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

if they do all that before it gets to me why do they ask if its my first time using a medication I've used for years? Every time.

Probably, but with the crisis in community pharmacy provision I suspect people would like to be able to get prescriptions when they need them, so perhaps it's in societies interest to ensure roles like this have a decent wage to attract and retain enough staff? Of course hospital and other settings vitally important too for dispensers.

It's clear from this thread lots of people have zero clue what a pharmacy assistant does though. It's not just reading a prescription and popping pills into boxes. In community especially its advising on OTC medicines/serving customers, answering what can be quite complex queries & gathering info for the pharmacist to review, liaising with doctors/care homes etc on prescriptions & deliveries, ordering/rotating stock, fulfilling what can be literally hundreds of scripts a day, updating systems etc. Sure you generally don't need quals to join (although you do need training once in role and to progress you certainly need NVQs); bit it is a demanding job.

I know exactly how much they earn because my sister is one. A few pence above min wage in her case The crap she has to put up with is unbelievable; her pharmacy has a lot of people getting methadone prescriptions who become aggressive; also people getting stroppy about not being able to get non-prescription meds for children; and due to lots of pharmacies closing in the area, they are hugely over-subscribed. Plus all the normal retail stuff such as shoplifters ...

How long is the course? What level is it?

Not read the thread, just taking a guess before I do:
Average UK salary is £30k
I reckon a Pharmacist is earning more than Average, say £45k - £55k or so.

Are dispensers the same as a pharmacist?
Or are they like helpers to a pharmacist?
I don't know.
If they don't have the same qualifications and training as a pharmacist then maybe £25k-£35k

Do they give advice on OTC medication? I used to work at boots on the pharmacy counte, and yeah we knew a bit, but it was made very clear we couldn't give out advice, we had to refer to the pharmacist.

But if someone wanted something like a stronger cough medicine, then we could show them the ones we had

But let's face facts, if it can be sold it by an unqualified shop worker who has had potentially no training ... it's hardly hardcore medication...

The tories are in power - it's hardly a shock that someone who helps others / does something important is paid little / not enough. It's the way it is!

So they do some basic product training in the same way that shop workers in, for example, Currys or B&Q would do?

Ahh OK.
In that case I change my answer to a pound or two above a shop assistant.
I actually have no idea what minimum wage is now £11 or so? So may this role should be £13 an hour, I know a teachers starting salary is £19 an hour (32.5 hrs a week for the number of weeks in school + 6 weeks holiday) so it should be less than that but more than a shop assistant.

Not heaps if you are in community. But unless you work in a compounding pharmacy, you are counting out pills and pouring liquids with a pharmacist checking it matches the prescription and reading out the instructions to patients when they collect so it’s not a highly skilled job anyway. The pharmacist should be the on giving out medical advice.

Doesn’t everybody think they should be paid more though? 🙄

Aren't they mostly just counting out the medicine and making sure the prescription is filled in properly on the back? How much should they be paid? Perhaps not minimum wage, but is a s "skilled" job??
I'm sorry maybe I'm confused, isn't the pharmacist is the one who does all the legal compliance, had the medical training, gives medical advice, has the expert knowledge etc??

It doesn't require any exams or certificates although I imagine you would need ok literacy and numeracy skills. I would have expected it to be similar to other shop workers or maybe a little more if you were experienced.

I think most people don’t actually know the difference between a pharmacist and a dispenser, though.

I assume a ‘pharmacy dispenser’ is a fancy title for an unqualified shop worker who happens to work in a retail pharmacy? In which case, I would expect them to be paid the same as other shop workers ; minimum wage or a little more.

Well it's effectively just working in a shop so whatever people earn for working in a shop is about right.

I don’t. But I do know that my local ones always seem rushed off their feet, so I'm going to guess: not enough.

No idea. I don’t actually know what a pharmacy dispenser is. I’m guessing not the licensed pharmacist but the others who work behind the counter? I’d guess more than normal retail but probably not that much really. I’d also guess that degree qualified pharmacists are paid too little.

It used to be minimum wage when I worked in a high street pharmacy, I imagine it's still sadly similar.

Definitely should be more

Close to minimum wage I would have thought.
And they should be paid more.