Job summary
If you are a highly motivated Pharmacy Technician (PT) then we would love to hear from you. This is a fantastic opportunity to join our growing pharmacy team within Well Up North Primary Care Network.
For more information on Well up North PCN visit:-https://www.wellupnorth.co.uk
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will work as part of a multidisciplinary team alongside PCN Clinical Pharmacists and PCN Pharmacy Technicians, as well as integrating within practice teams to provide care for patients.
The post will involve working in our pharmacy hub, and face to face consultations within our practices.
About us
The post holder will be working as part of the Well Up North Primary Care Network (PCN), a combined list of over 62000 patients and a group of 7 practices: Alnwick Medical Group, Belford Medical Group, Gas House Lane, Wooler Surgery, Greystoke Surgery, Union Brae and Well Close Medical Group.
Details
Date posted
18 June 2025
Pay scheme
Other
Salary
Depending on experience
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time
Reference number
A1725-25-0004
Job locations
Gas House Lane Surgery
Morpeth NHS Centre
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE66 2NL
Well Close Medical Group
Well Close Square
Berwick-upon-tweed
TD15 1LL
Job description
Job responsibilities
Job Purpose
The purpose of this role is to promote and support improvements to maximise safe and best practice in prescribing and improve the quality of patient care.
Pharmacy Technicians play a key role, complementing Clinical Pharmacists, Community Pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team.
Pharmacy Technicians core role responsibilities will cover clinical, technical, and administrative categories. The purpose of the role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost-effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality of patient care. The post holder will help patients to get the best from their medicines by switching medications to agreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes in General Practice, including promotion of repeat dispensing and online ordering, minimising clinical risk, and aiming to reduce wasted medicines.
In addition, the post holder will be responsible for encouraging the development of better understanding of the principles of medicines optimisation throughout the practice teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the PCN in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation, and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.
Main duties and areas of responsibility: Pharmacy Technician
Clinical responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician:
Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients
Conduct 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
To act as an Education Supervisor for Pre-registration Pharmacy Technicians
Take a vital role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and consulting with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients
Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
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.
Technical and Administrative responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician:
Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage.
Participate in practice meetings, and other meetings to improve engagement of the role and to promote issues relevant to prescribing.
Liaise with multidisciplinary team, prescribing support 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 GDPR; Caldicott Guidelines and the Confidentiality Code of Conduct.
Be responsible for the organisation and planning of own workload to meet set deadlines.
Utilise GP practice clinical systems to conduct prescribing audits.
Undertake training and development, to ensure the required knowledge and skills for practice-based work.
Escalate problems or issues to line manager that requires additional support or input.
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 with GP practices, staff, and other healthcare professionals.
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 medicine
Provide training and support on the legal, safe, and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)
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.
The post holder will comply with the organisations policies and procedures:
Collaborative Working Relationships
The post holder will be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Society and have a BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences.
Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role in patient care.
Demonstrate use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues and other professionals, other NHS/Private organisations, e.g., ICBs).
Demonstrates ability to work as a member of a team.
Can recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleagues when necessary.
Actively works towards developing and maintaining effecting working relationships across the PCN.
Foster and maintain strong links with all services across locality.
Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.
Demonstrates ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy
Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required
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 can refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate.
Able to follow legal, ethical, professional, and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct.
Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines.
Leadership
Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy technician role in governance and can implement this appropriately within the workplace.
Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision.
Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service.
Reviews yearly progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.
Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals.
Promotes diversity and equality in people management techniques and leads by example.
Management
Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or the service.
Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation.
Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice.
Demonstrates ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol.
Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management.
Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.
Education, Training and Development
Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team and/or service.
Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process.
Demonstrates ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan with supervision from experienced colleagues.
Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development activity; collaborating with colleagues to identify areas to develop.
Participates in the delivery of formal education programmes.
Demonstrates an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keeps up to date with relevant clinical practice.
Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development.
Research and Evaluation
Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and review literature.
Demonstrates ability to identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support the practice.
Demonstrates ability to generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.
Demonstrates ability to apply research evidence base into working place.
Demonstrates understanding of principles of research governance.
Job Description Agreement
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.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Job Purpose
The purpose of this role is to promote and support improvements to maximise safe and best practice in prescribing and improve the quality of patient care.
Pharmacy Technicians play a key role, complementing Clinical Pharmacists, Community Pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team.
Pharmacy Technicians core role responsibilities will cover clinical, technical, and administrative categories. The purpose of the role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost-effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality of patient care. The post holder will help patients to get the best from their medicines by switching medications to agreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes in General Practice, including promotion of repeat dispensing and online ordering, minimising clinical risk, and aiming to reduce wasted medicines.
In addition, the post holder will be responsible for encouraging the development of better understanding of the principles of medicines optimisation throughout the practice teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the PCN in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation, and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.
Main duties and areas of responsibility: Pharmacy Technician
Clinical responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician:
Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients
Conduct 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
To act as an Education Supervisor for Pre-registration Pharmacy Technicians
Take a vital role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and consulting with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients
Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
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.
Technical and Administrative responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician:
Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage.
