Your role as a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant is vital to the smooth running of a pharmacy for its staff and customers.
What is a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant?
As a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant, you will support a registered Pharmacist with the preparation and dispensing of prescription medications. Your role primarily involves ensuring that prescriptions are filed correctly and delivered to patients and healthcare providers.
However, the other day-to-day tasks and work activities of a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant are varied. Working under the supervision of a registered Pharmacist, your roles and responsibilities include:
- Dispensing prescription medication and pharmaceutical products to patients
- Preparing prescriptions by counting pills, labelling bottles and compounding medications
- Ensuring compliance by monitoring the prescription-filing process
- Carrying out administrative duties and keeping detailed records
- Gathering, organising and assessing patient information, including electronic patient records
- Engaging with patients and customers to answer their questions and offer advice
- Liaising directly with healthcare providers and patients
- Taking an inventory of drugs and placing orders to maintain stock
- Pricing medications, preparing billing information and completing patient sales and transactions for over-the-counter medications
Why should I become a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant?
There are plenty of reasons to become a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant with New Directions Pharmacy.
As one of the leading recruitment providers to the pharmacy sector, there’s never a shortage of opportunities to:
- Work as many or as few days as you want
- Enjoy flexibility and a good work/life balance
- Build up industry knowledge and your confidence
- Experience best practice and expand your skillset
- Network and build up industry contacts
- Gain a wide range of experiences
- Try different work settings and find new ways of working
Where and when can I work as a Dispenser of Pharmacy Assistant?
We place Dispensers and Pharmacy Assistants to work in a number of settings. Whether it’s a local independent pharmacy in the community, NHS and private hospitals, high-street retail chain or a supermarket pharmacy – you have options and can see what suits you.
The location and type of pharmacy you work in can affect when you work. This is common because some pharmacies are open for extended hours, and provide out-of-hours services that’s why you may seem some variations in our vacancies (shift work, amount of hours, weekend work, rotas etc.).
Who can be a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant?
As a responsible recruitment provider, we carefully check your qualifications and training during the registration process to make sure you meet the regulatory requirements for a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) requires all staff working in a pharmacy environment to be appropriately trained for the role they are carrying out. As such, you’re required to hold an NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Service Skills to be a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant.
There are several awarding bodies recognised by the GPhC who deliver the NVQ Level 2 knowledge and competency-based dispensing/pharmacy assistant qualifications. There are also a range of remote-learning courses which are equivalent to units of the NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Service Skills.
You must be employed in a pharmacy to take one of these courses and it usually takes between six and 12 months to complete.
How do I register to work as a Dispenser or Pharmacy Assistant?
You are required to have a minimum of six months of experience working in a UK dispensary setting before we can register you for work. This is the case for all candidates.
If you have the experience and hold the NVQ Level 2 in Pharmacy Service Skills, register with New Directions Pharmacy today. Our friendly Account Managers are waiting to start the process of placing you into work.
If you don’t have the experience yet, contact us today and we’ll make sure we stay in touch. This will help us place you straight into work as soon as you have the experience you need.