Pharmacy assistant

[Careerswapper]

I am a mature woman in my 50s. I have had a good professional career but I gave it up a couple of years ago as I was tired of it. Then the pandemic started and I decided to have a sabbatical.

I am too young to not work again though so it is time to rejoin the workforce. But I would like to do something completely different and yesterday I saw a sign in a local chemist for a pharmacy assistant. I had thought about this before but hadn’t pursued it through the NHS recruitment process but I was thinking I might apply for this role. I run them yesterday and they just asked me to drop my CV in.

I think I would be suited to the role, I have a science background and confident on things like accuracy, attention to detail, customer service etc. I am happy to study towards any qualifications and confident that this won’t be a problem for me,

I am interested to hear from anyone that is either in this role or works with people in this role. Just to learn a little bit more about it. It doesn’t look like there would be scope to progress to anything else? I can’t decide if that is a problem or not, in theory, I wanted a job that I go to work and come home from but in the past, I have always wanted to progress and the old me might still be there, so interested in this aspect in particular.

What is the salary range?

Hi @Careerswapper I have just accepted a job as a trainee Pharmacy Assistant. I don’t have experience in a pharmacy, but a little in customer service. I haven’t started the job yet, so can’t give any experience.
I looked on a local pharmacy website and was just lucky that they had a vacancy at the time. So, you could have a look on various pharmacy job pages, eg Boots etc. I will work towards a NVQ 3 while working.
I have no idea what the pay is yet! But I suspect it will be low.

Good luck. Sounds like you have the skills for this job though!

And definitely worth a try applying for the job! Or even to ask them what experience/ skills is needed etc.

There is a thread from a couple of weeks ago about being a pharmacist. Have a look!

I used to do it and found it really interesting. What you do need is a bloody good back bone. Customers are bloody vile!!

There’s a step between assistant and pharmacist. You can train as a pharmacy technician. I did it in my 40s and really enjoyed it. I worked in a hospital pharmacy.

So you need attention to detail and amazing customer service with the ability to think on your feet and have a thick skin!.

You'll probably do a mix of dispensing prescriptions and serving on the healthcare counter, recommending which medications to buy and how to take them etc. You could also be trained on providing services, so this could be selling Viagra, doing stopping smoking service, weight loss service, blood pressure readings. You need to be comfortable to have some personal conversations with people, believe me you'll be told more info than you wanted to know!.

Dispensers are trained to NVQ 2, Pharmacy technicians trained to NVQ 3 (advanced technical and knowledge) which leads onto being an Accuracy Checking Technician- this means you can check prescriptions instead of the Pharmacist.

Hope that helps a bit??

Thank you all for your comments, very helpful. I think knowing there is a Technician role that I could progress to if I want is reassuring. I am not used to dealing with customers as that is not what my past occupation required, but I am generally amiable but also think I have a reasonably thick skin.

I have redone my CV as my “normal” one is completely not relevant to the post, it is summarised on a page now, is that too short? I have done a one page covering letter going over my change in direction and recent gap too. Will drop it in tomorrow.

I would think 1 page and a cover letter sounds about right. Good luck 🤞

Good luck. I had a look at salary range and it's up to £26K for a pharmacy technician, which doesn't seem much.

I used to work in pharmacy and I really enjoyed the dispensing and the fast pace environment but that's as far as it went.

You really need thick skin, patience and be prepared to get verbally abused. Oh, also prepare for the occasional sexism, misogyny and people thinking you are completely uneducated or else why you would work as a dispenser and all that for the grand salary of 18-19k and that's working full time. Also, no time off around Christmas since it's hectic.

On the plus side the colleagues tended to be nice, supportive and working in an environment like this brought you closer. We would also get some lovely customers who were really kind to us.

I’d just like to point out that:
-to be a dispenser you need to do a ~12 month NVQ 2 course,
-to be a technician it’s a 2 year NVQ 3 course, but
-the ONLY way to become a pharmacist is a four year masters degree, followed by a year in practice and final exams with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

There is no way to convert from a technician to a pharmacist.

