NGP PCN Network Pharmacy Technician

Job description

Job responsibilities

Duties

Clinical

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.

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

Support the Clinical Pharmacist in Structure Medication Reviews (SMR) i.e. organise necessary monitoring tests prior to SMR

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

Manage shared care protocols and liaise with Clinical Pharmacists for more complex patients.

Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing locally.

Technical and Administrative

Support the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation processes are being followed.

Implement efficient ordering and return processes and reducing medication wastage.

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

Liaising with patients and GPs and Clinical Pharmacists in both practices and community pharmacies about placing appropriate patients onto repeat dispensing prescriptions and explaining the process and benefits

Develop relationships with other pharmacy professionals and members of the multidisciplinary team to support integration across health and social care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care and mental health.

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

Support the implementation of national prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes and other primary care settings.

Support the PCN to deliver on QIPP agenda, QOF and locally commissioned enhanced services

Support the PCN in reviewing and developing practice policies for CQC requirements

Collaborative Working Relationships

The post-holder will be required to work with a wide range of stakeholders. It is important that the post-holder:

Recognises the roles of other colleagues to patient care and liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to:

• Patients
• GP
• nurses and other practice staff
• Other healthcare professionals including CCG pharmacists, optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians etc.
• Locality / GP prescribing lead Locality managers
• Community nurses and other allied health professionals
• Community and hospital pharmacy teams
• Hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation
• Local community pharmacy teams

Demonstrates use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders within the local care network to build sustainable relationships that:

• Develop and maintain strong links with all services
• Explore potential for collaborative working
• Integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams
• ensure consistency of patient care and benefit
• Demonstrates ability to work as a member of a team
• Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary

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 of the appointing GP Federation 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

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.

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation

Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues

Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Personal/Professional development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by practices as part of this employment, with such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

The post holder will be responsible for keeping up to date on their own registration status, CPD cycles and any other professional subscriptions applicable to the role.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk

Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision

Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team performance

Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Health and Safety/Risk Management:

The post-holder must comply at all times with the Practices 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).

Respect for Patient Confidentiality:

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

Special Working Conditions:

The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice sites (where applicable), and to attend meetings etc. hosted by other agencies.

The post-holder may have contact with body fluids i.e. wound exudates; urine etc. while in clinical practice.

Job Description Agreement

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities only. There may be other duties required of the post-holder commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the PCN Practices. All members of staff should be prepared to take on additional duties or relinquish existing duties in order to maintain the efficient running of the Practices.

This job description is intended as a basic guide to the scope and responsibilities of the post and is not exhaustive. It will be subject to regular review and amendment as necessary in consultation with the post holder.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Society (GPhC). Have a BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences or NVQ3 Pharmacy Services Skills or completed the Pharmacist Technician Training Programme

Desirable

• Enrolled in, undertaking or qualified from an approved training pathway, e.g. Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH

Experience

Essential

• Have experience and an awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in General Practice. Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate. Able to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct. Experience in triage

Desirable

• Experience with SystmOne. Primary Care Experience. Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data. Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines.

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Ability to work with unpredictable situations and under pressure and to tight deadlines with frequent interruptions. Ability to manage conflict calmly and positively and adhere to procedures under pressure. Ability to plan, respond and positively contribute to operational change. Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information. Familiarity with the audit cycle and collecting data. Good communication and interpersonal skills. Forming close working relationships with patients, nurses, GPs, community pharmacists, external healthcare professionals and non-clinical staff. Excellent communication skills, verbal and written, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience Ability to accurately input information with ability to produce high quality reports. Strong sense of initiative and ability to self-direct. Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems. Ability to manage time and workload, meeting deadlines as needed.

Desirable

• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for the improvement of prescribing. Good workable knowledge of Microsoft office packages.

General requirements

Essential

• Must be able to work across multiple sites. Flexible approach to all reasonable tasks. Commitment to continuing professional development High level of self-confidence and strong people skills. Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process. Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development activity; working alongside colleagues to identify areas to develop. Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy technician role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace. Creative, flexible and able to thrive in a fast-paced environment with a high level of commitment. Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.

Desirable

• Access to own transport/car/driving licence. Awareness of General Practice funding streams (e.g. QiPP, QOF, DES, LES)

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

Ealing GP Federation

Address

Hillview Surgery

179c Bilton Road

Greenford

London

UB6 7HQ

Employer's website

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