What is a Pharmacy Services Assistant?
A role to aspire to
You’ve seen it yourself. When you visit the pharmacy to pick up a prescription or shop for toiletries and remedies, behind the counter, in a well-lit area off limits to customers, is a hive of activity.
Several members of staff labelling, organising, and sorting medications, ensuring that the right people get the right prescriptions, that the dosages are correct, and that there is enough stock for everyone who needs them.
What you might not know, is that each of those people has a different job role, and unique set of skills – all of which are essential to the process. One of those roles is Pharmacy Services Assistant.
What does this role entail? What skills are needed to carry it out? How important is it in the wider scope of the care sector?
tend is here to break it all down. Let’s explore this role together.
So, what exactly is a Pharmacy Services Assistant (PSA)?
Sometimes called Pharmacy Assistant, Medicines Counter Assistant or Dispensary Assistant, Pharmacy Services Assistant is an essential, frontline role in local chemists and city hospitals. The PSA supports pharmacists and pharmacy technicians with the safe, effective, and person-centred delivery of medicines and healthcare services.
Key responsibilities of the role include:
- Providing customer service excellence
- Supporting the safe supply of medications
- Supervised assistance with dispensing practices
- Maintaining stock levels
- Processing orders
- Keeping records
- Offering healthy living advice to customers
- Supporting administrative duties
- Helping with day-to-day pharmacy operations
The PSA roles is a terrific entry point into a pharmacy career, and a strong first step to becoming a Pharmacy Technician, or progressing into clinical support pathways.
What does a Pharmacy Services Assistant (PSA) do?
The role of a PSA in any pharmacy is usually broken down into the following responsibilities:
- Serving customers – greeting and supporting patients, helping people safely select the most appropriate over-the-counter remedies, giving advice on minor ailments, and recommending appropriate over-the-counter remedies.
- Supporting the safe supply of medications – under the supervision of a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, PSAs help prepare prescriptions, label medicines, package items, manage repeat prescriptions, and assist with accuracy checks.
- Managing stock and inventory – ordering and unpacking stock, managing expiry dates, maintaining safe medicine storage conditions, identifying stock shortages and alternatives, managing controlled drug processes at a basic level
- Admin support – using in-house pharmacy computer system, managing patient records, processing payments/cash handling, supporting audits and quality improvements, handling NHS Services admin, such as flu clinics and health checks.
- Promoting health and wellbeing – giving healthy lifestyle advice, having conversations with people about losing weight or giving up smoking, creating awareness around the safe use of medicines, signposting to GP or urgent care services if needs be.
As you can see, the PSA role is of massive value both to customers/patients, and pharmacists and pharmacy technicians alike.
What skills do you need to become a Pharmacy Services Assistant?
People skills are obviously vital to a Pharmacy Services Assistant’s role. Empathy is essential in any customer-facing role. To be a PSA, you’ll need to be able to support those who are:
- Unwell
- Anxious
- Confused about medicines
- Managing long-term conditions
- Supporting children, older adults, or people with complex care needs
For these reasons, clear, empathetic communication is essential to a PSA’s success, as is attention to detail. Medication handling requires absolute accuracy and consistency, which means being confident with:
- Labelling
- Dosage information
- Following processes to the letter
- Identifying discrepancies
- Correct prescription processing
In addition to these things, a PSA is often a master problem-solver. If you are the kind of person who takes initiative, and recognises patterns or spots discrepancies really easily, the Pharmacy Services Assistant role may be perfect for you. It’s also ideal if you’re the sort of person who is not afraid to ask clarifying questions. The more, the better!
PSAs need to be super-organised. Pharmacies juggle walk-in queries, retail tasks, and IT/digital skills. At the same time, there’s dispensing, managing vaccination clinics, and preparing subscriptions for delivery on collection. There’s always a lot going on inside the average pharmacy, and PSAs are there to support all of it.
PSAs are also responsible for handling sensitive medical information. This also means complying with GDPR, NHS confidentiality guidelines, and pharmacy standard operating procedures.
Where does the Pharmacy Services Assistant role fit into the wider care sector?