@OnPaper

I used to work in pharmacy and I really enjoyed the dispensing and the fast pace environment but that's as far as it went.

You really need thick skin, patience and be prepared to get verbally abused. Oh, also prepare for the occasional sexism, misogyny and people thinking you are completely uneducated or else why you would work as a dispenser and all that for the grand salary of 18-19k and that's working full time. Also, no time off around Christmas since it's hectic.

On the plus side the colleagues tended to be nice, supportive and working in an environment like this brought you closer. We would also get some lovely customers who were really kind to us.

Thank you. Some points well worth thinking through.

I am fairly robust mentally, obviously nobody likes being verbally abused but I think I could manage as well as anyone. It is also a pharmacy in a small village so I am hoping not too bad, although could be proven badly wrong, I guess people can get “emotional” when it comes to healthcare.

I don’t have children or much family so I don’t need huge amounts of time off at Christmas, although some years we would like to go away so that could be a sacrifice.

I know that it is not well paid, my professional career was a well paid one so that will be strange and I haven’t totally got my head around it yet. But I am mortgage free, don’t have children, don’t have a lavish lifestyle and I have reached the point where working locally with set hours has value to me.

@BackAway

I’d just like to point out that: -to be a dispenser you need to do a ~12 month NVQ 2 course, -to be a technician it’s a 2 year NVQ 3 course, but -the ONLY way to become a pharmacist is a four year masters degree, followed by a year in practice and final exams with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

There is no way to convert from a technician to a pharmacist.

Thank you. 👍 I can confirm at no point was I under the impression that there was any way to progress to being a pharmacist (well not without going back to university). I have a school / university friend that became a pharmacist and although that was thirty years ago, I know it involved a lot more than working up the ranks in the local pharmacy. 😁

I can imagine it's a rewarding role, once you get past all the people who behave like arseholes in the chemist's.

I worked as a dispenser for 10 years for a couple of different companies. Is it an independent pharmacy? IMO a better option as they treat their staff better and there's more of that kind of family feel.. I would never work for a big company pharmacy again but then again it depends on the staff, you might still really enjoy it. It can be a really challenging job especially as most pharmacies are short staffed and ridiculously busy.. but it's good if you enjoy a challenge! There are progression opportunities- you can first do the NVQ to become a medicines counter assistant and from there you can do the NVQ2 dispensing course, but it really depends on if the pharmacy need a dispenser as sometimes they aren't willing to offer the training if they already have that role filled.

I did enjoy my time in pharmacy and met some lovely people, it can also be a really interesting and rewarding job! The last pharmacy I worked in was family-run and I absolutely loved it and made some friends for life there, the customers were lovely too (albeit some rude ones but you'd get that anywhere), I only left to have a baby.. I would've definitely stayed otherwise! It sounds like you'd be well suited to the role so why not give it a go? X

Sorry OP, my post was aimed the “the world” rather than you 😆 my apologies.

In all seriousness, I am mid thirties and finding it hard in pharmacy just being on my feet all day. There is a physical side to it that isn’t necessarily obvious. But of course depends on you, your fitness level and how many hours you do.

And maybe some pharmacies let you sit down sometimes! My company allows no sitting down whatsoever 🙃

I worked for about 3-4 years in a pharmacy village in Village A. Then I moved away and I ended up working in another small local pharmacy in Village B. It's a bit of a lottery of what you get.

Both pharmacies were extremely busy due to the location and locum pharmacists would often be in shock of how busy we were. They had visions of doing a relaxed shift, looking at their phone, taking their time. They would often comment of how busy we were and we actually also had a couple of comments of 'if I had known it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have agreed to come!'.

In Village A we were extremely lucky. The nearest surgery was good and efficient. In general things worked fairly well and most of our patients were really lovely. We would still get some nasty ones but it was bearable.

