Pharmacy Technician

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Summary

St Helens Central Primary Care Network, we are looking for an experienced pharmacy technician to join our, already well established, PCN pharmacy team.

Effective medicines use-shared decision making with patients

Medicines Optimisation tasks- inhaler technique, support medication reviews, medicines reconciliation

New Care Home Patients- reconciliation and synchronisation when transferred between settings

Referring suitable identified patients for Structured Medication Reviews

Lifestyle advice and tackling health inequalities

Supporting shared care protocols

Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship

Ensure efficient medicines optimisation and reduce waste

Support electronic transfer of prescriptions process

Supervising reception teams re: prescription requests

Support national and local prescribing policies

Provide leadership for medicines management systems, safe repeat prescribing, management of high risk medicines

Patient safety audits

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

Carry out medicine's 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.

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, e.g., 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.

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

Supervise practice reception teams in sorting and streaming general prescription requests, 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); and

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.

Liaising with internal & external colleagues

Other duties, which may be required, and which are consistent with the responsibilities of the post as it now stands, and as it develops over time.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Professional registration with GPhC
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
• Evidence of continued professional development
• Experience or working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, community or hospital pharmacy

Desirable

• Demonstrate ability to influence and persuade partners and stakeholders of the respective merits of different options, innovations, new opportunities and challenges
• Experience in Primary Care
• Able to use GP clinical systems such as EMIS & Vision

Experience

Essential

• Good clinical pharmacy knowledge including terminology
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation

Desirable

• Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of Primary Care Networks, General Practice and evidence based medicine
• An appreciation of the NHS agenda and Government targets
• Awareness of GP budget-management funding systems to enable GP clinical pharmacist services to assist delivery of PCN 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

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

Hall Street Medical Centre

Address

Hall Street Medical Centre

Hall Street

St. Helens

Merseyside

WA10 1DW

Employer's website

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