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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
Band 3
Contract
Fixed term: 12 months (With expected start date of April 2026.)
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week
Job ref
249-7613474
Employer
Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Great Western Hospital
Town
Swindon
Salary
£24,937 - £26,598 per annum
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
02/01/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust logo

High-Cost Drugs & Homecare Pharmacy 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

At the time of advertising, this role does not meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. For this reason, we are unable to sponsor anyone for a skilled worker visa for this role.

We are happy to accept applications from candidates who can prove their right to work in the UK or via alternative visa routes. Such applications will be considered alongside all other applications.

Are you  looking to join a friendly and progressive pharmacy team, which is focused on ensuring that all our patients receive  safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient medicines?

The successful candidate will support our Lead Pharmacy Technician (Homecare and Blueteq) in the management of homecare medication  to our patients. You will also work  You will help the ophthalmology clinical area with the controlled supply of high cost stock as well as working with the Blueteq pre-approval funding process to ensure that their patients have the correct funding in place.  You will also help the gastroenterology team in managing the flow of homecare prescriptions and ensuring funding is in place.

 

Main duties of the job

In joining our team, we would like you to support our culture of improving together, inspire other team members, embrace change, and demonstrate a patient- centred approach. In return, we will support you in developing your knowledge and skills, and in your future career development. 

We embrace new technologies. Our pharmacy robots are invaluable members of our team; electronic prescribing is well-established in almost all inpatient and outpatient settings at Great Western Hospital; we use CareFlow EPR electronic patient records system and NerveCentre for electronic pharmacy handover notes.

Working for our organisation

STAR VALUES

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

  • To provide  support to the lead pharmacy technician working with the homecare team to assist in the delivery of the team's key objectives, completion of the team’s agreed tasks and actions, and documentation  as per pre-set processes
  • To be able to book in and process homecare prescriptions, checking through the prescription to make it is legal and complete. To create purchase order numbers and sending the prescriptions to the suppliers.
  • To pay the invoices from the suppliers  and to book thew medication out to the patients profile.
  • To be able to monitor and action emails to the joint box
  • To work with gastroenterology to ensure homecare prescriptions are managed when requested and checking that the patient has prior approval of funding before prescriptions sent to pharmacy
  • To work with ophthalmology, in the supply of high cost medication , controlling of the stock and ensuring prior approval of funding is in place. 

It is expected that the post holder will undertake in depth training and obtain a QCF level 2 in Pharmacy services unless you already hold a relevant qualification.

 

Person specification

Education, qualifications & training

Essential criteria
  • QCF level 3 in Pharmacy services – or willing and able to work towards
  • GCSE or equivalent in Maths and English grade C or above

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Working within a team
  • Managing own workload to meet the needs of a service
  • Previous pharmacy experience
Desirable criteria
  • Previous worked with spreadsheets on Microsoft Excel
  • Previously managed joint email boxes

Other job-related requirements

Essential criteria
  • Working within a busy office environment

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-guidelinesCare Leaver CovenantStonewall 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
Graham Brown
Job title
Lead Pharmacy Technician
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01793 607251
Additional information

Available for calls 09:30 to 17:35 Mon, Wed, Thurs and Fri.  Informal visits by appointment only.

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