Village B was a different story. The nearest surgery struggled massively with keeping up with the demand and that put massive pressure on us. Also the majority of the patients were a nightmare. We got so much abuse in that pharmacy. In the end I got fed up and left. It wears you down overtime.

Also look at their opening hours. You might have to work weekends on a rota. In both pharmacies i had to work on Saturday. Although, not every Saturday.

If a low salary isn't an issue, if you can keep up with the potentially fast pace environment, standing on your feet all day (please keep that in mind too) and if you can let unkind comments wash over you then dispensing is enjoyable and I learned a lot of things about healthcare. All in all, it was an eye opening experience.

@BackAway I worked at a pharmacy like that, some of the rules are ridiculous for fully grown adults.. I find it's the bigger companies that treat their staff like soulless robots.. you're on your feet all day and should be allowed a break! Even if you have to sit down at the till and serve customers but no, not allowed! It felt like being back at school sometimes.. things like not being able to have my phone in my pocket, even just for emergencies but then again I think a lot of big retail companies are like this. X

@mykiki

I worked as a dispenser for 10 years for a couple of different companies. Is it an independent pharmacy? IMO a better option as they treat their staff better and there's more of that kind of family feel.. I would never work for a big company pharmacy again but then again it depends on the staff, you might still really enjoy it. It can be a really challenging job especially as most pharmacies are short staffed and ridiculously busy.. but it's good if you enjoy a challenge! There are progression opportunities- you can first do the NVQ to become a medicines counter assistant and from there you can do the NVQ2 dispensing course, but it really depends on if the pharmacy need a dispenser as sometimes they aren't willing to offer the training if they already have that role filled.

I did enjoy my time in pharmacy and met some lovely people, it can also be a really interesting and rewarding job! The last pharmacy I worked in was family-run and I absolutely loved it and made some friends for life there, the customers were lovely too (albeit some rude ones but you'd get that anywhere), I only left to have a baby.. I would've definitely stayed otherwise! It sounds like you'd be well suited to the role so why not give it a go? X

Well I always thought this chemist, which I have been a customer of for a number of years, was independent, but I now think it could be part of a lesser well known chain. It is small, maybe five or six members of staff which I liked. I wouldn’t know at this point what support they might offer for training but if they want to talk to me I will ask about it.

Not a pharmacist but for the interview I would look up OTC vs Pharmacy medicines. Having the knowledge of how the medicines get to market maybe of advantage. ICH website I have linked below.

www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-licence-to-market-a-medicine-in-the-uk

www.ich.org/page/ich-guidelines

@BackAway

Sorry OP, my post was aimed the “the world” rather than you 😆 my apologies.

In all seriousness, I am mid thirties and finding it hard in pharmacy just being on my feet all day. There is a physical side to it that isn’t necessarily obvious. But of course depends on you, your fitness level and how many hours you do.

I hadn’t really thought about being on my feet all day, my previous career was very much sedentary! I think in terms of fitness I am probably about average, possibly slightly below average, for a person in their early 50s. I don’t have any health problems though and this year I have been volunteering at vaccination centres and that has involved four hours (shift length) on my feet without a break which was fine for me. I think being on my feet more might be good for me, once I get used to it anyway!

Oh and the job advertisement mention 40 hours a week. The pharmacy is open until 2pm on a Saturday so I had assumed there would be some Saturday working, hoping it won’t be more than one in three.

I manage a pharmacy and what's been said above is correct. It will depend on how many items the pharmacy does a month as to how busy it is, how many dispensers there are and if you are allowed to book locums to help during busy periods.

It can be mentally taxing, physically demanding and the abuse that can be hurled at you is unbelievable. Usually along the lines of I've just seen the doctor and they said my prescription would be ready in 10 minutes, yeah that's not how it works! I've been called fucking thick, stupid bitch and more. You get men that get a kick out of discussing the rash on their penis or groin area and watching you squirm.

All that said, it is a rewarding job and you go home at the end of the day feeling satisfied that you've helped so many people.