UK Status

Traditionally, pharmacy technicians have worked alongside pharmacists in community and hospital pharmacy. Changes within pharmacy provide an opportunity for role expansion and with no apparent career pathway, there is a need to define the current pharmacy technician role and role in medicines optimisation. Aim: To capture the current roles of pharmacy technicians and identify how their future role will contribute to medicines optimisation. Methods: Following ethical approval and piloting, an online survey to ascertain pharmacy technicians’ views about their roles was undertaken. Recruitment took place in collaboration with the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK. Data were exported to SPSS, data screened and descriptive statistics produced. Free text responses were analysed and tasks collated into categories reflecting the type of work involved in each task. Results: Responses received were 393 (28%, n = 1380). Results were organised into five groups: i.e., hospital, community, primary care, General Practitioner (GP) practice and other (which included HM Prison Service). Thirty tasks were reported as commonly undertaken in three or more settings and 206 (84.7%, n = 243) pharmacy technicians reported they would like to expand their role. Conclusions: Tasks core to hospital and community pharmacy should be considered for inclusion to initial education standards to reflect current practice. Post qualification, pharmacy technicians indicate a significant desire to expand clinically and managerially allowing pharmacists more time in patient-facing/clinical roles.

Pharmacy technicians in the UK (except Northern Ireland) have been registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) since July 2011. National registration for pharmacy technicians in other countries is not currently a requirement.

Pharmacy technicians, also known as dispensary technicians in Australia, have traditionally worked alongside pharmacists in community and hospital pharmacy settings and have been based primarily in the pharmacy dispensary. Described as ‘a vital part of the pharmacy team’, their primary role has been the preparation and supply of medicines and healthcare products, often with additional advice and guidance. In addition to the supply of medicines via prescription, the pharmacy technician role has included production and provision of aseptically prepared medicines, extemporaneous medicines preparation and supply of medicines for clinical trials.

Increasingly, pharmacy technicians are undertaking more generic medicines management based roles and as a result of Audit Commission’s publication ‘A spoonful of sugar, Medicines Management in NHS Hospitals’ the last 15 years has seen a significant change in the role of the pharmacy technician. The main recommendations for pharmacists to work more closely with patients and provide clinical services resulted in a significant transfer of responsibility to pharmacy technicians. Within the UK hospital pharmacy environment, it is now not unusual for pharmacy technicians to manage the pharmacy dispensary and for them to work alongside pharmacists on the ward to ensure that tasks are undertaken using the most appropriate skills mix. New key roles for hospital pharmacy technicians include the assessment of patients’ own drugs for use during a hospital stay, undertaking medicines reconciliation for patients on admission, supplying medicines to cover the duration of a patient stay and for the period immediately after their discharge.

The introduction of pharmacists into primary care led to working with general practitioners, advising on the evidence-based use of medicines, medication safety and managing prescribing budgets. This work led to the creation of the primary care pharmacy technician who was again required to support the pharmacist in this role, and again this ensured that the person with the most appropriate skills is used for each task. Supported by a significant contract change in 2005, the government’s vision for the role of the community pharmacist has equally changed from the supply of medicines to the provision of patient care. United Kingdom law currently prevents pharmacists from leaving the pharmacy for significant periods of time and therefore pharmacy technicians have not been able to assume responsibility for all activity within the dispensary in the same manner as that seen in the hospital setting. Community-based pharmacy technicians are frequently used to provide elements of clinical and public health based services in collaboration with the community pharmacist. The advent of Healthy Living pharmacies where the accessibility of the community pharmacy was seen as providing an excellent opportunity to promote health, was perhaps the first time that pharmacy staff were recognised for their contribution to patient care as their ability to engage with the general public was seen as pivotal to the success to the service.

