Pharmacist
Pharmacists give advice on the use and supply of medicines and medical appliances.
What you'll do
Day-to-day tasks
As a pharmacist you could:
- dispense medicines in a pharmacy, hospital or GP practice
- give advice about prescriptions, drug dosages, risks and how to use and store medication
- run screening programmes and buy, test and distribute medicines in a hospital
- manage stock and supervise and train staff like junior pharmacists
- do research into new medicines or run clinical trials
Working environment
You could work in an NHS or private hospital, at a GP practice, at a university, at a store or at a research facility.
Career path and progression
With experience you could:
- progress to team manager, regional or national manager or become a pharmacy consultant
- work in a GP practice, health centre or set up your own community pharmacy business
- work as a pharmacist in the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy or Army
- move into teaching, scientific journalism or publishing
- do a postgraduate qualification in a subject like toxicology or pharmacology and move into research
You can find more information about developing your career in pharmacy from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
What it takes
Skills and knowledge
You'll need:
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
- sensitivity and understanding
- customer service skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- maths knowledge
- excellent verbal communication skills
- the ability to read English
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
Restrictions and Requirements
You'll need to:
- pass background checks
How to become
You can get into this job through a university course.
To become a pharmacist, you'll need to complete a master's of pharmacy (MPharm) degree, approved by the General Pharmaceutical Council which takes 4 years.
You'll then need to complete the pharmacist foundation training scheme which takes 1 year.
If you do not have the qualifications to get onto a master's of pharmacy degree, you could do a pharmacy foundation degree which takes 2 years.
You could then take a job as a pharmacy assistant or pharmacy technician and apply to join the master's degree in its second year.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- at least 1 A level, or equivalent, for a foundation degree
- 2 or 3 A levels, or equivalent, including chemistry
More Information
Registration
- you'll need to register with the General Pharmaceutical Council
Further information
You can find out more about becoming a pharmacist from Health Careers and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
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External links
This page contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.