Pharmacy Technician Career Journey: Chris Shares His Experience at Boots

Chris is a Pharmacy Technician at Boots who supports patients with medication management, accuracy checking, healthcare services, and team leadership. In this story, he shares how he started his pharmacy career, the training and support he received, and why he finds helping patients one of the most rewarding parts of the role.

What initially attracted you to becoming a Pharmacy Technician?

One of the things that initially attracted me to becoming a Pharmacy Technician was the opportunity to help people in a meaningful way every day. I was interested in developing my healthcare knowledge and wanted to be able to help customers and colleagues alike further, while learning new things all the time in a constantly changing role. I also like the balance of customer interaction, problem-solving, and attention to detail that the role involves, including accuracy checking, consultations and selling and counselling of over the counter (OTC) medications.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding?

The most rewarding part of Pharmacy Technician career is helping people every day. This includes helping with medicine optimisation, so people can get the most benefit from their prescribed medicines. Another example of this is Medisure pack (compliance aid) dispensing and checking, for people who have difficulty managing their medications or have care packages in place to help with their dosage timings. It’s very satisfying to answer patient questions, support them with new medicines and check that they are prescribed and prepared accurately.

I also love the leadership side of the role, being able to lead the healthcare team, develop and train new team members and experienced dispensers alike, in a constantly changing environment. Building relationships with regular patients and colleagues makes the job much more enjoyable.

How has your role changed or developed since you first started?

From when I first started, the role has changed greatly. The Pharmacy Technician is now the lead in the pharmacy; this frees up the pharmacist to conduct clinical checks, services and have important patient interactions. When I first started in my role, the pharmacist was in charge of the majority of the accuracy checking of dispensed items, conducting a weekly controlled drug balance, handling queries and hand out questions etc. Now, these are all roles I can conduct as a Pharmacy Technician, and the scope for the role to develop is always there. This has given me a much greater sense of responsibility, which in turn has helped me improve my confidence in my knowledge, communication skills and ability to support patients and colleagues every single day to make a difference. I am always looking forward to the next opportunity to grow and change in my role.

What kind of support or mentoring have you received along the way?

Boots have been fantastic at supporting my learning and development. Once I registered my interest, Boots put me through and financed the Buttercups Pharmacy Technician Training Programme, which was perfect for me as I love on the job learning and the opportunity to use my daily role to develop. As part of the programme, I had an external tutor from Buttercups, but I was also working under the support of a workplace training supervisor every day. For me, this was fantastic as the store I was working in had two extremely experienced pharmacists who were able to help me with my workload, conduct monthly reviews and support me with any coursework, assignments, OSCE’s or any exams that I had to prepare for. Once I finished the two-year course, I was put straight on to my Accuracy Checking Pharmacy Technician training, which enables me to data accuracy check prescriptions, accuracy check Medisure packs, and all items that have been clinically checked and dispensed by another team member. Again, this was alongside a workplace training supervisor, but for me included the two Pharmacists, as well as other Pharmacy Technicians with accuracy checking capabilities, enabling me to learn the correct way to check all items as per standard operating procedures (SOPs) with maximum accuracy. As well as this, we have a vast chain of support, including the Pharmacy Helpdesk, Pharmacy Support Managers and an endless number of experienced colleagues to answer any questions or help find solutions. In the future, I aim to do my gateway vaccination training, to be able to support in administering Flu vaccinations and other private services.

How do ongoing training and learning help you in your job?

Ongoing training and learning help me in my job every day. As a Pharmacy Technician, we get protected learning time to be able to develop our knowledge and skills. These include specific Pharmacy Technician days at our training centre and annual CPD days to help supplement my annual CPD submission. As well as this, we are constantly able to develop our knowledge and skills through the Boots Learning Hub, enabling us to learn more about seasonal topics such as allergies, vaccinations and the new prescription only medicines (POM) to pharmacy medicine switches, enabling Pharmacy Technicians to do over the counter consultations for things like erectile dysfunction and daily contraceptives. I have also been able to do my training on hypertension and can now conduct blood pressure checks and other services in the consultation room, which before were pharmacist led. As well as this, Boots have partnered up with Macmillan Cancer Support and alongside my training I was able to conduct a course from Boots and Macmillan to become a Boots Macmillan Information Pharmacy Technician and be able to support people and the families of people who are going through cancer diagnoses and/or treatment and give them advice on lifestyle, signposting and give support by listening and being someone they can talk to, in order to help take pressure off them as they go through their journey.

What would you say to someone thinking about starting this career path?

If someone was thinking about starting a career as a Pharmacy Technician, I would definitely encourage them to do it. For me, it has been a really rewarding career, which offers a good balance of healthcare, teamwork, and patient interaction. Every day is different, and you learn something new, which keeps the role interesting and gives you the opportunity to continue learning and developing new skills all the time.

I’d also say that it’s a career where you can genuinely make a difference to people. Even small things, like helping a patient understand their medication or simply offering reassurance, can have a positive impact on someone’s day. Over time, I’ve gained a lot of confidence, knowledge, and experience, both professionally and personally.

The role can definitely be busy and challenging at times, but that’s also part of what makes it rewarding. If you’re someone who enjoys helping others, working as part of a team, and being involved in healthcare, then pharmacy can offer a really fulfilling and varied career with lots of opportunities to grow.