Haxby Group Pharmacy – Wigginton

Job Description

HAXBY GROUP PHARMACY LIMITED offers an exciting and varied training environment, well suited to a highly motivated, enthusiastic and hard working pre-registration student, who is keen to develop their clinical expertise within a busy community pharmacy setting.

Situated in the historic city of YORK, which was recently voted the most beautiful and desirable place to live in the UK, by volume our pharmacy group is the busiest in the region. This allows our students be exposed to a fast-paced and challenging environment, providing a solid foundation from which to begin a successful career.

Our independent pharmacy group consists of 6 pharmacies within the city, with placement available at both health centre and high street locations, so as a pre-registration trainee you will work a variety of different environments whilst shadowing your personal tutor. This allows for a unique learning experience – the diverse patient queries and situations faced throughout the day require you to use the resources available at that time to decide the best course of action to take.

Working alongside a range of healthcare professionals such as GPs, practice pharmacists and specialist nurses, our trainees can experience firsthand the benefits of an interprofessional approach to patient care. As a result, there are also opportunities to be involved with additional placements in a variety of clinical settings, such as nurse-lead diabetic and respiratory clinics. These can provide an in-depth insight into the different aspects of community healthcare, as well as an understanding of the pharmacists’ role in the multidisciplinary team. A further placement is organised at The York Hospital, giving the chance to experience the differences between the community and hospital sector, as well as providing a comprehensive overview of the role of the hospital pharmacy team.

During your placement with our group, you will be supported by a range of skilled and experienced employees. These include apprentice dispensing assistants, fully qualified dispensers, counter assistants with years of experience in the industry and accredited checking technicians. You will therefore be able to learn something different from everyone, from in-depth clinical knowledge to stock management to how to run an independent pharmacy business. We are a team focused on learning and development and are keen to help you understand and thrive in all aspects of community pharmacy, as well as achieve your pre-registration competencies. We were recently awarded Pharmacy Employer of the Year at a regional level for our dedicated and successful dispensing assistant apprenticeship programme, which further demonstrates our commitment to learning and development in the pharmacy sector.

Our pharmacists themselves come from a range of backgrounds and are all at different stages of their careers. Our newest recruits, one of whom was himself a pre-registration student with the company, have recently sat the new-style registration examination and can therefore offer a helpful insight into how to pass successfully. Our three tutors all have experience of providing pre-registration training and, resulting from extensive experience in a variety of pharmacy settings / completion of the postgraduate clinical diploma, can pass on an in-depth knowledge of medicines that is at the cutting edge of practice. Once a week you will have the opportunity to sit down with your tutor and discuss your progress over the past seven days. This is in addition to bi-monthly performance reviews, which give you the chance to receive constructive feedback, highlighting areas where you are performing strongly but also giving you the opportunity to discuss where you feel you need to focus your learning.

Further benefits of the program include fully-funded face-to-face external training days, designed to reinforce workplace training and get you into the best possible position to pass the registration exam with confidence. You will be involved in the provision of a variety of NHS services including Medicine Use Reviews, New Medicines Services and the Winter Flu Vaccination Programme, as well as private clinical services such as our travel clinic, which offers antimalarial medication and travel vaccinations. There will also be opportunities for wider experiences, with visits to other pharmacies under the same ownership. Here you can experience further pharmaceutical services such as MDS arrangements and the NHS Urgent Medicines Supply Advanced Service. Throughout your time with the company, there will be opportunities to be involved with blood pressure monitoring, measuring for compression hosiery, emergency supply of medicines, Summary Care Record accesses and more.

Over the years we have refined our training program to ensure our students are given the best possible chance of not only passing the exam, but also being able to work confidently as a responsible pharmacist from day one of practice. We have spaces for three pre-registration students, two full time at Haxby and one split between Haxby and a second site at Fulford, another village pharmacy on the outskirts of the city. This latter placement will allow the student an in-depth experience of two different pharmacy environments and will provide a good illustration of how aspects of community pharmacy can vary depending on the needs of the local area.

We have achieved a 100 % pass and employment rate for our students. We are looking forward to helping the next set of trainees join those ranks, and become competent, confident and employable pharmacists ready to face the challenges of this rapidly expanding area of healthcare.

Employee Benefits

Salary £20,800
External off site training program
4.2 weeks holidays plus bank holidays
Company pension scheme
T2 licence holder