Pharmacy Technicians - Grand Union PCN

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Summary

The GP contract agreement 2020/21-2023/24 has recognised the value of pharmacy technicians and the important role they can play in supporting Primary Care Networks (PCNs) with their medicines management. New Pharmacy Technician posts have been created to support the recently formed Primary Care Networks, comprised of groups of GP practices supporting 30,000 to 70,000 patients. This position will be employed by General Practice Alliance (GPA) and will be allocated to work in a PCN in which there are already pharmacists working. The post holder is a pharmacy technician, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of pharmacists in general practice.

Primary Duties and Areas of Responsibility within General Practice

Provide support and training to existing prescription teams to support and facilitate:

o Responding to prescription requests from community patients, nursing/care home staff, pharmacy staff and GPs, processing them within 48 hours for routine prescriptions and same day for urgent prescriptions. This can include re-routing prescriptions to out of hours pharmacies for same day delivery.

o Process monthly prescriptions for nursing/care homes, checking for changes and adherence/over-ordering issues.

Use practice and CCG templates to record near patient monitoring for high risk drugs.

Identify blood tests, recalls and reviews using established protocols and forward these to the appropriate clinician.

Support and respond to medicines related queries from medical and nursing colleagues and from patients and relatives both face to face, via phone or via email. Queries can include issues with interactions or ADRs, availability of stock, swallowing difficulties, cost-effectiveness, urgent requests or extra supplies.

Review hospital discharge notifications and outpatient hospital letters and reconcile medication against current repeats, flagging up and correcting discrepancies.

Promote safe use of medication, reporting of medicines related incidents and pro-actively preventing safeguarding incidents.

Use knowledge of GP computer prescribing systems and community pharmacy dispensing systems to advise on solving problems related to prescribing/dispensing and other areas to develop the skills of practice and pharmacy staff.

Support the review of care home procedures, making recommendations for potential improvements.

Observe the principles of clinical governance when developing policies, protocols, guidelines, SOPs and procedures.

Support practice prescribing budgets by on-going monitoring, audit and analysis of drug use and support practices in reviewing, developing and enhancing cost-effective prescribing. This includes staying aware of latest QIPP and other cost targets.

Help review medication with the pharmacists and make recommendations for prescribing changes to improve outcome and ensure prescribing of the most cost-effective product.

Primary Duties and Areas of Responsibility within Care Homes

Build strong relationships with care and nursing staff and act as a link and support between the Care Home Advice Pharmacy Service (CHAPS), the care homes, GP surgeries and community pharmacies.

Conduct regular audits on medicines storage and waste, ensuring local and national guidelines are adhered to and issues are reported to the appropriate party.

Perform face to face reviews with patients and ensure results are recorded and reported to the clinical pharmacist, practice pharmacist or GP.

Produce recommendations to reduce medicines waste

Provide advice to and answer queries of care and nursing staff regarding pharmaceutical aspects of patient care.

Education, Training and Development

The post-holder will maintain their own continuing personal development (CPD) and keep a record of all CPD in accordance with the registration requirements of the GPhC.

Health and Safety/Risk Management

• The post-holder must comply at all times with GPAs Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System
• The post-holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

Equality and Diversity

• The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc.

Respect for Patient Confidentiality

• The post-holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Special Working Conditions

• The role base will be split between GPA offices and local GP surgeries, and will include an element of remote working.

Corporate Responsibilities

As a representative of General Practice Alliance, you will be expected to:

Promote GPAs vision, and mission and to uphold the organisations values in all day to day activities and delivery of services.

Participate in the objective setting process as part of the annual Organisational Development Review/Appraisal process, to understand how own role and objectives are linked to team, directorate and corporate objectives, to review what aspects of your role are being done well, and to identify any areas for development.

Undertake relevant activities and mandatory training to meet objectives identified in Personal Development Plan.

Adhere to all GPA policies and guidelines, including HR, Information Governance, Risk Management and Health & Safety policies.

Comply with relevant GPA and own professional codes of conduct and accountability.

Maintain professional registration if this is a requirement of the job.

Carry out your duties in a way that supports equality and values diversity. This responsibility includes your actions in relation to service users, carers, work colleagues, people in other organisations and members of the public.

In accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and subsequent legislation, the post holder is required to undertake a proactive role in the management of risks in all their actions. This includes:

Undertaking risk assessments in line with the GPA risk assessment process;

Reporting all incidents, near misses and hazards in line with the Partnerships reporting arrangements/system;

Undertaking a statutory duty of care for your own personal safety and that of others;

Attending all statutory and mandatory health and safety training, appropriate to the role; and

Maintaining the security and confidentiality of information you come across in your role in the organisation in line with GPA policies and protocols.

All employees have a responsibility to protect and safeguard vulnerable people (children and adults). They must be aware of child and adult protection procedures and who to contact within the organisation for further advice. All employees are required to attend safeguarding awareness training and to undertake additional training appropriate to their role.

This list of duties and responsibilities is not exhaustive, and the post holder may be required to undertake other relevant and appropriate duties as reasonably required. The job description and person specification may be reviewed on an on-going basis in accordance with the changing needs of the organisation.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ L3 Diploma in Pharmacy Service Skills (QCF) plus L3 QCF Diploma in Pharmaceutical Science or GPhC accredited equivalent or GPhC equivalents prior to July 2011
• Demonstrable commitment to professional and personal development.

Experience

Essential

• Understanding of clinical knowledge and the principles of evidence-based healthcare.

Desirable

• Minimum of 2 years post-qualification experience.

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

• An appreciation of the nature of GPs and general practice.
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and SharePoint.
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences (e.g. patients).
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and can refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate.
• Skills and experience in providing supervision, and an understanding of identifying and maintaining professional boundaries.
• Proven understanding of safeguarding vulnerable people and the local safeguarding processes.

Desirable

• Good working knowledge of SystmOne.

Job Circumstances

Essential

• Must be able to travel locally by car.

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Proven team player.
• Able to work autonomously, to deadlines and to plan and prioritise different work programmes.
• Positive attitude and open to learn.
• Adaptable.
• Self-motivated.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

General Practice Alliance Ltd

Address

7 Adelaide Street

Northampton

Northamptonshire

NN2 6AL

Employer's website

http://www.northantsgpalliance.com/ (Opens in a new tab)