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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
Band 3
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday - plus a weekend and bank holiday rota)
Job ref
249-7394427
Employer
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Great Western Hospital
Town
Swindon
Salary
£24,937 - £26,598 Per annum, Pro Rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
03/09/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

Senior Aseptic Services Assistant

Band 3

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

Senior Aseptic Services Assistant

The Pharmacy Aseptic Service at Great Western Hospital is expanding with the build of a new onsite aseptic unit for the preparation of injectable medicines such as chemotherapy and we’re looking to grow our team. 

The position is for a full-time Band 3 Senior Aseptic Services Assistant working to support the Specialist Aseptic Services Technician's amongst a team of Assistants, Senior Technicians and Pharmacists who take pride in delivering safe, effective and high quality injectable medicines to our patients at the GWH.

The successful candidate will be involved in ordering, handling and dispensing of bought-in medicines such as chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies and parenteral nutrition but as part of our new highly responsive service you will be part of hands-on making of injectable medicines all within our newly built clean room facility.

We’re looking for a team worker with good interpersonal skills, able to work within a clean room controlled environment with good literacy, numerical and computer skills who may also have previous training and understanding of Good Manufacturing Practice, although training and competency assessment in aseptic skills will be provided.

Main duties of the job

Supporting the Aseptic Services Team in the effective and day to day running of the Pharmacy Aseptic Services Unit (PASU).                                                                                                                       

Supporting  all aspects of pharmacy requirements - handling, receipting, dispensing, aseptic preparation, drug accountability, storage and disposal.

Following department standard operating procedures ensuring all activities are in accordance with Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Distribution Practice (GDP).

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

  1. To be competent to take receive, assess and action orders for all products managed by PASU.
  2. To be competent to calculate doses, and use the Pharmacy’s IT system to produce accurate labels and worksheets.
  3. To be competent to set up raw materials, consumables and equipment for all products
  4. To be responsible for the transfer disinfection into PASU and classified cleanrooms of all items required for aseptic processing, following departmental processes.
  5. To be competent in aseptic preparation of high risk injectables including cytotoxic chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies and centralized intravenous additives (CIVAs) under a section 10 exemption of the Medicines Act.
  6.  Able to work in a confined area using a positive or negative pressure isolator for a period of time.
  7. Accurately collate and pick orders for pre-prepared products, and to place orders using an on-line IT 
    ordering system.
  8. To accurately complete the required checks to enable safe receipt of all deliveries of pre-prepared 
    aseptic products, raw materials, consumables and equipment.
  9. To physically unpack deliveries, place in the correct location and in stock rotation order.
  10. To be competent to dispense all pre-prepared aseptic products (cytotoxic, high risk injectables and 
    parenteral nutrition), oral chemotherapy, clinical trials and support medication including completing 
    associated paperwork.

Please see attached JD for full responsibilities

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • GCSE or equivalent in Maths and English grade C or above
  • QCF level 2 in Pharmacy services or equivalent qualification
Desirable criteria
  • Previous training in the preparation of aseptic/ sterile products (preferably pharmaceutical products) Good understanding of GMP

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Working within a team
  • Managing own workload to meet the needs of a service
Desirable criteria
  • Previous hospital pharmacy experience
  • Previous aseptic preparation experience
  • Previous cleanroom environment experience
  • Stock control and rotation

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

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
Jody Weller
Job title
Aseptic Services Procurement Lead
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01793 607275
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