Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Pharmacy Dispensing Assistant
The closing date is 24 November 2026
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Job summary
Are you an enthusiastic and patient-focused person with an interest in developing your skills and knowledge in Pharmacy?
Are you currently working as a pharmacy dispenser in community or any other setting and are looking to gain experience in a hospital setting?
The Pharmacy Department at Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust is delighted to be able to offer a vacancy for a Pharmacy Dispensing Assistant to join our forward-thinking and innovative pharmacy departments.
You will be based at Whiston and St Helens Hospitals and will play an important role in providing 5-star patient care.
This is a challenging and rewarding job and you will need the following skills:

• A professional approach
• Excellent communication skills
• You should work well in a team and be proactive in your own job role
• Attention to detail, working accurately and to a high standard

Opportunities are available within the department to develop, and to train as a Pharmacy Technician.
Applicants must have an NVQ L2 in Pharmacy Service skills, or an equivalent GPhC approved dispensing qualification for Pharmacy support staff. (Certificates must be presented at interview.)

Main duties of the job
The post holder will participate with other team members of the pharmacy staff aiming to provide an efficient and comprehensive pharmaceutical service within the pharmacy departments of Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, under the direction of the Chief Pharmacist. Duties will include labelling, dispensing, stock rotation, storage, dealing with dispensary queries and patient counselling.

About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our Services:

• Acute Care: Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
• Primary Care: Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
• Community Services: Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
• Specialist Regional Services: We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

• Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
• Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers and Health Service Journal)
• National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing and AHP Preceptorship Programme

Details
Date posted: 10 November 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 3
Salary: £25,760 to £27,476 a year, per annum, pro rata
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
Reference number: 409-8182069-B
Job locations: Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, L35 5DR, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities
For further information please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification.
This post will be subject to a standard DBS (with barred list for Adults and Childrens disclosure).
Please note this vacancy may close early if a sufficient number of applications is reached.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential: Has completed a recognised dispensing qualification; NVQ level 2 Pharmacy services qualification
Experience
Essential: Experience working in a Pharmacy environment with demonstrable understanding of procedures gained through additional role-based training up to NVQ level 3; Experience of Working with computer systems
Desirable: Experience in using CMM/EMIS Pharmacy Computer System(s)
Skills
Essential: Good verbal and communication skills both face to face and using telephones; Ability to talk to patients, staff and other senior health professionals; Ability to work accurately and efficiently with good attention to detail; Good administration skills including record-keeping; Ability to concentrate for long periods of time and able work under pressure; Hardworking with a determination to overcome obstacles and understand the importance and context of the role; Self-motivated team player with the ability to motivate the team performance to achieve objectives; Reliable and well organised with good time management skills
Other
Essential: Ability to travel between hospital sites; Present professional image/appearance; Supportive of colleagues of all grades; Ability to participate in the departmental rota for late and weekend working
Our Values
Essential: We are Kind; We are Open; We are Inclusive

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer details
Employer name: Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Address: Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, L35 5DR, United Kingdom
Employer's website: https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/

Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact: Chief Pharmacy Technician - Dispensary / Stores, Gill Eddleston, gillian.eddleston@merseywestlancs.nhs.uk, 01512904289

Supporting documents
Privacy notice: Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust's privacy notice