My name is Zoe and I am a Pharmacy Technician working in Procurement for the Trust..

I am proud to work with such hard working and patient focused people in my department. We work in such a variety of roles, from medicines management technicians focusing on medicines reconciliation and safe use of patients own medicines on the ward, to supply technicians who process discharges, inpatient and stock requests daily to ensure the hospital continues to provide excellent patient care.

It is not a job I originally knew anything about before I came to work at the trust five years ago as an ATO in Pharmacy. But I really liked the way that technicians help keep the medicine supply chain flowing and enabling great patient care. I was amazed at how many of my colleagues work hard every single day to make sure that we supply discharge medication, inpatient supplies, clinic specific medication and ward stock to keep the medicine supply chain going through the hospital. Pharmacy Technicians provide a safe, secure and quality supply chain, from procurement all the way through to the patient – through a variety of roles.

I took the opportunity to train as a Pharmacy Technician within my department and learnt what it meant to be a registered professional. During my training I had to work with many different teams, including the procurement team helping to order, receive and source medications. Managing the supply chain effectively allows us to deliver outstanding patient care and I knew that’s where I wanted to work.

My current role enables me to manage supply shortages and issues, support the day to day ordering, maintain our contract compliance as well as support the day to day activities of our busy procurement team. I love my role as if we don’t get it right at procurement, we can’t ensure the quality of the medicines we are supplying to patients.