careers in cancer
Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
Palliative Care Nurse

Pharmacy Technician/ Operational Manager in Oncology Pharmacy

Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS)
Palliative Care Nurse

High accuracy and excellent at prioritisation?

A pharmacy technician in cancer care is a qualified professional responsible for making sure patients get the right medicine on time to help them with their cancer treatment. A highly varied role with full training and progression opportunities.

As a pharmacy technician you are most likely to:

  • Work alongside other pharmacy staff;
  • Be based within the a-sceptic unit making up medicines for different patients;
  • Complete checks to ensure the correct medicines, in the correct safe dose has been assembled;
  • Have different roles throughout the week at each stage of the process;
  • Be continually working to ensure each patient gets the correct medicine at the right time;
  • With progression you might have responsibility for ordering products or in managing the day to day running of the unit

Entry Requirements

You will need GCSE’s in Maths, English and preferably science to start a career as a pharmacy technician.

Training Routes

Pharmacy technicians often start in a training role within the department. They would need to complete an NVQ 3 and BTEC (or equivalent) whilst working full time in the unit and having day release to study before becoming registered as a pharmacy technician.

Key Skills

You will:

  • Be able to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment;
  • Have excellent prioritisation skills, ensuring medicines are produced in the correct order depending on work load and patient need;
  • Have high accuracy and attention to detail ensuring medicines are safe and correct for patients;
  • Be able to organise your workload, understanding what is needed to keep the process flowing;
  • Be flexible and able to work in different areas of the unit with varying responsibilities;
  • Be a team player, able to step into different roles and to support your peers;
  • Be highly patient focussed, understanding that everything you do will have a direct impact on individual patient care
  • Have an interest in growth and development.
Pharmacy Technician

Pay and benefits

Pharmacy technicians are paid on the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay system.
As a qualified pharmacy technician you would typically start on a Band 4 .

Career Development

Once qualified as a pharmacy technician you would typically do a rotational year experiencing different elements of pharmacy to decide where your skills are best suited.

For those looking for a career in cancer, aseptic roles are typically what technicians move into.

With a few years experience technicians can progress into senior or lead technician roles moving up to a Band 5.

With further professional development more senior roles such as an operational manager become available, although these roles tend to move away from the medicines side and focus on ensuring the smooth running of the service, meeting targets and managing staff.

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Pharmacy technician | Health Careers
Registering as a pharmacy technician
Pharmacy technician in primary care

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