Staff roles

Pharmacists

Pharmacists have a Master’s degree in Pharmacy and are registered under the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

Our pharmacists will work within a range of sections within the pharmacy including Dispensary, Technical Services, Medicines information and Ward Services

• They will act as the responsible pharmacist in the dispensary within a schedule where they will screen prescriptions (this is called the Clinical Check) and also support with final accuracy checking
• Assist and answer complex queries from healthcare professionals and the public regarding medicine and its use – this also includes monitoring patients for adverse reactions and contraindications (a reason not to take a medication because the risk of causing harm could be significant) and consider alternate methods if needed
• The pharmacist will also need to ensure adherence to the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Joint Medicines Formulary, local clinical and medicines guidelines in order to promote safe and cost effective use of medicines.

Trainee pharmacists

Trainee pharmacists have a Master’s degree in Pharmacy but are not yet registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). They work under the supervision of a Pharmacist to complete 52 weeks of training which includes competencies, clinical and calculation exams. Once qualified, they become Pharmacists.

Pharmacy Technicians

All Pharmacy Technicians are registered with the GPhC. Pharmacy Technicians can be rotational or specialise in specific areas.

• A technician will dispense and issue prescriptions for inpatients, outpatients and discharges as well as counsel outpatients on their medication and referring to the responsible pharmacist when they need to.
• They will be working directly under the Clinical pharmacist and provide ward based technical support, complete medication histories with patients (understand what medicine the patient is currently taking) and cross check the suitability of these and then work in the multidisciplinary team to process discharges without costing time and resources.
• When in Technical Services, the technician will prepare cytotoxic chemotherapy, parenteral nutrition and monoclonal antibodies and follow the department procedures for Safe Storage and Disposal of Drugs and other hazardous substances in order to keep everyone safe.

Pre-registration Trainee Pharmacy Technician (PTPT)

PTPTs work under the supervision of Pharmacy staff to complete a 2 year fixed-term contract where they are studying and learning to perform Pharmacy Technician duties. After successfully completing 2 years, they register with the GPhC as a qualified Pharmacy Technician.

Assistant Technical Officer (ATO)

ATOs work throughout the department however they are not usually rotational.

• The dispensary ATO role will consist of labelling and assembling clinically checked prescriptions for final checking with the aim to meet Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for safety and efficiency when it comes to accuracy for an individual and department as a whole.
• A dispensary customer service ATO is the point of contact for all pharmacy customers (hospital staff, patients, public and visitors) who present at the pharmacy reception area and who contact the dispensary through the telephone. Their role will mainly include reception duties but will also include some dispensing too.
• Ward based ATOs will come and talk to patients on the ward and see if they need to order more medication – to make the service more streamline and to ensure the patient is not at risk of running out of their regular medication.
• Provision and Procurement ATOs will maintain ward stock and perform ‘top-ups’ to make sure there is always an agreed level of stock available on each ward.
• We also have Lead ATOs that have carried out management courses for their area, this is a supervisory role.

Pharmacy admin

The pharmacy admin team looks after our pharmacy staff. They manage staff sickness, annual leave, overtime and stationery.