Pharmacy assistant
Pharmacy assistants serve customers and patients in chemists and hospital dispensaries.
Typical Salary
£23,000 – £27,000
per year
Working Hours
35–40
hours per week
Day-to-day tasks
As a pharmacy assistant you could:
- serve customers and give advice about non-prescription items
- label products, stock shelves and put orders together
- take calls from GP surgeries, nursing homes and clinics
- deliver medicines to wards
- enter medicine data on computer systems
Skills needed
- customer service skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- the ability to work well with others
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- excellent verbal communication skills
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- to enjoy working with other people
- the ability to read English
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
How to get into this role
You can get into this job through:
- a college course
- an apprenticeship
- a trainee position
- applying directly
Career progression
With experience and a recognised qualification, you could become a senior pharmacy assistant, supervisor or manager.
With further training, you could become a pharmacy technician.