Open Awards · RQF Level 2
Open Awards Level 2 Technical Occupational Entry in the Principles and Practice for Pharmacy Support Staff (Certificate) (RQF)
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 2
- Total credits36
- Guided learning265 hours
- Units in this qualification8
Awarded by Open Awards · on the Ofqual register
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Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
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What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
This Level 2 certificate is aimed at individuals seeking an entry-level role as pharmacy support staff. It covers the principles and practices required to work safely and effectively in a pharmacy setting, including dispensing, stock management, and teamwork.
These are the units Open Awards registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Dispensing and Supply of Medicines and Medicinal ProductsReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Explain the requirements of own role in relation to dispensing and supply of medicines
- Explain the requirements of own role in relation to dispensing and supply of medicinal products
- Receive prescriptions accurately
- Assemble prescribed items correctly
- Dispense prescribed items accurately
- Complete in-process accuracy checks on prescribed products
- Complete in-process accuracy checks on medicines
- Issue prescribed items according to procedures
Effective Teamwork and Communication in a Pharmacy SettingReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Explain the factors that contribute to effective team working
- Work effectively with other members of the pharmacy services teams
- Explain the importance of communicating effectively in a pharmacy setting
- Describe how to manage information in a pharmacy setting
- Describe how to record information in a pharmacy setting
Managing Pharmaceutical StockReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements of own role in relation to managing pharmaceutical stock within the pharmacy.
- Understand the different types of pharmaceutical stock commonly found in a pharmacy setting.
- Accurately order pharmaceutical stock according to established procedures.
- Safely and efficiently receive pharmaceutical stock deliveries.
- Maintain pharmaceutical stock in accordance with legal and organisational requirements.
- Issue pharmaceutical stock to patients or other healthcare professionals, following correct procedures.
Person-Centred Care in a Pharmacy SettingReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Provide person-centred care in a pharmacy setting, taking into account individual needs and preferences.
- Understand how health inequalities affect different parts of society and how this impacts on pharmacy services.
- Identify and respond to safeguarding concerns in a pharmacy setting, following organisational procedures.
Principles of Health and Safety in a Pharmacy SettingReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Describe how to work safely in a pharmacy setting
- Identify risks in a workplace environment
- Identify hazards in a workplace environment
- Describe appropriate action to be taken in response to incidents following local guidelines
- Describe appropriate action to be taken in response to emergencies following local guidelines
Roles, Responsibilities and Personal Development in Pharmacy ServicesReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Know the roles and responsibilities of the pharmacy and healthcare team members within the pharmacy setting.
- Recognise and act within the pharmacy regulatory, legal and ethical standards relevant to own role.
- Develop own practice through reflective practice and continuing professional development.
Safe Preparation and Manufacturing of Medicines and Pharmaceutical ProductsReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Explain legal requirements for the preparation and manufacture of pharmaceutical products
- Explain regulatory requirements for the preparation and manufacture of pharmaceutical products
- Explain organisational requirements for the preparation and manufacture of pharmaceutical products
- Explain the importance of environmental hygiene within pharmaceutical manufacturing
- Explain the importance of personal hygiene within pharmaceutical manufacturing
- Perform calculations related to the manufacture of pharmaceutical products accurately
- Support the safe preparation of pharmaceutical products
- Support the safe manufacturing of pharmaceutical products
- Explain quality assurance processes relating to the preparation of pharmaceutical products
- Explain quality assurance processes relating to the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products
Selling Over the Counter Medicines and ProductsReal unit · Open Awards
What you'll be able to do
- Assist with the sale of over the counter medicines and products in a pharmacy.
- Know about the common medicines that can be sold over the counter, including their uses, dosages, and potential side effects.
- Identify the needs of individuals seeking over the counter medicines and products.
- Provide appropriate advice and recommend suitable over the counter medicines or products, within the limits of own competence.
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 2 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- Develop, implement and maintain a quality system to control the distribution of medicinal products
- Dispense Aliquots of Radioactive and Non-Radioactive Medicinal Products for Immediate Use
- Dispense Patient-Specific Anti-Cancer Therapy Doses
- Dispense herbal medicines and products
- Dispense homeopathic remedies for an individual
- Dispense medication after transplantation
- Manage resources to comply with the requirements of Good Distribution Practice
- Release manufactured radioactive medicinal products suitable for clinical use
Where this can lead
Pharmaceutical Compliance Specialist
Your career here isn't just a ladder; it's more like a climbing frame. There are many ways to grow, whether you want to lead people, become a deep technical expert, or move into broader strategic roles. We're committed to helping you find the path that excites you most and provides the most impact.
See the whole journey →Showing 3 roles, drawn from 4 job records mapped to this qualification.
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your work in any of these jobs
Learners will gain knowledge and skills to dispense and supply medicines and medicinal products accurately and safely. The unit covers legal, ethical, and organisational requirements, as well as the roles and responsibilities involved in receiving prescriptions, assembling items, and conducting accuracy checks.
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for Open Awards Level 2 Technical Occupational Entry in the Principles and Practice for Pharmacy Support Staff (Certificate) (RQF)
8 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Open Awards.
- Dispensing and Supply of Medicines and Medicinal Products
- Effective Teamwork and Communication in a Pharmacy Setting
- Managing Pharmaceutical Stock
- Person-Centred Care in a Pharmacy Setting
- Principles of Health and Safety in a Pharmacy Setting
- Roles, Responsibilities and Personal Development in Pharmacy Services
and 2 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.