Pharmacy Technician - GP practice Modality Mid Sussex

Job responsibilities

Job Title:

Clinical Pharmacy Technician- Pharmacy in General Practice

Pay Band:

Band 6

Hours of Work:

37.5 hours per week (full time and part time 0.5 role available)

Responsible to:

Rachel Luker Divisional Lead Senior Pharmacist and practice pharmacist on site

Accountable to:

Executive Partner + General Manager.

Base Point:

Modality Mid Sussex

Contract Type

Fixed Term Contract.

Job Summary

Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice is part of an exciting programme of transformation to develop a new model of care which addresses our ambition to deliver person-centred co-ordinated care. The Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice model is supported by the direction of national policy including the Five Year Forward View and GP Forward View where there is a need to better utilise the role of pharmacy within primary care to pro-actively help patients stay safe and well and out of hospital as well as helping to reduce the demands on general practice.

The pharmacy technician will join the lead pharmacist and wider pharmacy team to deliver the Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice model of care across the Modality Mid Sussex division. The purpose of this role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality of patient care. The post holder will help patients to get the best from their medicines through managing an effective repeat prescribing system and process, completing medication use reviews and medicines reconciliation, promotion of online ordering, providing assurance of monitoring of high risk drugs, and handling of prescription queries within the areas of competence.

In addition, the post holder will be responsible for encouraging the development of better understanding of the principles of medicines optimisation throughout the practice teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the GP practice in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.

This is a relatively new role for pharmacy technicians, so to support your learning and as part of the NHS Long Term Plan you will be enrolled in the Primary Care Training Pathway lead by the CPPE, to help develop your skills and complement your work in primary care.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Support the role of the lead pharmacist and wider pharmacy team in the GP surgery in the delivery of the new Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice model

Day to day handling of prescription queries in line with local policies and own area of own competence

Use and maintain information reporting systems and databases relevant to the position including incident reporting, medicines optimisation, prescribing data, cost savings, and patient outcomes

Work closely with the Modality Mid Sussex pharmacy team, the CCG Clinical Pharmacy team, Community Pharmacies and secondary care pharmacy teams when needed

Supervise practice reception teams in sorting and streaming general prescription requests, so as to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists to review the more clinically complex requests

Provide leadership for medicines optimisation systems across PCNs, supporting practices with a range of services to get the best value from medicines by encouraging and implementing Electronic Prescriptions, safe repeat prescribing systems, and timely monitoring and management of high-risk medicines

Provide training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)

Develop relationships with other pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration of the pharmacy team across health and social care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, and mental health

Participate in practice meetings, patient participation groups, and other meetings to improve engagement of the role of pharmacy technicians within GP practice and to promote issues relevant to prescribing and medicines optimisation

Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients

Carry out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medication reviews, and medicines reconciliation. Where required, utilise consultation skills to work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines effectively;

Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage

Support, as determined by the PCN, medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers between care settings and linking with local community pharmacists

Provide specialist expertise, where competent, to address both the public health and social care needs of patients, including lifestyle advice, service information, and help in tackling local health inequalities

Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients

Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing

Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation and management incentive schemes and patient safety audits

Support the implementation of national prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes and other primary care settings. This will be achieved through undertaking clinical audits (e.g. use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvement measures and contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services

Handle function specific information, which may be sensitive, complex or confidential and appropriately recording, transferring and/or coordinating such information in accordance with the Data Protection Act; Caldecott Guidelines and the Confidentiality Code of Conduct

Be responsible for the organisation, planning and of own workload to meet set deadlines

Undertake, participate and share the outcomes of clinical audits to facilitate improvement and changes in practice

As instructed by the lead pharmacist and GP partners, ensure that all major MHRA drug alerts, where appropriate and within levels of competence, are acted upon over an appropriate time frame and to advise on any medication changes that occur as a result

Regular monitoring of prescribing expenditure at individual practice level and propose changes to ensure containment within identified resource

Undertake training and development, to ensure the required knowledge and skills for practice based work

Carry out other duties which are appropriate to the skills and competencies of the post holder and grade of the post as the priorities of the service change

Establish and maintain effective working relationships with GP practices, CCG staff and other healthcare professionals/stakeholders across the interface

Provide clinical and professional support to GPs and members of the primary healthcare team

Provide direct support and advice to GP practices and health professionals to promote and implement high quality prescribing to the benefit of patients

Provide mentorship and support to the wider clinical team where appropriate

Promote cost-effective, safe, evidence based prescribing in accordance with national guidance and the local Medicines Optimisation Strategy

Other Responsibilities:

Health and Safety

To comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and other relevant legislation;

To take responsibility for his/her own health and safety and that of other persons who may be affected by his/her own acts or omissions;

To ensure all staff are aware of Health and Safety, First Aid protocols and Fire safety in accordance with Practice procedures.

Equality and Diversity

To carry out at all times his/her responsibilities in line with the Modality Equal Opportunities Policy and Procedure.

Risk Management and Clinical Governance

To work within Practices Clinical Governance Framework, incorporating risk management and all other quality initiatives.

Confidentiality

To maintain confidentiality of information relating to patients, clients, staff and other users of the services in accordance with Caldicott Guidelines, the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR requirements, including outside of the work environment. Any breach of confidentiality may render an individual liable for dismissal and/or prosecution.

General

To undertake any other duties commensurate with the role, within the bounds of own competence;

To work across Modality sites as required and to provide holiday and sickness cover when needed;

On occasion may be required to work overtime to meet the needs of the organisation;

To participate in disaster planning and response;

In light of national policy and due the needs of the business it may be necessary for the Partnership to alter the opening hours of Practices. This could incorporate different opening hours and weekend working which may effect when the post holder is required to work;

The post holder is expected to be flexible and accommodating, following consultation, in terms of any changes to operating times in the future.

Attributes

Essential

• Works effectively independently and as a member of a team
• Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder focused response
• Continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work
• Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments if required
• Independently mobile to be able to work across several sites and travel to meet with stakeholders
• Self-motivated, able to work both independently and collaboratively and possess excellent communication and clinical skills
• Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change
• Demonstrate ability to work in a busy environment; ability to deal with both urgent and important tasks and to prioritise effectively whilst also supporting others
• Excellent time keeping and prioritisation skills

Qualifications

Essential

• Current GPhC registration
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
• Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, or in hospital or community pharmacy at a senior level

Desirable

• Experience of working in a primary care environment (desirable)
• Postgraduate qualifications of a relevant nature. e.g. FdSc in Medicines Management/Pharmacy Services; BTEC Therapeutics (desirable)

Knowledge and Experience

Desirable

• Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of general practice and evidence based medicine
• Knowledge of the principles of medicines optimisation
• An appreciation of the NHS agenda and government targets
• Awareness of systems to support management of patients in a primary care setting, delivering pharmaceutical input and support in the context of pathways of care and the business of the organisation(s)
• Awareness of GP budget-management and funding systems to enable GP clinical pharmacist services to assist delivery of Federation and NHS priorities and requirements for financial balance and quality
• Good clinical pharmacy knowledge including terminology
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for the improvement of prescribing
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation

Skills and Competencies

Essential

• Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems (desirable) and Microsoft office packages (essential)
• Understand the aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this for Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice
• Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data
• Has attention to detail, able to work accurately, identifying errors quickly and easily
• Able to effectively manage allocated resources
• Has a planned and organised approach with an ability to prioritise their own workload to meet strict deadlines
• Able to think analytically; anticipating obstacles and thinking ahead; using analytical techniques to draw logical solutions to problems
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience
• Influencing and negotiating skills
• An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

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