Your role as a Locum Pharmacist is crucial in supporting the management of medical conditions and an integral part of patient care. 

What is a Locum Pharmacist?

A Pharmacist is a qualified medical professional with expertise in medicines, their uses, applications, effects on the human body and how they work and interact with other drugs. Pharmacists are experts in the formulation, compounding, storage and dispensing of medications.

As a Locum Pharmacist, you’re a pharmacist who is self-employed. You work for pharmacies (clients) who pay you directly for the services you provide.

Your day-to-day tasks and work activities are varied, but can include any or all of the following:

  • Accurately filing drugs and pharmaceutical supplies
  • Giving advice and information to the public to ensure the safe use of medications
  • Advising patients and customers on over-the-counter treatments for minor ailments
  • Signposting patients to useful services and treatment options
  • Reviewing prescriptions, evaluating suitability, and packaging, labelling and dispensing medicines
  • Planning, monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality and effectiveness of drugs
  • Advising healthcare professionals on safe drug dosages, suitability, usage and treatments
  • Maintaining quality of supplied medicines and supervising the supply chain
  • Upholding the law for pharmaceutical products, prescriptions and the supply of medicines
  • Providing health services such as blood pressure measurement, cholesterol management and diabetes screening
  • Protecting patients and colleagues through infection control measures
  • Keeping a register of controlled drugs for legal and stock control purposes
  • Ordering and purchasing supplies to maintain stock
  • Arranging for medication deliveries in the community
  • Disposal of unwanted medicines

Why should I become a Locum Pharmacist?

There are plenty of reasons to become a Locum Pharmacist with New Directions Pharmacy.

Being a Locum Pharmacist gives you the freedom for new and exciting opportunities that suit your professional and personal life.

As one of the leading recruitment providers to the pharmacy sector, we always have vacancies for you to:

  • Enjoy flexibility and a good work/life balance
  • Work as many or as few days as you want
  • Try different work settings and find new ways of working
  • Gain a wide range of experiences
  • Experience best practice and expand your skillset
  • Network and build up industry contacts
  • Build up industry knowledge and your confidence

Where and when can I work as a Locum Pharmacist?

We place Locum Pharmacists to work in multiple settings. You can select work suitable to you and choose from a range of options, including:

  • Local and independent community pharmacies
  • Large high-street national companies and supermarkets
  • Public sector organisations such as the Ministry of Defence and prison service
  • Hospitals (NHS or private)
  • GP surgeries
  • Veterinary pharmacies
  • Clinics and health centres
  • Pharmaceutical production companies

The location and type of pharmacy you work in can determine when you work. For example, some pharmacies are open for extended hours and provide out-of-hours services. Therefore, shift work, long hours, weekend work and rotas may be involved.

Who can be a Locum Pharmacist?

As a responsible recruitment provider, we carefully check your qualifications and training during the registration process to make sure you meet the regulatory requirements to work as a Locum Pharmacist. This is because the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) requires all staff working in a pharmacy environment to be appropriately trained for the role they are carrying out.

To be a Pharmacist, you must have:

  • MPharm qualification (an GPhC-accredited master’s degree programme in pharmacy)
  • One-year pre-registration training placement in a pharmacy
  • Successfully passed the GPhC registration exam

After you’ve completed these requirements, your name is added to the GPhC register and we check this to ensure you’re practicing legally. You may be required to undergo a DBS Check prior to employment.

How do I register to work as a Locum Pharmacist?

You are required to have a minimum of six months of experience working in a UK dispensary setting before we can register you for work. This is the case for all candidates.

If you have the experience,register with New Directions Pharmacy today. Our friendly Account Managers are waiting to start the process of placing you into work.

If you don’t have the experience yet,contact us today and we’ll make sure we stay in touch. This will help us place you straight into work as soon as you have the experience you need.