Advanced Pharmacy Technician - Procurement and Distribution

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

To establish a professional working relationship with all necessary stakeholders linking to the outsourced outpatient pharmacy.

To lead on sourcing of pharmaceuticals and other items as required due to shortages and long-term manufacturing problems.

To support the Procurement and Distribution team and the outsourced outpatient pharmacy in the development and implementation of service improvements, ensuring alignment with organisational objectives and efficient, cost-effective medicines supply.

To support the operation of the pharmacy dispensing system (Epic) to ensure data integrity is maintained.

To build and produce routine usage and cost reports for the Associate Chief Pharmacist and Superintendent Pharmacist as required.

To support the maintenance of the pharmacy system drug file and supplier database and preparation of data required for national, regional & local purchasing contracts.

PROCUREMENT

To support the Procurement Team updating of all contract/framework or local agreement information on the Epic system to ensure that drug lines are linked to the correct supplier and the financial information is correct.

To support the Procurement Team in ensuring that all updates of contracts/frameworks or local agreements are disseminated in a timely manner to allow for all necessary updates to Powergate to be completed prior to agreed start dates.

To act as a key escalation point and support for the outsourced outpatient pharmacy where contracted medicines cannot be sourced, ensuring all appropriate procurement actions have been completed prior to escalation.

To support the building and importing of drug lines on the Epic system for the outsourced outpatient pharmacy.

To support the building of dispensing templates based on the needs of the outsourced outpatient pharmacy.

To liaise with the Procurement Team to identify current and emerging medicines shortages, and coordinate procurement, distribution, and stakeholder actions to ensure effective management and continuity of supply.

To ensure that there are robust processes in place for the appropriate transfer of stock between the inpatient and outsourced outpatient pharmacy to support patient care.

DISTRIBUTION

To support the Distribution Team in responding to medicines shortages by coordinating stock allocation, redistribution, and contingency arrangements to maintain continuity of supply across clinical areas.

To support the updating of Omnicell configurations, including stock lists, par levels, and alternative products, in line with agreed changes to ward stock and supply arrangements in response to medicines shortages.

To liaise with the Clinical Pharmacists and Distribution Team to ensure that shortage mitigation strategies are effectively implemented at ward level.

To act as a point of contact for escalation of distribution issues relating to medicines shortages, supporting resolution through coordination of stock, systems, and stakeholder engagement.

FINANCIAL/RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

To ensure medicines are purchased cost-effectively for the outsourced outpatient pharmacy, undertaking end of month financial challenges (in relation to value of dispensed items) for contracted lines.

To uphold and ensure compliance with the Standing Orders and Standing Financial Instructions of Kings College Hospital Foundation Trust.

To be responsible for the management of all losses and gains on Epic and their investigation, with documented outcomes.

To undertake (where appropriate) stock revaluations alongside relevant stakeholders and keep necessary documentation of all actions taken.

To support the contacting of suppliers and arrange for credit in cases where prices have not matched.

To solve enquires relating to payments to suppliers and whether they have been received.

To support off-contract purchases and ensure that these lines are maintained in order to meet the off-contract requirements and that appropriate records are kept and excess costs claimed back.

To liaise with Finance where appropriate ensuring reconciliation with their systems.

STAFF MANAGEMENT & TRAINING

To act as a role model for all pharmacy staff providing Pharmacy Distribution and Procurement services.

To be a line manager and take for the following, according to Trust procedures: o Appraisals of performance and objective setting

Sickness absence, disciplinary and grievance matters

Recruitment and selection

Personal development

Departmental workload allocations

To undertake CPD to ensure that knowledge is continually updated in the fields of Pharmacy Distribution and Procurement services.

To be an Epic system manager with high level access to the system.

To support the training of new Procurement and Distribution staff, appropriate to their role, ensuring competency in procurement, distribution, and relevant systems.

To support the training and induction of pharmacy staff, appropriate to their role, ensuring competency in procurement, distribution, and relevant systems.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

To participate in research and audit undertaken in Pharmacy with regard to procurement and distribution.

People Management and Performance

Lead, coach and manage the performance of the team in line with good people management practices. Ensuring excellence is recognised and underperformance is addressed.

Participate in regular performance appraisal meetings and ensure each member of the team has a clear set of objectives and development plans.

Ensure the team is compliance with all statutory, mandatory training together with any professional training requirements, ensuring they are up to date and fully compliant.

Manage team absences including sickness in line with Trust policy ensuring the appropriate return to work meetings occur, e-roster is updated and productivity is at keep to the highest possible level.

Identify and fill any vacancies that arise within the team in line with the Trusts recruitment policy and process.

Identify talent and support the internal talent management process in order attract and retain and succession plan for your people.

Review skills mix at regular intervals in order to identify any potential opportunities to maximise resource utilisation / allocation, ensuring job descriptions are kept up to date.

Ensure overall wellbeing of the team is maintained. Continuously support in improving the morale of the team and implementing a culture of zero-tolerance for bullying and harassment.

Person Specification

essential

Essential

• NVQ Level 3 plus accredited underpinning knowledge (BTEC in Pharmaceutical Science or equivalent) or equivalent
• Professional registration with the General Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
• Post graduate diploma in Purchasing or management or a related area or a portfolio demonstrating equivalent through experience at senior management level and relevant short courses taught at postgraduate level
• Knowledge of Pharmacy stock control procedures
• Be able to provide complex and sensitive information pharmaceutical purchasing and pricing issues and impart knowledge to all levels of healthcare professionals (up to and including senior consultants/professor/executive director level).

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).

Employer details

Employer name

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Kings College Hospital

Denmark Hill, SE5 9RS

london

SE5 9RS

United Kingdom

Employer's website

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