Pharmacy technicians work in all sorts of settings including community pharmacies, doctors' surgeries, hospitals and prisons.
If you are looking to employ a pharmacy technician or promote one of your existing members of staff, an apprenticeship could be the answer. Your apprentice will come in to college on a day release basis where will train them and also support them while they are in the workplace.
Key information
Key information about this apprenticeship programme, with the main details like the level, duration and industry/sector. Full details about this standard can be found on the Skills England website.
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Level: 3 (Advanced)
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Training location: City Hub
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Mode of Attendance: Day release
- Industry/sector: Health and science
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Maximum funding available: £8,000.00
Apprenticeship overview
Assisting the pharmacist in chemists and hospital dispensaries.
The key skills, knowledge, behaviours and duties that will be carried out by the apprentice as part of this apprenticeship.
Skills developed
- Recognise and work within their scope of practice and skills,
- Use relevant data and information to make effective decisions
- Accurately retrieve and reconcile information about a person’s medicines
- Accurately assemble prescribed items
- Issue prescribed items safely and effectively and take action to deal with discrepancies carry out an accuracy check of dispensed medicines and products
- Accurately perform pharmaceutical calculations to ensure the safety of people
- Apply the principles of clinical governance and ensure person’s confidentiality
- Assess a person’s present supply of medicines and order appropriate medicines and products.
- Receive requests for medicines, including prescriptions, and check for their validity, safety and clarity, taking action to deal with any problems with the person directly
- Demonstrate operational skills within their scope of practice
- Provide a safe, effective and responsive pharmacy service
- Take personal responsibility for the legal, safe and efficient supply of medicines
- Apply the principles of governance to pharmacy operational processes
- Ensure the confidentiality of patient data.
- Communicate and work effectively with members of the multidisciplinary team
- Explain the impact of audit and evaluation on the quality of pharmacy operations and services
- Engage others in the improvement of processes and systems
- Effectively use systems to support the safe and effective management and supply of medicines
- Listen to a person, understand their needs and interpret what matters to them.
- Give the person all relevant information and advice in a way they can understand, so they can make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing
- Optimise a person’s medicines to achieve the best possible outcomes.
- Obtain relevant information from people – including patients, carers and other healthcare professionals – and use it to optimise care appropriately
- Adapt information and communication to meet the needs of particular audiences
- Check and review their own and others work effectively
- Suggest and implement personal goals and methods of improvement
- Maintain CPD outcomes that meet with regulatory requirements
- Identify and respond effectively to errors and near misses
- Ensure effective safeguards are in place particularly for children and vulnerable adults
- Prioritise time and resources effectively to achieve local and national objectives
- Respond to medical emergencies
- Ensure that health and safety controls are embedded and working
- Effectively supervise other members of the team
Further information
Pharmacy Technicians are registered professionals working within the regulatory standards for pharmacy, as set by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Pharmacy Order 2010.
Pharmacy Technicians work in a wide range of settings, including (but not exclusively): registered pharmacies, community services, justice (the Prison Service), GP Practices, dispensing doctors’ practices, care homes and clinical commissioning groups, hospitals, mental health, defence (HM Armed Services) and within the pharmaceutical industry
Pharmacy technicians manage the supply of medicines and devices in a pharmacy and assist pharmacists with advisory services. The actual work setting will determine the specific areas of activity that the Pharmacy Technician undertakes, but typically their role will include the following
- providing safe and effective pharmacy services
- supply medicines and devices to patients, whether on prescription or over the counter
- achieving the best outcomes through a patient’s medicines
- assemble medicines for prescriptions
- provide information to patients and other healthcare professionals.
- manage areas of medicines supply such as dispensaries
- supervise other pharmacy staff
- answering customers questions face to face or by phone
- pre-packing, assembling and labelling medicines
- referring problems or queries to the pharmacist
A Pharmacy Technician is responsible for carrying out both routine and specialist services, including highly complex activities requiring them to use their professional judgement. They are expected to work both individually and as part of a multi-disciplinary team. They are able to work with minimum supervision, with a high degree of autonomy, taking responsibility for the quality and accuracy of the work that they have undertaken and that of others.
Pharmacy Technicians are expected to communicate effectively with healthcare professionals, patients and the public, whilst respecting and maintaining confidentiality and privacy.
- General Pharmaceutical Council (Level 3)
Hire an apprentice today!
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Information provided for this apprenticeship programme is sourced from the Skills England formerly the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE). For the information authored by Skills England, this was last modified on 16th August 2023.
