Pharmacy Support Worker

Assistant Practitioner Mammographer

Staff Nurse

Assistant Practitioner Mammographer

Staff Nurse

Are you organised with good attention to detail? Do you work well in a team?

A Pharmacy Support Worker (may also be called a pharmacy assistant) in oncology (cancer care) will carry out a range of administrative and supportive tasks which will include helping to make chemotherapy treatment for patients. Chemotherapy is a mixture of drugs used to treat cancer.

Lauren and Millie started work as pharmacy support workers after leaving school. Lauren has completed her apprenticeship to become Advanced Pharmacy Support Workers and is now a registered Science Manufacturing Technicians. Millie has one year left on her apprenticeship.

As a Pharmacy Support Worker you are most likely to:
• work alongside other pharmacy staff supporting them with the daily running of the pharmacy
• have limited contact with patients but have an important role behind the scenes
• undertake tasks such as ordering medicines, processing orders, responding to queries or helping to pack, assemble and label medicines.

As a Science Manufacturing Technician you are most likely to:
• work in a sterile (aseptic) lab preparing the medicine (chemotherapy) that has been prescribed for each patient
• be knowledgeable and skilled in aseptic practice
• be part of a team with greater responsibility for your own work

Entry Requirements

Pharmacy Support roles require good literacy, numeracy and IT skills. GCSE Maths and English would be helpful but you can be supported to gain these qualifications if required.
Once in a PSW role you can learn on the job with apprenticeship training if you want to progress to the more advanced roles.
To do a L3/4 apprenticeship you would need a minimum of five A-C/9-4 grade GCSE’s including maths, English and a science or a higher level certificate for the Science Manufacturing Technician L3

Training Routes

Pharmacy support worker roles are available to school leavers after they have completed their GCSEs. Look out for Pharmacy Support Worker and Pharmacy Support Worker Apprenticeship roles.
A support worker could become a senior or advanced pharmacy support worker by undertaking a Pharmacy support worker apprenticeship (L2).
You could then specialise in your area of interest either via a Science Manufacturing Apprenticeship (L3) if you are interested in aseptics or Pharmacy Technician apprenticeship (L3).

Key Skills

You will be very organised with good attention to detail. You will be interested in healthcare but not necessarily wanting to work directly with the public. You need to be a good listener and able to read and follow instructions with a high level of accuracy. You should also be able to communicate with your colleagues and sometimes patients.

Career Development

A support worker can undertake various apprenticeships to become a senior pharmacy support worker such as:

Pharmacy support worker apprenticeship (L2)
Science Manufacturing Apprenticeship (L3)

With further training you could also go on to become a pharmacy technician.

Pay and benefits

Pharmacy Support Workers (sometimes called Pharmacy Assistants) typically start on a Band 2 or 3 on the Agenda for Change pay system.
There is the opportunity for progression as part of your job through apprenticeships taking you into more advanced roles.

FURTHER INFORMATION

As a science manufacturing technician you would be eligible to register with The Science Council.
If you trained to become a pharmacy technicians, to be able to practice you will need to be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
Explore other pharmacy careers on the Health Careers site.