Discover careers in pharmacy

Explore different roles including pharmacist, pharmacy technician and pharmacy assistant in hospital and community workplaces. Book on Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust’s after-school talk to hear a range of experts talk about their real-life experiences, explore different career pathways and find out which role is right for you.

A BrigHT futures@BHT talk aimed at secondary school students

While working in pharmacy could involve being based in the community, you’ll discover that this critical healthcare role is much wider than you might first think.

• You might be based in a GP surgery, health centre, clinic or nursing home supporting GPs and nurses. Or in a hospital, participating in ward rounds to take patient drug histories and speak to patient families.
• You might be preparing injectable chemotherapy medicines in a sterile, controlled environment or preparing intravenous feeds for babies born too early.
• You might be carefully managing the prescription of antibiotics, or a specialist supporting patients living with HIV to take anti-retroviral treatments safely and effectively.
• You might have gone to university or gone down an apprenticeship route straight from school.

Meet our team, learn about different options, get tips on applying and find out if pharmacy is the career for you!

AGENDA

4.45pm: Registration

5pm: Welcome to Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

• Samuel Bundu-Kamara, Chief Pharmacist, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

5.10pm: Pharmacy quiz

5.15pm: Pharmacist vs pharmacy technician – what’s the difference?

• Debbie Street, Principal Pharmacist – Education, Training and Workforce Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board

5.25pm: How to become a pharmacist

• Applying to university: Reading School of Pharmacy, University of Reading
• Work experience and holiday employment: Alexa Conrad, Pharmacist and Pharmacy Educational Programme Director, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
• An insight into being a trainee pharmacist: Lamya Kitabi

5.40pm: How to become and pharmacy technician or support worker  

• Charlie Leonard, Lead Education & Training Pharmacy Technician

5.55pm: 'Pick up the pills' medicine sorting game

6.05 – 6.25pm: Speciality guest speakers

• HIV specialist pharmacist: supporting patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to take anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment safely and effectively - Kate Russell-Hobbs, Advanced Specialist Pharmacist, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

• Antimicrobial stewardship: optimising how antibiotics are prescribed by clinicians and used by patients, locally and globally - Claire Brandish, Lead Anti-Infectives, Pharmacist, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

• Hospital pharmacy aseptics: preparing injectable medicines (eg chemotherapy) in a sterile, controlled environment - Holly Taylor, Lead Pharmacist, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

• Working in primary care: working in the local community supporting GPs, nurses, community pharmacists and other healthcare professionals - Rimple Patel, Clinical Director and Senior Clinical Pharmacist at Mid Chiltern PCN, BOB ICB PCN Liaison Pharmacist

6.25: Antibiotics quiz

6.35pm: Careers question time – put your questions to our panel of speakers

7pm: Close

FURTHER DETAILS ABOUT THE EVENT

• PARTICPANT AGE: This event is aimed at students in Year 7 and above at secondary school or college. Tickets are free and limited to one parent/carer to each young person. Over 16s are welcome to attend on their own with parent/carer consent. On the evening, seats will be prioritised for students, and parents/guardians may be requested to stand at the back.
• VENUE: The event will take place in the Sir Henry Floyd Building lecture theatre which is round the back of Stoke Mandeville Hospital. See Google Maps for an exact location: https://goo.gl/maps/5K5i9RyKhtSUq3c48 or ask for directions at the welcome desk in main reception.
• ARRIVAL TIME: Registration is from 4.45pm and we recommend arriving early to find a parking spot, or you can get dropped off right outside the Sir Henry Floyd Building.
• PARKING: There is visitor parking around the back of Stoke Mandeville Hospital, with usual charges applying. (Please do not park in staff car parking.) See our website for details: https://www.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/visiting-your-hospitals/visiting/stoke-mandeville-hospital/