Pharmacy Technician

Job description

Job responsibilities

Responsibilities:

Medicines reconciliation post-discharge and on other transfers of care

Undertake medication reviews

Day-to-day handling of prescription queries within the area of own competence

Delivery of training and development to practice-based prescribing clerks and administrators to support improved coordination and effective pharmacy administration within General Practice

Support the clinical pharmacists, specifically reviews of housebound or post-discharge patients.

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

Participate in practice meetings to improve engagement with pharmacy technicians roles and promote issues relevant to prescribing and medicine optimisation.

Liaise with other pharmacy stakeholders e.g. Medicines Optimisation team, community pharmacy, and hospital pharmacy teams

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; Caldicott Guidelines and the Confidentiality Code of Conduct

Utilise GP practice clinical systems to conduct prescribing audits e.g. EMIS Web

Undertake, participate and share the outcomes of medication audits and quality improvement projects to facilitate improvement and changes in practice

Contribute to the review and development of repeat prescribing protocols and standard operating procedures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of repeat prescribing.

Ensure that all major MHRA drug alerts, where appropriate and within levels of competence, are acted upon within practices over an appropriate time frame and to advise on any medication changes that occur as a result.

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 across the interface with GP practices, ICB staff, and other healthcare professionals/stakeholders.

Provide clinical and professional support to GPs and primary healthcare team members.

Provide direct support and advice to GPs and health professionals to promote and implement high-quality prescribing to benefit patients.

Promote cost-effective, safe, evidence-based prescribing in accordance with national guidance and the local medicines optimisation strategy.

General:

The post holder will develop a culture that promotes equality and values diversity.

The post holder must be aware of and committed to the Equality and Diversity policies and comply with all the requirements of these policies, and actively promote Equality and Diversity issues relevant to the post.

Ensure the principles of openness, transparency and candour are observed and upheld in all working practices.

The post holder will have, or acquire through training provided by the organisation, the appropriate level of safeguarding and knowledge, skills and practice required for the post and be aware of and comply with the organisations safeguarding protection policies and procedures.

Ensure that any infection prevention and control issues are reported to the line manager/Infection Prevention and Control.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences

Desirable

• Membership of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK)
• Membership of the Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA)
• Postgraduate qualifications of a relevant nature. e.g. FdSc in Medicines Management/Pharmacy Services; BTEC Therapeutics

Experience

Essential

• Minimum 2 years post qualification experience
• Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, hospital or community pharmacy

Desirable

• Experience and awareness of the breadth of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• Experience of partnership / collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations

Knowledge and Skills

Essential

• An appreciation of the nature of GPs, general practice, primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including the ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
• Able to gain acceptance for recommendations and influence, motivate and persuade the audience to comply with recommendations or agreed course of action
• Able to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy or protocol

Desirable

• In-depth therapeutic, clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
• Able to plan, manage, monitor and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions
• Familiarity with EMIS Clinical System

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

Chipping Norton Health Centre

Address

Russell Way

Chipping Norton

Oxon

OX7 5FA

Employer's website

https://www.chippingnortonhealthcentre.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)