To think most people have no idea how much a pharmacy dispenser earns?

We get national minimum wage and yes we are rushed off our feet, we get lots of abuse and any errors can cause us to lose our jobs. It's bad that I can be a cleaner or work in asda or aldi and earn more money. However I love my job so I just have to accept NMW

i've worked with various pharmacy staff in chemists/hospitals. Dispensers all vary in attitude and ability. the training is basic. The pharmacy technician course is often offered but declined as they don't want to have more responsibility, yet complain about low wage? some have gone to pharmacy school too! All the responsibility sits with the pharmacist too dont forget. some dispensers run the pharmacy, some shy away from basic tasks. i know pharmacy technicians at a NHS 8D AFC (over 80K) salary now - and thats amazing and they have worked hard to get there. As a pharmacist qualified for 15 years i've managed to reach 70K but i started at 23K in the nhs. Plenty of scope and different roles available for pharmacy professionals.

Not always - the pharmacist is human too.

Is there a law about having to make up the prescription from the date it's collected rather than the date it's issued? I'm terrible for picking mine up last minute but think it should be the latter.

Their mistake wouldn't have an effect on someone's health though as it will be spotted by the pharmacist.

But wouldn't you personally feel bad if you made a mistake that could have a serious effect on someone's health - even though you were not legally responsible for it? It's easy to say, if you like, that someone isn't being paid enough to feel bad about it, but, similar to causing an accident outside of work that wasn't your fault, most people wouldn't just be able to brush it off if someone else was hurt.

It is often the dispenser who gets the abuse from the public (possibly as tend to be young and female) - I bet those members of the public wouldn't be as abusive to the GP who has written the prescription incorrectly (or often not at all)
Is there a thread on how much entry level investment bankers get paid for a job where there is no abuse from the public and no risk of someone dying or being injured if they make a mistake.

Op missing the point of your thread but just wanted to say i worked in community pharmacy and moved into the hospital pharmacy as i was sick of the way i was treated by the public and wanted to progress my career and my employers kept promising me they would put me on the tech course and never doing it.
Honestly it was the best decision i ever made, dispensing in a hospital is so much more interesting, the pay is better, no abuse from the public or the patronising "you just put a label on a box". And they hire for the tech course at least twice a year. I havent done it yet because i chose to have another baby 😂 but its nice to know when im ready the option is there
Personally i do that rather than becoming a hca its such a hard job

The pharmacist is responsible for checking and finding the mistakes and will be the one who gets into trouble if they don't find it. Who do you think would reprimand a dispenser for a mistake? Obviously if they make a lot of mistakes then the company they work for might decide they aren't suited to the job but that applies to any job doesn't it?

It’s a shame they earn so little. I hope there are some perks! Like being able to actually buy some things they are reluctant to sell behind the counter

And this is why I left after 10+ years...

@coffeeaddict77 they are still responsible for picking the correct medication. Yes, it will be checked down the line multiple times, but often if they make mistakes it doesn’t take many occasions for them to end up reprimanded or worse.
wouldn’t you feel responsible if, somehow, someone ended up with the wrong meds/dosage if you’d been the picker?

Dispensers don't have a lot of responsibility at all. You are confusing them with pharmacists.

Pretty much minimum wage, especially in community pharmacy.
they should definitely get paid more, they have a lot of responsibility and are often the first point a grave error by the prescribing doctor is picked up.

I'm always amazed how low healthcare salaries are tbh. My mate makes £65k driving a truck! £54k basic and the rest from overtime at £54 p/h. 😳

As a former pharmacist, I am fully aware that a good dispenser is absolutely invaluable to the smooth running of a community pharmacy.

The role is one that most of the working population can walk in and get on with, doing the qualification alongside working. The qualification itself isn't particularly challenging either - as many PP have said, on a par with school level qualifications. Responsibility for everything healthcare related does not lie with them, they are not accountable to a professional body and do not pay professional subscriptions. I can justify them starting on minimum wage - the role does not start off very different to the majority of min wage roles.

However, like in many other jobs, they gain knowledge and skills as they continue to work so an experienced dispenser is worth far more than minimum wage - as other posters have mentioned, they know how to keep the pharmacy running smoothly (especially in cases where it is being staffed by locum pharmacists unfamiliar with the store), deal with suppliers, maintain stock levels, relationships with regular customers and many other things. A natural progression would be becoming a pharmacy technician but unfortunately many stores prefer to keep their staff on lower wages so the good ones leave and go on to do bigger things

Its a low level qualification that pretty much anyone can manage.

There are almost no jobs out there which require no skills whatsoever. It's kind of why we have an education system.

Can I just chuck Pharmacy First in to the mix? The dispensers and counter staff now have that to deal with alongside everything else!

I think you are confusing dispensers with actual pharmacists.

Same the supermarket I work in has a pharmacy and we often cover In there when short staffed I find it easier and less stressful then self scan. It's actually a nice break from the shop work

Ah cross purposes then. I mean those dispensing in a standalone chemist/pharmacy - we don’t have dispensing pharmacies where I live so maybe expectations are lower in a supermarket pharmacy. Guess I am very lucky with the one I go to as they can assist, order the brands I need and offer detailed advice saving GP time.

I work in a supermarket sometimes on pharmacy as dispensing assistant & sometimes in other areas.
I prefer pharmacy as piss easy compared with 14 self scan checkouts.
Small amount of training to be dispensing assistant. Think E learning & a one off course.
Deeply flattered that you think I have powers I don't but I have no ability to order any of your special meds, brands etc.
Literally pick the items of the carousel or drawers to make it quicker for the pharmacy staff, put stuff through till, empty bins, shred paper, clean up spills etc.

I would think that it's a job that attracts a minimum wage tbh.

I think OP is talking about a dispenser with NVQ 2 and no responsibility rather than a checking technician who obviously has a lot more qualifications and responsibility.

I think that dispensers should be paid a bit more than other shop staff but ultimately salaries tend to reflect training and responsibility and I don't think dispensers have much of either unless they are qualified technicians.
The pharmacists have all the responsibility and supervise everything dispensers do and they spend five years training and have a degree whereas a dispenser just needs an NVQ 2 which is on the same level as GCSE isn't it?.