Participate in practice meetings, and other meetings to improve engagement of the role and to promote issues relevant to prescribing.
Liaise with multidisciplinary team, prescribing support 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 GDPR; Caldicott Guidelines and the Confidentiality Code of Conduct.
Be responsible for the organisation and planning of own workload to meet set deadlines.
Utilise GP practice clinical systems to conduct prescribing audits.
Undertake training and development, to ensure the required knowledge and skills for practice-based work.
Escalate problems or issues to line manager that requires additional support or input.
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 with GP practices, staff, and other healthcare professionals.
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 medicine
Provide training and support on the legal, safe, and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS)
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.
The post holder will comply with the organisations policies and procedures:
Collaborative Working Relationships
The post holder will be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Society and have a BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences.
Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role in patient care.
Demonstrate use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues and other professionals, other NHS/Private organisations, e.g., ICBs).
Demonstrates ability to work as a member of a team.
Can recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleagues when necessary.
Actively works towards developing and maintaining effecting working relationships across the PCN.
Foster and maintain strong links with all services across locality.
Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.
Demonstrates ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy
Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required
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 can refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate.
Able to follow legal, ethical, professional, and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct.
Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines.
Leadership
Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy technician role in governance and can implement this appropriately within the workplace.
Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision.
Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service.
Reviews yearly progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.
Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals.
Promotes diversity and equality in people management techniques and leads by example.
Management
Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or the service.
Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation.
Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice.
Demonstrates ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol.
Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management.
Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.
Education, Training and Development
Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team and/or service.
Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process.
Demonstrates ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan with supervision from experienced colleagues.
Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development activity; collaborating with colleagues to identify areas to develop.
Participates in the delivery of formal education programmes.
Demonstrates an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keeps up to date with relevant clinical practice.
Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development.
Research and Evaluation
Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and review literature.
Demonstrates ability to identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support the practice.
Demonstrates ability to generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.
Demonstrates ability to apply research evidence base into working place.
Demonstrates understanding of principles of research governance.
Job Description Agreement
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
- Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Society and have a BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences.
- Enrolled in, undertaking or qualified from, an approved training pathway. For example, the Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) OR willing to undertake CPPE Primary Care pharmacy education pathway (this is a necessary requirement for us to recruit to this role).
Experience
Essential
- Previous experience working as a qualified Pharmacy Technician either in Primary Care, Secondary Care or Community Pharmacy.
- Experience of medicines management.
- Experienced working with National and Local prescribing guidelines and policies.
Desirable
- Experience of working in General Practice.
- Experience of working with QOF.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Previous work within patient facing role
- Understanding of GMS contracts and Medicines Management Incentive Schemes
- Experience of NHS IT Systems.
- Good IT Skills
- Excellent communications skills (verbal and written)
- Excellent organisational skills.
- Ability to work safely under pressure
- Work as part of a team
- Have excellent time management and workload prioritisation skills
- Understand clinical governance and risk management
- Awareness of current medicines Management Agendas
- Knowledge of audit and research
- Demonstrate accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision
- Self-Motivation
- Adaptable
- Ability and willingness to travel to all practices within the Primary Care Network
Desirable
- Previous work within patient facing role
- Understanding of GMS contracts and Medicines Management Incentive Schemes
- Experience of NHS IT Systems.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Society and have a BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences.
- Enrolled in, undertaking or qualified from, an approved training pathway. For example, the Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) OR willing to undertake CPPE Primary Care pharmacy education pathway (this is a necessary requirement for us to recruit to this role).
Experience
Essential
- Previous experience working as a qualified Pharmacy Technician either in Primary Care, Secondary Care or Community Pharmacy.
- Experience of medicines management.
- Experienced working with National and Local prescribing guidelines and policies.
Desirable
- Experience of working in General Practice.
- Experience of working with QOF.
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Previous work within patient facing role
- Understanding of GMS contracts and Medicines Management Incentive Schemes
- Experience of NHS IT Systems.
- Good IT Skills
- Excellent communications skills (verbal and written)
- Excellent organisational skills.
- Ability to work safely under pressure
- Work as part of a team
- Have excellent time management and workload prioritisation skills
- Understand clinical governance and risk management
- Awareness of current medicines Management Agendas
- Knowledge of audit and research
- Demonstrate accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision
- Self-Motivation
- Adaptable
- Ability and willingness to travel to all practices within the Primary Care Network
Desirable
- Previous work within patient facing role
- Understanding of GMS contracts and Medicines Management Incentive Schemes
- Experience of NHS IT Systems.
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).
Additional information
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
Well Up North
Address
Gas House Lane Surgery
Morpeth NHS Centre
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE66 2NL
Employer's website
Employer details
Employer name
Well Up North
Address
Gas House Lane Surgery
Morpeth NHS Centre
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE66 2NL
Employer's website
Employer contact details
For questions about the job, contact:
Details
Date posted
18 June 2025
Pay scheme
Other
Salary
Depending on experience
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time
Reference number
A1725-25-0004
Job locations
Gas House Lane Surgery
Morpeth NHS Centre
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE66 2NL
Well Close Medical Group
Well Close Square
Berwick-upon-tweed
TD15 1LL