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A Pharmacy Technician in the UK

This interview will give you an idea of what it is like to work as a pharmacy technician in the UK.
Apotektekniker henter medisiner
Pharmacy technician taking medicine from the shelf. Bilete: Jens Sølvberg / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Pre-listening task:

Before listening, check that you know the meaning of the following words: pharmaceutical, counter (in a shop), prescription, dispense, stock, blister pack, accuracy and tablet.

Listen to the following interview with a pharmacy technician in the UK and find out:

  • Where she works. (type of company - large/small, etc)
  • Where about in the UK she works.
  • Why she chose this profession.
  • What type of tasks she has to do on a typical day at work.
  • What personal qualities she suggests are needed by a pharmacy technician.
  • Does she describe any work processes or services that she provides?
  • What she likes best and least about her job.
  • How she thinks this line of work will change in the future.
  • Where she sees herself in 5 - 10 years' time.

Pharmacy Technician- Interview

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Lyd: James Vyner / CC BY-SA 4.0
A transcript of the interview

Hello and thank you for agreeing to do the interview. Can I start by asking what’s your name and profession?

My name is Mel Smith and I’m a pharmacy technician.

Where do you work, Mel?

I work for a large pharmaceutical company. It’s in Brighton, East Sussex.

Why did you choose this profession?

Well, I actually started out just working on a Saturday on the healthcare counter. And over the years, as I have increased my hours, I have gone through lots of training to get where I am today.


Can you perhaps describe what a typical day looks like in your line of work?

I take in prescriptions from the patients, dispense them as quickly and accurately as possible and then hand them out. I do stock rotation. I also do blister packs, which are for elderly patients who need extra help. And various other inquiry problems.

What personal qualities do you think you need?

Accuracy. Caring. Especially about each individual person.

Could you perhaps describe a service that you provide?

We provide a service called the Medisure. This involves making up blister packs for mostly the elderly population, who get confused with their tablets, or have carers. It just helps them to take their tablets daily, correctly, and we do this for about 70% of our patients.

What do you like least and best about your job?

I like interacting with the public. But, obviously, the thing I dislike the most is the public who aren’t very nice to me. But that’s not very often.

How do you think this line of work will change in the future?

At the moment it’s going through change with something called ‘electronic prescribing’ where the doctor literally presses a button on his computer and the prescription is sent directly to our computer, basically cutting out the need for the patient to pick the prescription up, go to the pharmacy. It just cuts out the middle-man, really. That’s going to be happening in the next year. It’s going to be a good thing, I think.

And where do you see yourself in five to ten years’ time?

Probably doing the same thing because I do enjoy my job.

Dialogue

After you have practised, add more dialogue for some of the following situations:

  • Mrs. Smith’s prescription has not come through yet from the doctor. The pharmacy technician suggests some reasons why it might be delayed. Mrs Smith is offered a seat where she can wait.
  • The prescription is for a blister pack and will take five minutes to make up.
  • Mrs. Smith wants to buy the painkillers without a prescription and is told that she has to go to her doctor first.