working for our organisation

We manage three major locality hospitals at North Tyneside, Wansbeck and Hexham, plus a number of smaller community hospitals and clinics from Tynemouth to Berwick on Tweed, in addition to our state-of-the-art Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, the first of its kind in England. We also care for people in their homes and provide services from facilities in local communities such as health centres. We give people greater choice and control over their care to help them to live independently at home and avoid hospital admission where appropriate. High quality patient care is at the heart of everything we do and we strive to ensure every single patient and service user has an exceptional experience with us. We have one of the most extensive patient experience programmes of any trust in England. 

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To contribute to the delivery of an excellent pharmacy technical service. Undertaking activities within the Pharmacy Production Unit which contribute to the efficient, effective and safe delivery of chemotherapy and ready-to-administer antibiotics to our patients.

Essential criteria includes:

  • Good standards of literacy and numeracy equivalent to GCSE grade C
    or above in English Language and Mathematics.
  • Must obtain NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Services within 12 months of enrolment

Person specification

Qualifications & Experience

Essential criteria
  • Good standards of literacy and numeracy equivalent to GCSE grade C or above in English Language and Mathematics.
  • Must obtain NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Services within 12 months of enrolment on the course supported by appropriate underpinning knowledge training e.g. that provided by NPA, Buttercups or other accredited in-house programmes.
Desirable criteria
  • Recognised pharmacy dispensing qualification (NPA, Buttercups, Boots, NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Services etc.)
  • Experience in a similar post.
  • Experience of computer stock control systems

Employer certification / accreditation badges

NHS Pastoral Care Quality AwardApprenticeships logoNo smoking policyAge positiveArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardDisability confident employerCare quality commission - OutstandingStonewall equality policy. Equality and justice for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and trans people.Better Health at Work Award - Maintaining ExcellenceHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - Gold

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.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Abby Robinson
Job title
QA Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01670 529061
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