After reading this guide you will know what each of the four pharmacy roles is for, what your own role
can see and do, why some screens are deliberately closed to some staff, and what to do when the app
refuses you an action.
Who does this? Everyone — this is the reference page for all pharmacy staff. It is also the page
to read when a colleague asks "why can't I see the Dispensary?" or "why is the Refund button missing?".
Your role is part of your login. It is set by your administrator when your account is created, and the
app decides what to show you from it. You cannot change your own role, and you should not need to.
Two things are worth knowing straight away, because they explain how the app behaves:
| Role | Who it is for | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Responsible Pharmacist | The pharmacist on duty | The clinical lead. The only role that can check, dispense and endorse a prescription, and the role the Responsible Pharmacist log is signed with |
| Dispensing Technician | Dispensing technicians and assistants | Prepares prescriptions: takes them from the queue, assembles them with their items, and handles stock |
| Counter Assistant | Counter and shop-floor staff | Sells over the counter and runs the till. No prescription surface at all |
| Business Manager | Owner or manager | The pharmacy's business side: premises details, stock, takings and refunds. No clinical act |
Read down the left for the screen, and across for the roles. Yes means the role can open it.
| Screen | Responsible Pharmacist | Dispensing Technician | Counter Assistant | Business Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Responsible Pharmacist log (view) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sign on as Responsible Pharmacist | Yes | No | No | No |
| Sign off the Responsible Pharmacist | Yes | No | No | No |
| Premises profile | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Premises verification | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Anyone may read the Responsible Pharmacist log, which is deliberate: knowing who is legally
responsible right now is useful to every member of staff. Only a pharmacist may sign it, which is
covered in Responsible Pharmacist — Sign On & Sign Off.
| Screen | Responsible Pharmacist | Dispensing Technician | Counter Assistant | Business Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dispensary queue | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Open a prescription | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Assemble (record items and quantities) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Accuracy check | Yes | No | No | No |
| Dispense | Yes | No | No | No |
| Endorse | Yes | No | No | No |
| Release a prescription back to the queue | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Cancel a prescription | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Dispensing history | Yes | Yes | No | No |
This is the part of the app most staff ask about, and it follows one rule: the person who checks and
dispenses is a pharmacist. A technician may do everything up to and including assembling the
prescription; the accuracy check, the dispense and the endorsement are the pharmacist's, and the app
refuses them for anyone else even by direct address.
The same person may both assemble and check — a small pharmacy often works that way — but the app
records the assembler and the checker separately either way, so the record always shows who did which.
| Screen | Responsible Pharmacist | Dispensing Technician | Counter Assistant | Business Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Goods-in receipts (list) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Record a goods-in receipt | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Record an adjustment or wastage | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Expiry report | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Low stock report | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Refresh stock positions | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Everyone can look at stock — a Counter Assistant needs to see what is on the shelf. Changing it is
narrower: recording an adjustment moves stock without a sale or a prescription to account for it, so it
belongs to the two roles that work the stock clinically.
| Screen | Responsible Pharmacist | Dispensing Technician | Counter Assistant | Business Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Counter dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Till session | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Start a basket, add and remove items | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Add an NHS prescription charge | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Post the sale and take the tender | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Print or email a receipt | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Takings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Refund or void a sale | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Selling is open to all four roles — it is counter work, and the Counter Assistant is its natural owner.
Refunds and voids are not. Reversing a sale cancels accounting documents and returns stock to the
shelf, so it is limited to the pharmacist and the business manager, and it always requires a reason.
The menu is tailored to your role, so a colleague's screen will not look quite like yours:
| Menu item | Shown to |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | All four roles |
| RP Log | All four roles |
| Dispensary | Responsible Pharmacist and Dispensing Technician |
| Stock | All four roles |
| Counter | All four roles |
| Premises | Responsible Pharmacist and Business Manager |
| Verification | Responsible Pharmacist and Business Manager |
If a whole section is missing from your menu, it is your role, not a fault. If someone else can see a
button on a screen and you cannot, the same applies — the screen itself decides, per action.
Two reasons, and both are about the pharmacy being able to answer for what happened:
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "You do not have permission to perform this action." | Your role does not hold that permission. The app refused the screen itself, not just the menu link | Check the tables above. If you believe you should have it, ask your administrator to check your role |
| A menu section is missing | Your role does not reach that section | As above — this is expected for your role, not a fault |
| The Refund or Void button is missing on a basket | Refunds are limited to the Responsible Pharmacist and the Business Manager | Ask the pharmacist or manager to reverse the sale |
| The Dispense or Endorse button is missing, or the Dispensary opened but those steps are refused | Those steps are the pharmacist's | A pharmacist must complete the prescription |
| You are taken to a login screen instead of the page | You were not signed in, or your session had expired | Sign in again. If it persists, ask your administrator |
Every action that matters is written to an audit trail with who did it and when — sign-ons and
sign-offs, each dispensing step, stock movements, sales, refunds and takings.
The audit trail records the action and the person, never clinical or patient content. That is
deliberate: the trail exists to show that the right people did the right things, and it should never
become a second, less protected copy of patient information.
Roles are not editable inside the pharmacy app — they are set on your login by an administrator.