A PSA is the bridge between community healthcare, primary care, and social care. It supports public health through lifestyle advice, early intervention, and medication support. For that reason, it helps to take pressure off GP surgeries and A&E facilities.
The PSA role also supports those with complex needs. Patients who need multiple medications, for example, and making sure none of them clash in negative ways. Or, helping people with social vulnerabilities get the support they need.
PSAs form an important part of integrated community care. They work with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, but also, GPs, nurses, social care services, hospital staff, and more. This makes the role truly central to the wider health and care workforce.
How apprenticeships prepare PSAs for their role
Apprenticeships are perfect for people who are passionate about becoming PSAs. tend for example, has now launched a brand-new HSA Level 2 Pharmacy Services Assistant apprenticeship.
This comprehensive PSA programme gives learners:
- Practical experience in pharmacy
- Supervised skills development
- Confidence in safely handling medicines
- An accredited qualification
- Real-world experience with actual patients
- The foundation to progress to Level 3 Pharmacy Technician roles
With apprenticeships now being the number one route for workers entering the care sector, this is a powerful path to take. The course includes modules on:
- Safe dispensing and supply processes
- Pharmacy law and governance
- Record keeping
- Data handling
- Stock control
- Understanding medicine storage
- Patient communication
- Healthy lifestyle promotion knowledge
- Dealing with prescriptions
Not only do PSA apprentices acquire these core skills, but they are also guided to develop professional behaviours that are crucial to the role. Elements such as:
- Ethical practices
- Teamwork
- Resilience
- Problem-solving
- Person-centred service
Apprenticeship programmes also mix theory and structured learning with real-world experience. Earning while learning means being able to apply new skills in the workplace instantly, while also integrating actual scenarios into the learning journey. PSA apprentices serve real customers and patients, receive supervision and guidance from more experienced staff members, all while receiving world-class teaching and support from a personal, sector-qualified Development Coach.
Why tend is a great choice for aspiring Pharmacy Services Assistants
Unlike other, all-purpose training providers, tend specialises exclusively in health, social care, and pharmacy. Being care sector-specific means we are very attuned to the sector our learners are entering into, meaning we can tailor training to suit both individual and employer needs, as well as integrating elements that apply to the wider care community, such as person-centred practice, safeguarding, inclusive communication, and professional standards.
tend also helps learners and teams to build progression pathways. As mentioned, the Pharmacy Services Assistant role is often entry level. This means many PSAs want career growth. No matter how our learners want to progress, tend tailors a progression path that will take them there, and possibly beyond.
Some example pathways might include:
- PSA → Level 3 Pharmacy Technician
- PSA → Healthcare Assistant (hospital)
- PSA → Senior Pharmacy roles
- PSA → Leadership pathways through Level 3–5 programmes
tend will tailor your pathway to guide professionals to impactful and meaningful careers that are skills-rich, behaviour-balanced, and future-ready.
In the care sector, the term tend-trained is synonymous with excellence. Employers will know that a tend-trained professional is a capable, confident, and conscientious worker.
Final thoughts
Pharmacy is becoming increasingly important in the NHS. With so much pressure on GPs and hospitals, and resources stretched to maximum capacity, pharmacies are expanding their services, which means the UK needs more Pharmacy Services Assistants.
The PSA role is perfect for anyone who wants a meaningful, clinical-adjacent career. Apprenticeship pathways into the profession mean that individuals don’t necessarily need a degree or any previous experience. PSA apprentices will work in a real pharmacy environment while receiving world-class, structured learning.
Choosing tend means learners will have their programme tailored to both their individual and employer’s needs, and a pathway for future progression mapped out for them. Plus, because tend is a care sector-specific training provider, they are perfectly positioned to help pharmacy professionals navigate the care space in ways general training provider aren’t equipped for.
Being tend-trained equals excellence. The Pharmacy Services Assistant role is an incredible way to kick off any care career in a meaningful way. The difference with tend is that it enables learners to develop careers with heart, skills with purpose, and clear progression pathways that achieve even the highest aspirations in care.
Ready to explore the Level 2 Pharmacy Services Assistant apprenticeship in more detail? Reach out to our team today. Call 01753 596 004, or hit the button below.
