Pre-Registration Pharmacy Technician Apprentice
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) provides a full range of general acute, outpatient and diagnostic services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford, and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.
Our values
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) promise to our patients, as identified by our three values which will contribute to improving our patients’ experiences, is:
Patient at heart – Always holding the patient and their wellbeing at the centre of our thoughts and efforts.
Everyday excellence – Sharing and celebrating our successes, being honest when we get it wrong, giving us the ability to learn from both.
Creative collaboration – Knowing strength comes from diversity, we combine our experiences, skills and talents, working together to find new and better ways to care.
Job overview
We are looking for extremely motivated individuals to join our dynamic team to train to become Pharmacy Technicians registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). These highly sought after posts will start on 22nd September 2025 and successful candidates will work full time, gaining all necessary practical skills as well as being released for weekly study sessions and committing own time to study.
This is a fantastic opportunity for individuals with Pharmacy experience to progress their career, or people who may want to start or change their career and who have a passion for helping others to manage their health conditions with medicines.
Main duties of the job
As a Pharmacy Technician Apprentice you will be trained with the knowledge and skills to optimise patients’ use of medicines:
In the dispensary to dispense medication including controlled drugs, receive and validate prescriptions, communicate with patients and other healthcare professionals and accuracy check prescriptions before release.
In the ward setting: Work as part of a multi-professional team to check patients own drugs and supply medications for individuals, take patient drug histories, undertake medicines reconciliation, counsel patients on the use of their medicines as required under supervision of a pharmacist or pharmacy technician.
In other Pharmacy areas: to gain knowledge and understanding of the full range of duties undertaken by Pharmacy staff.
You will be expected to develop leadership skills that reflect the regulatory requirements of the profession.
You will complete study days, assignments and assessments through the University of East Anglia to provide you with the knowledge required for the role and will be trained in person on the job and be assessed regularly by experienced work based assessors in order to build up your skills in all the required areas through a structured timetable.
Working for our organisation
Our Organisation
The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) provides a full range of general acute, outpatient and diagnostic services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford, and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.
We employ 3,500 staff and serve a local population of around 350,000 people living in west Essex and east Hertfordshire, centred on the M11 corridor and the towns of Harlow, Bishop’s Stortford and Epping. Our extended catchment area incorporates a population of up to 500,000 and includes the areas of Hoddesdon, Cheshunt and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire.
Our Values
The Princess Alexandra Promise to our patients as identified by our 3 values which will contribute to improving our patient experiences:
Patient at heart – Always holding the patient and their wellbeing at the centre of our thoughts and efforts
Everyday excellence – Sharing and celebrating our successes, being honest when we get it wrong, giving us the ability to learn from both
Creative collaboration – Knowing strength comes from diversity, we combine our experiences, skills and talents, working together to find new and better ways to care
The Trust believes in investing in all our staff and rewarding high standards of care whilst building for excellence and in return we expect our staff to uphold the Trust values to the highest level.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification, available to download at any time.
All applicants will need to be eligible for apprenticeship funding and be able to register as a Pharmacy Technicians with the GPhC post qualification.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- 4 GCSEs or equivalent in Maths, English, Science and one other, grade C/level 4 or above
- NVQ level 2 Certificate in Pharmacy Service Skills or equivalent
Experience
Desirable criteria- Hospital Experience
- Pharmaceutical Experience
Skills
Essential criteria- Good communication skills
- Ability to develop leadership skills
What we can offer you:
- Full induction and onboarding process in our organisation
- Free car parking for our staff
- Structured pay scheme, including additional living supplement to your basic salary
- Minimum 27 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time staff)
- Access to our Alex Lounge, our staff only rest area with free tea and coffee
- Access to NHS Pension scheme
- Flexible working options available, in line with our flexible working policy
- Onsite creche facilities
- Annual appraisals with career pathways
- In-house training courses
- Discounted hospital restaurant
- Staff health and wellbeing health services and complimentary health provision
- Our Trust is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all its employees. We welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy, religion or belief or sexual orientation. Reasonable adjustments to the interview process can also be made for any candidates with a disability
- All new colleagues joining PAHT will be subject to a probationary period of six months
- The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions where we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. It is therefore advisable that you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment
- Our Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and vulnerable adults. Offers of employment are subject to pre-employment NHS screening checks
- Providing false or misleading information or unsatisfactory pre-employment checks may result in the offer of a post being withdrawn