Ministry of Defence (Defence Medical Services)

Band 5 Pharmacy Technician

The closing date is 18 August 2025

Job summary

At Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) we are an inclusive, dedicated organisation working to provide outstanding care to our entitled personnel.

Are you a Band 5 Pharmacy Technician looking for an exciting role, working alongside the military, which offers numerous benefits and opportunities? If the answer is yes, then we are looking to appoint a professional and patient focused individual with a strong commitment to providing a high quality service to work within our friendly and welcoming team at Whittington Barracks Lichfield.

The vacant post is fixed term working until 27th February 2026 and is offered at 37.5 hours per week. Requests to work flexibly and/or part time will be considered, taking into account business needs.

Could this be the role for you? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

Benefits:

Access to learning and development tailored to your role
An environment with flexible working options
A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
NHS Pension
Free parking
Access to a cafe, restaurant and convenience store
Access to a gym

Main duties of the job

Pharmaceutical services contribute to the Defence Primary Healthcare (DPHC) mission by the provision of a clinical and professional service at Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) level. The post holder is responsible for delivering a consistently high-quality pharmacy service and assists in the delivery of an effective medicines management service to entitled personnel within the multi-disciplinary medical centre and on behalf of the Senior Medical Officer.

The Pharmacy Technician is to provide a safe and efficient dispensary service as part of a multi-disciplinary primary healthcare team within the combined Medical Facility (MF). To ensure the service is compliant with Joint Service Publications (JSP), DPHC policy, local policy, standards, and legislation. To provide advice to medical centre staff on pharmacy, prescribing and medicines management issues within scope of own competence. To ensure compliance with policies regarding security, safety, and patient confidentiality.

About us

Our success depends on our people our Whole Force regular and reservist military, civil servants and contractors, all working as one, working together seamlessly to deliver for us.

Our civil servants are a central part of this Whole Force, developing strategy, making policy, supporting ministerial decision-making and Parliamentary processes. In fact, with over 2,000 different roles working across 650 sites around the world, now really is an excellent time to join one of the largest, most exciting departments in government.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to attracting and retaining people from across the full range of backgrounds and enabling flexible ways of working as the norm. We offer maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks of statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, and paternity leave of 2 weeks full pay.

In return, you can expect a department that helps you learn and develop that recognises your expertise and contribution, both as an individual and part of a team.

If you've ever wanted to do more, see more, go further or be better, we have roles in more professions and vocations than ever before. Let's see where your future will take you, together.

Date posted

04 August 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 5

Salary

£29,970 to £36,483 a year Per annum (pro rata for part time)

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

1 years

Working pattern

Full-time, Job share

Reference number

K0003-25-0334

Job locations

Whittington Barracks

Lichfield

Staffordshire

WS14 9PY

Job description

Job responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities for the role include but are not limited to:

Provision of a safe and accurate dispensing service to patients under the care of the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) and DPHC.
Communicate professionally with medical and non-medical prescribers regarding any prescription anomalies, ambiguities, or supply issues.
Communicate information as needed to patients, parents and carers regarding prescribed medicines, further supplies, and prescription payments.
Housekeeping of the dispensary including stock checks, stock rotation and monitoring of time expiry drugs to minimise wastage as per Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Provide in-service training on pharmacy related issues to practice staff, doctors, nurses, and Defence Medics as needed within professional scope of competence.

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for the full list of duties.

Additional information:

This is a Fixed-term Appointment as a Pharmacy Technician in the Lichfield Medical Centre , Defence Medical Services Whittington. Your responsibilities will be as described in this job advert.This post will therefore begin on your appointment and will end on 27th June 2026.

If you are a permanent MoD civil servant and are found successful for an internally advertised Fixed-term Appointment (FTA) you should move into the post under a Temporary Transfer (for up to a maximum of 3 years). At the end of the posting, you will return to your previous MoD Business area. If this posting is at a higher grade, your promotion will be temporary, and you will return to your substantive grade at the end of the Temporary Transfer. If a Temporary Transfer cannot be agreed between all parties then a transfer on an FTA contract is possible, read the FTA and Change of Work Location in the UK policy for further information.

The sift will be completed within 10 working days of the vacancy closing date. Interviews will be held on a date to be confirmed.

Please ensure you demonstrate that you have the required skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications and memberships in the CV section of the application form.

The selection at sift stage will be based on your CV. At interview, you will be tested against the following Skills Framework:

NHS Core NHSC1 Communication
NHS Core NHSC2 Personal & People Development
NHS Core NHSC3 Health, Safety & Security
NHS Core NHSC4 Service Improvement
NHS Core NHSC5 Quality
NHS Core NHSC6 Equality and Diversity

To be considered for this role, qualifications and memberships detailed must be held in full, prior to submitting your application.

There will be no reimbursement for any travel expenses for the interview.

Please note the salary will be pro-rata where part time hours are undertaken.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Please see the link to our YouTube channel for advice preparing your best responses with some hints and tips on answering behaviour-based questions. Hints and tips such as: Your behaviours can be based on situations from work, volunteering or home; match your situation to the behaviour requested and how to use your 250-word limit.

Please paste the following link into yourbrowser:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEpdNWKQSRI

All employees joining Ministry of Defence who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a 6-month probation period (unless otherwise advised) effective from the employment start date. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

Access to the NHS pension scheme is available to the successful candidate.

If found successful for this position, you will be required to provide evidence of your immunity to Hepatitis B. Please note that evidence of your vaccination is not a proof of your immunity, but your serology levels will be required. Failure to provide sufficient evidence may result in the offer of employment being withdrawn.

Qualifications/Memberships: To be considered for this role, qualifications and memberships detailed must be held in full, prior to submitting your application.

There is no requirement to deploy as this is met by our uniformed personnel, but you will form the continuity of care required by our patients when based at home.

The post does NOT offer relocation expenses (move of home, excess fares or temporary transfer). Non-Standard move applicants will be eligible for the full package, subject to eligibility.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

This vacancy is part of the A Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact dbscivpers-sgdmsresourcing@mod.gov.uk

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.