Job responsibilities
Job
overview
An
exciting opportunity has arisen to join Norfolk Primary Care, working as a
Pharmacy Technician across a Primary Care Network in Norwich.
As
a pharmacy technician you will work alongside our Clinical Pharmacists as a key
member of the GP practice teams, contributing to prescribing of the highest
quality, safety and value, supporting medicines optimisation and prescribing
processes.
To
be eligible for this post candidates must have completed or be enrolled in, be
undertaking or be prepared to start an approved 18-month training pathway (e.g.
Primary care pharmacy educational pathway (PCPEP)) Pharmacy technicians must be
registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Entry to the PCPEP
programme will include the option for an accreditation of Prior Learning (APEL)
process.
Main
duties of the job
You
will provide support to our GPs, Pharmacists, other clinical staff and
reception teams, co-ordinating discharge summaries and medication reviews,
playing a central role in repeat prescribing processes, liaising with our
patients, carers, hospital and community pharmacies, responding to medication
queries and updating medical records.
Key
Responsibilities
To
be part of the West Norwich Primary Care Network (PCN), working as a key member
within the GP practice teams, contributing to prescribing of the highest
quality, safety and value and supporting medicines optimisation.
Reporting
to a Clinical Pharmacist, the post holder will provide support to the GPs,
Pharmacists, Dispensers, other clinical staff and reception teams to
co-ordinate discharge summaries, medication reviews and ensure the safe
prescribing of medication. The post holder will support the development of a
safe, cost effective, efficient practice repeat prescribing system through
reviewing, improving and implementing medicines management processes.
Your core role in the GP practices will
cover responsibilities in clinical, and technical and administrative
areas.
Clinical:
Undertaking
patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use,
through shared decision-making conversations with patients.
Carrying 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 practices, supporting medication reviews and medicines reconciliation
for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers
between care settings, linking with local community pharmacists, and referring
to the pharmacist for structured medication
reviews.
Providing
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.
Taking a central
role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and liaising with
specialist pharmacists for more complex patients.
Supporting
initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
Support the
Clinical Pharmacist in SMRs i.e. organise necessary monitoring test prior to
SMR
Manage shared
care protocols and liaise with Clinical Pharmacists for more complex patients
Technical
and Administrative:
Working with the GP practice
multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including
implementing efficient ordering and return processes and reducing wastage.
Providing training and support on the
legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of
the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) and electronic Repeat Dispensing
(eRD)
Developing 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.
Supervising
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.
The role will also require pharmacy
technicians to 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. In addition, pharmacy technicians
will assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation incentive schemes (e.g.
medicines switches) and patient safety audits.
Training
requirements
Pharmacy technicians are registered
healthcare professionals, who have been undertaking clinical and technical
roles in hospitals, community and primary care. Their initial 2-year training
is mandated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), which specifies criteria to register as a pharmacy technician and this covers the education, training and experience
requirements.
The role may require
travel between GP practice sites within the PCN area.
NPC Generic Job Description areas:
Communication
Utilise
and demonstrate sensitive communication styles, to ensure patients are fully
informed and consent to treatment
Communicate
effectively with patients and carers, recognising the need for alternative
methods of communication to overcome different levels of understanding,
cultural background and preferred ways of communicating
Anticipate
barriers to communication and take action to improve communication
Maintain
effective communication within the organisational environment and with external
stakeholders
Act
as an advocate for patients and colleagues
Ensure
awareness of sources of support and guidance (eg PALS) and provide information
in an acceptable format to all patients, recognising any difficulties and
referring where appropriate
Delivering a quality
service
Prioritise,
organise and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes
quality
Participate
in quality assurance and safety processes across the organisation and its
activities
Participate
in shared learning across NPC and the wider organisational environment
Use
a structured framework (e.g. root-cause analysis) to manage, review and
identify learning from patient complaints, clinical incidents and near-miss events
Assess
the impact of policy implementation on care delivery
Understand
and apply legal issues that support the identification of vulnerable and abused
children and adults, and be aware of statutory child/vulnerable patients health
procedures and local guidance
Leadership
personal and people development
Take
responsibility for own learning and
performance including participating in coaching/supervision and acting as a
positive role mode
Support
staff development in order to maximise potential
Actively
promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging everyone to learn
from each other and from external good practice
Encourage
others to make realistic self-assessment of their application of knowledge and
skills, challenging any complacency or actions that are not in the interest of
the public and/or users of services
Critically
evaluate and review innovations and developments that are relevant to the area
of work
Enlist
support and influence stakeholders and decision-makers in order to bring about
new developments in the provision of services
Contribute
to planning and implementing changes within the area of care and responsibility
Contribute
to the development of local guidelines, protocols and standards
Team
working
Understand
own role and scope and identify how this may develop over time
Work
as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring
the mechanisms to develop new ways of working
Delegate
clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and
assessment of competence
Create
clear referral mechanisms to meet patient need
Prioritise
own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded
within the culture of the team
Work
effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies
impacting upon care delivery
Discuss,
highlight and work with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care
Manage
and lead on the delivery of specifically identified services or projects as
agreed with the practice management team
Agree
plans and outcomes by which to measure success
Management of risk
Manage
and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures
are in place to protect staff and patients
Monitor
work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and
conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines
Ensure
appropriate supervision of safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs.
Participate
in mandatory and statutory training requirements
Apply
infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national
guidelines
Interpret
national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are
aligned to the values and culture of general
practice
