Job responsibilities
Pharmacy Technician
Role: Pharmacy Technician
Location: Rural Alliance
Hours of Work: Monday to Friday TBA
Salary: £ subject to experience
Contract Type: Permanent
Job Responsibilities
Undertaking patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients in line with network priorities
Carrying out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medication reviews and medicines reconciliation. Where required, work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines effectively.
As determined by the practice and 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 pharmacists, and referring to the network / practice pharmacists for structured medication reviews.
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 role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients.
Support network initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
Developing relationships with other pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration teamworking across health and social care, including community pharmacy, secondary care and mental health.
Support the implementation of national and local prescribing policies and guide the practice, PCN and care homes in operational processes
Undertake clinical audits (e.g. use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvement measures, contributing to the PCN DES and IIF, QOF and Cheshire Prescribing Scheme..
Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation incentive schemes (e.g. medicines switches) and patient safety audits.
Work with the network practices to develop medicines guidelines and policies and deliver training and education on prescribing and therapeutic areas in your specific areas of knowledge to general practice.
Implement procedural and service changes relating to prescribing to network staff, to ensure best practice is adopted in accordance with local guidelines and legislation
Ensure the provision and distribution of information to the network practices including GPs, practice managers, and district nurses, local community pharmacists and patients as necessary.
Responsibility for Administration and the PCN Reputation
Other duties and responsibilities to be undertaken may include any or all of the items in the
following list:
Computer data entry/data allocation and collation, processing and recording information in accordance with practice procedures
Initiating contact with and responding to requests from patients, other team members and associated healthcare professionals and providers
Helping to keep all practice areas tidy and free from obstructions and clutter
Helping to maintain a positive, patient focussed culture
Helping to maintain a positive, supportive culture across the whole of the PCN team
Any other duties commensurate with this position
Duties will vary from time to time under the direction of the clinical director and network management leads, in agreement with the post holder, dependent on current and evolving practice workload and staffing levels.
Personal/Professional Development
In addition to maintaining continued education through attendance at any courses, the post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the PCN as part of this employment, such training to include:
Enrol and undertake an approved training pathway. For example, the Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) or courses approved by the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) as meeting the requirements of the UK-wide APTUK/PCPA National Competency Framework for Primary Care Pharmacy Technicians; and d. is working under appropriate clinical supervision to ensure safe, ef
E-learning, whole Practice training, or other training determined necessary to support personal development PCN maturity.
Participation in an annual individual performance review at designated employing Practice / network 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.
Confidentiality
In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, Practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the Practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practices and PCN may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data
Health & Safety
The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety Core Policy, all other policies, procedures and documents linked to health & safety, and the practice Infection Control Policy and published procedures. This will include:
Using personal security systems within the workplace according to Practice guidelines
Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
Actively reporting of health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised
Keeping own work areas and general / patient areas generally clean, assisting in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness consistent with the scope of the job holders role
Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum annually)
Reporting potential risks identified
Equality and Diversity
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 PCN 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.
Quality
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the PCN, and will:
Alert other team members to issues of Clinical Governance, quality and risk, and participate in Significant Event Analysis and audit reviews
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 teams performance
Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
Effectively manage own time, workload and resources, he/she will also contribute to the overall team-working of the PCN putting the needs of the PCN first.
Communication
The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:
Communicate effectively with other team members
Communicate effectively with external agencies and workers
Communicate effectively with patients and carers
Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly
Contribution to the Implementation of Services
The post-holder will:
Apply PCN and individual Practice policies, standards and guidance
Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work
Participate in audit where appropriate
Work with the PCN Management Team to achieve standards of quality, performance standards, budgets and targets without compromising levels of patient healthcare.
Contribute towards the development and implementation of new standards, policies and procedures that are/will be required of the PCN and GP Practices now and in the future (as directed by NHS/ DoH/ CQC, new legislation etc.)