With these expanding and new patient-facing roles across all sectors, greater autonomy was essential to allow pharmacy technicians to make professional decisions. Represented professionally by the Association of Pharmacy Technicians (UK) (APTUK) since 1952, pharmacy technicians were not regulated. In 2001, the Audit Commission recommended to the then pharmacy regulator, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB), that they should consider the formal registration of pharmacy technicians. Voluntary registration was introduced in 2005 by the RPSGB and mandatory national registration introduced in 2011 (Pharmacy Order 2010) by the newly formed regulator General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

However, there is a paucity of research into the current roles and responsibilities of pharmacy technicians and little is known about the tasks they actually perform as part of their day-to-day work. To date, research on the roles of Pharmacy technicians in the UK relates to commissioned research for national enquiry with Schafheutle exploring the quality of the initial training and education for pharmacy technicians delivered by providers and Rosado presenting an analysis of Initial education and training standards for pharmacy technicians and their fitness for purpose. Post qualification education was not within the scope of either project.

Pharmacy technicians work with pharmacists, helping them to prepare, supply and store drugs. They prepare drugs according to prescriptions, working under the pharmacist’s supervision. Technicians work in community pharmacies (such as high street chemists’ shops) hospital pharmacies, primary care organisations and the pharmaceutical industry.

Also known as

• Dispensing Technician Dispensing Assistant
• Work Activities

Community pharmacy technicians work in places like high street and rural chemists’ shops and supermarket pharmacy departments. They prepare medicines according to prescriptions, and sell them to the public.

They must first read the prescription carefully to make sure they understand it and also to make sure that this really is a prescription from a doctor and not a forgery.

Preparing the medicine, under the pharmacist’s supervision, involves things like counting out tablets, measuring liquids, selecting the right tube of cream or bottle of medicine, and using a computer to produce a label, all according to the prescription.

Most medicines arrive at the pharmacy already made up, for example, in the form of tablets or liquid. Sometimes, the technician will need to make a special preparation, for example, mixing ingredients to make an ointment. Following a formula, they work out the amount of each ingredient they need. The pharmacist will check the calculations and the medicine when the technician has finished.

Pharmacy technicians explain to patients how to take medicines safely and in a way that should get the best results. They explain possible side-effects and ensure that the patient is not taking certain other types of medication at the same time, as these can make the treatment less effective or even cause a dangerous reaction.

Pharmacy technicians will refer to the pharmacist if they cannot answer the patient’s questions.

They also sell and give advice on ‘over-the-counter’ medicines and remedies, which the customer can buy without a prescription. They often also sell non-medical products such as camera products, baby food, makeup and toiletries.

Pharmacy technicians have clerical tasks such as keeping patient and prescription records and ordering new supplies of drugs when the pharmacy is running out of them. Most technicians use computers for these tasks.

Hospital pharmacy technicians also prepare drugs according to prescriptions. They advise nurses and other medical staff on how to store drugs and make sure that each ward has the supplies in the correct dosage for each patient.

They carry supplies between the pharmacy and wards; they might take orders for new drugs. Pharmacy technicians have direct contact with patients onwards, and when they come into or leave the hospital. They advise patients on taking their medication and explain any possible side-effects to them. They use computers to monitor stock levels and order new supplies when needed.

In the pharmaceutical industry, technicians support the work of industrial pharmacists, who research and develop new drugs and medicines.

They manage the day-to-day running of the laboratory, doing things like setting up and clearing away equipment, controlling equipment stocks and recording experiment results. They might also help to run clinical trials (to make sure a medicine is safe and works well) or take part in quality control.

Pharmacy technicians also work for primary care organisations, which look after people’s health needs in a local area.

Here, technicians can be involved in monitoring the prescribing of medicines by GPs. Sometimes, they help in clinics, giving advice to patients.

It is also possible to train as an accuracy checking technician (ACT). This important role involves double-checking medicines, which allows the pharmacist more time to spend on their clinical role.

Experienced pharmacy technicians often have responsibility for managing some part of the pharmacy service they work in.

Being able to read, write and speak Welsh may be an advantage when you’re looking for work in Wales.

Personal Qualities and Skills

To be a pharmacy technician, you’ll need:

• A thorough and methodical approach to your work. Excellent attention to detail and to be highly accurate.
• Number skills.
• An interest in science.
• Teamwork skills.
• Communication skills to explain things clearly and give clear advice.

Community and hospital-based technicians need to be friendly and approachable, to work with the public. They also need a responsible attitude to protect customer/patient confidentiality.