Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Band 4 Pre-Reg Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship - Bristol/Calne

The closing date is 15 June 2025

Job summary

Are you interested in becoming a GPhC registered Pharmacy Technician? We are offering one apprenticeship role for someone who is motivated and prepared to undertake a Pre-Registration Trainee Pharmacy Technician work-based learning programme. The majority of the course will be delivered online and through work-based tasks with occasional face-to-face training days organised by the training provider. This course will enable you to become a qualified Pharmacy Technician.

The Pharmacy Team will provide rotational opportunities across clinical and operational aspects of the role, supporting the successful applicant to complete the required assessments. This two year fixed-term contract position will enable you to gain extensive work experience within a diverse mental health pharmacy setting.

On completion, you will be able to register as a pharmacy technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Applicants can choose their base for work (either Calne, Wiltshire or Callington Road, Bristol).

Please note the salary of this apprenticeship is Annex 21 of Band 4 and starts at 70% in the first year rising to 75% in the second year.

We are looking for the successful applicant to start in September 2025.

Main duties of the job

To undertake this apprenticeship role, you must be highly self-motivated, enthusiastic, hardworking and possess excellent time management skills. To support your training and development, you will have an educational supervisor assigned to you for your overall training, and several practice supervisors as you move through the different teams within Pharmacy. We offer 20% off-the-job training time to study, with the expectation that you will also invest your own personal time to further support your development.

The AWP pharmacy team provides a medicines optimisation service to those living with mental health issues across the areas of Bristol, Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, North Somerset and Bath. As well as managing the medicines supply chain in the Trust, we support the safe and effective use of medicines throughout the organisation through our clinical work, enquiry answering, medicines governance activity and many other roles. We have two dispensaries: one in Calne (Wiltshire) and one at Callington Road Hospital (Bristol). The roles can be based at either of our dispensaries, and the clinical elements will be provided at our inpatient and community teams across the catchment area.

Previous pharmacy experience is desirable but not essential, as full training will be provided.

About us

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust); a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community-based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person-centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Date posted

23 May 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£26,530 to £29,114 a year Annex 21 of Band 4 (70% in year 1, rising to 75% in year 2)

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

2 years

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

342-CS049-0525

Job locations

Calne or Callington Road Pharmacy

Calne or Bristol

SN11 9PR

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for details about the main responsibilities of the post.

Your normal hours of work will be Mon-Fri, 8.30am-5.00pm. We operate a weekend and bank holiday pharmacy service at either the Calne or Callington Road dispensary. This is approximately 1 in 10 working from 10-1pm, enabling a good work life balance.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for details about the main responsibilities of the post.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential

Eligible for enrolment in the Pharmacy Technician Level 4 Apprenticeship programme
Minimum of 4 GCSEs (at grade C/4 or 5, or above) and must include maths, English (or functional skills equivalent) and 1 science subject

Desirable

NVQ Level 2 (or equivalent) in Pharmacy Services

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

Understands the values of the NHS
Knowledge/interest in pharmacy

Desirable

Previous hospital experience
Previous pharmacy experience
Knowledge of EMIS (Ascribe)

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Effective listening skills
Able to work flexibly within a team
Able to work independently and show initiative within limits of own authority whilst following agreed procedures
Able to work calmly under pressure and have capacity for problem solving
Non-judgemental & objective. Able to look at things objectively and to be able to weigh that information consistently to make appropriate decisions
Effective communication skills, to communicate with a wide range of people (e.g. patients, carers, nursing and medical staff). Confident and assertive, but non-aggressive manner
Able to prioritise tasks and respond to urgent demands whilst managing own workload
Able to assist in training staff in dispensary practices and the pharmacy computer systems
Computer literate including Word, Outlook, internet, intranet and email
Effective customer services skills
Mobile with the facility to move quickly across a geographically dispersed area with limited access to public transport
Requirement to handle and move heavy objects, e.g. intravenous fluids, boxes of enteral feeds, boxes of archived documents

Desirable

Able to handle conflict effectively and differences of opinions in a mature and professional manner

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential

Eligible for enrolment in the Pharmacy Technician Level 4 Apprenticeship programme
Minimum of 4 GCSEs (at grade C/4 or 5, or above) and must include maths, English (or functional skills equivalent) and 1 science subject

Desirable

NVQ Level 2 (or equivalent) in Pharmacy Services

Experience and Knowledge

Essential

Understands the values of the NHS
Knowledge/interest in pharmacy

Desirable

Previous hospital experience
Previous pharmacy experience
Knowledge of EMIS (Ascribe)

Skills and Abilities

Essential

Effective listening skills
Able to work flexibly within a team
Able to work independently and show initiative within limits of own authority whilst following agreed procedures
Able to work calmly under pressure and have capacity for problem solving
Non-judgemental & objective. Able to look at things objectively and to be able to weigh that information consistently to make appropriate decisions
Effective communication skills, to communicate with a wide range of people (e.g. patients, carers, nursing and medical staff). Confident and assertive, but non-aggressive manner
Able to prioritise tasks and respond to urgent demands whilst managing own workload
Able to assist in training staff in dispensary practices and the pharmacy computer systems
Computer literate including Word, Outlook, internet, intranet and email
Effective customer services skills
Mobile with the facility to move quickly across a geographically dispersed area with limited access to public transport
Requirement to handle and move heavy objects, e.g. intravenous fluids, boxes of enteral feeds, boxes of archived documents

Desirable

Able to handle conflict effectively and differences of opinions in a mature and professional manner

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details

Employer name

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Calne or Callington Road Pharmacy

Calne or Bristol

SN11 9PR

Employer's website

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address

Calne or Callington Road Pharmacy

Calne or Bristol

SN11 9PR

Employer's website

http://www.awp.nhs.uk/about-us/working-for-us/ (Opens in a new tab)