Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeship

In a community pharmacy, the technician processes prescriptions, prepares medications, manages inventory, serves and assists customers, all under a pharmacist’s supervision. They maintain patient records, ensure safety and confidentiality, and support daily operations.

What you'll do at work

• Prescription Processing: Receiving and entering prescription orders, verifying patient information, and preparing medications for dispensing.
• Medication Preparation: Counting, pouring, measuring, and labelling medications, including unit-dose packaging and reconstituting oral liquids.
• Inventory Management: Stocking shelves, checking for expired products, processing returns, and managing drug orders from wholesalers.
• Customer Service: Answering phone calls, assisting patients at the counter, processing insurance claims, and coordinating refills.
• Administrative Tasks: Maintaining patient records, managing work queues, and handling cash register transactions.
• Safety & Compliance: Following legal and ethical standards, protecting patient confidentiality, and referring all clinical questions (e.g., drug interactions, side effects) to the pharmacist.

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

What you'll learn

Course contents

• Recognise and work within their scope of practice and skills,
• Use relevant data and information to make effective decisions
• Accurately retrieve and reconcile information about a person’s medicines
• Accurately assemble prescribed items
• Issue prescribed medicines safely and effectively and take action to deal with discrepancies carry out an accuracy check of dispensed medicines and products
• Accurately perform pharmaceutical calculations to ensure the safety of people
• Apply the principles of clinical governance and ensure person’s confidentiality
• Assess a person’s present supply of medicines and order appropriate medicines and products.
• Receive requests for medicines, including prescriptions, and check for their validity, safety and clarity, taking action to deal with any problems with the person directly
• Demonstrate operational skills within their scope of practice
• Provide a safe, effective and responsive pharmacy service
• Take personal responsibility for the legal, safe and efficient supply of medicines
• Apply the principles of governance to pharmacy operational processes
• Ensure the confidentiality of patient data.
• Communicate and work effectively with members of the multidisciplinary team
• Explain the impact of audit and evaluation on the quality of pharmacy operations and services
• Engage others in the improvement of processes and systems
• Effectively use systems to support the safe and effective management and supply of medicines
• Listen to a person, understand their needs and interpret what matters to them.
• Give the person all relevant information and advice in a way they can understand, so they can make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing
• Optimise a person’s medicines to achieve the best possible outcomes.
• Obtain relevant information from people – including patients, carers and other healthcare professionals – and use it to optimise care appropriately
• Adapt information and communication to meet the needs of particular audiences
• Check and review their own and others work effectively
• Suggest and implement personal goals and methods of improvement
• Maintain CPD outcomes that meet with regulatory requirements
• Identify and respond effectively to errors and near misses
• Ensure effective safeguards are in place particularly for children and vulnerable adults
• Prioritise time and resources effectively to achieve local and national objectives
• Respond to medical emergencies
• Ensure that health and safety controls are embedded and working
• Effectively supervise other members of the team