Job responsibilities
Job description
The Health Triangle PCN
Job title: Pharmacy Technician
Reports to: GP Partners (clinically)
Accountable to: PCN Manager (administratively)
Hours: TBC up to 37.5 /week
- Company Events
- Company Pension
- Employee Discount
- Flexitime
- Free flu jabs
- Private medical insurance
- Funded learning pathways
- Birthday day off in addition to annual leave
- Weekly protected clinical meetings
- Training practice
Background
The Health Triangle PCN is a flourishing organisation, comprising a diverse Multi-Disciplinary Team including Doctors, Nurses, Advanced Practitioners, Paramedic Practitioners, Clinical Pharmacists, First Contact Physiotherapists, Nursing Associates, Mental Health Practitioner, Social Prescriber and Care Coordinators.
The PCN consists of 3 practices serving 50,000 patients spanning over Bracknell/Crowthorne and Sandhurst. We are a friendly and innovative organisation, with a strong focus on education and personal development.
With support from the local training Hub, and with a training practice within the PCN, there is an embedded ethos of support and growth.
We are delighted in being able to offer a Pharmacy Technician position within the PCN to join our experienced and enthusiastic Medicine Management Team.
Role purpose
We are looking for a skilled and motivated Pharmacy Technician to join our GP surgery team, working closely with GPs, clinical pharmacists, and the prescription hub team. The role supports both clinical and administrative aspects of medicines optimisation to improve patient safety and outcomes.
You will take an active role in patient-facing and patient-supporting tasks, including medication reviews, medicines reconciliation, and supporting effective medicine use through shared decision-making. This includes checking inhaler technique, helping patients understand their medicines, and ensuring safe prescribing across care settings. Youll also assist with care home medication reviews and transitions between care, liaising with community pharmacies and escalating complex cases to clinical pharmacists.
The role includes promoting public health and lifestyle advice, supporting antimicrobial stewardship, and contributing to shared care protocols. On the technical side, youll support efficient prescribing processes, minimise waste, and help implement electronic prescription services. You'll also supervise the reception team in handling prescription requests, ensuring clinical queries reach the appropriate clinician.
Pharmacy Technicians in this role will contribute to national and local prescribing initiatives by conducting audits, supporting QOF and enhanced services, and helping deliver medicines optimisation schemes and patient safety audits. You will be part of a wider multidisciplinary team, helping integrate pharmacy services across primary care and beyond.
Duties and Responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician. There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks, this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels. The pharmacy technician will work within their scope of clinical practice
Key responsibilities
- Work with the Clinical Pharmacist, Community Pharmacists and Clinicians in accordance with agreed practice prescribing standard operating procedures.
- Process repeat medication requests, including conversion of acute requests to repeat medicines, changing quantities of medicines.
- Issuing prescriptions in line with agreed clinical protocols and within competency.
- Provide advice and guidance to patients regarding medication optimisation and lifestyle e.g inhaler techniques.
- Provide medication review services to patients via clinics in the practice, domiciliary visits and in residential and nursing homes, and to deliver pharmaceutical care plans that maximise cost-effective prescribing and improve the quality of patient care.
- The support the achievement of the practices prescribing targets ie QOF, IIF and local incentive scheme.
- Dealing with medication queries including acute medication requests, patient medication and prescription queries.
- To update and maintain accurate patient medication records on the practice clinical system, including advice given and advice taken.
- Liaise with primary and secondary care colleagues to ensure correct medicines are continued following the transfer of care.
- To assist the Senior Clinical Pharmacist with data analysis of prescribing behaviour in line with NICE guidance and local clinical commissioning directives.
- To assist with the development and review of medicine audits.
- Provide a contact for patients and colleagues with medication queries.
- Project work/prescribing initiatives under the support of the Pharmacist.
- Conduct medication reconciliation following discharge from hospital, clinic visits and other transfers of care, to ensure that medication changers are safely implemented in a timely fashion.
- To link with hospital and community pharmacy colleagues to address discrepancies, supply issues and queries within competency.
- Liaise with wider health care team including primary care staff, community nurses and care home staff with medication queries.
- To undertake regular audits.
- To support the safe and effective repeat prescribing of high-risk medicines, ensuring that regular monitoring as per local/shared care guidance is taking place.
- Supporting patients to manage their medicines, for example, synchronisation of medications, reviewing patients suitability for monitored dosage systems, and setting up electronic repeat dispensing.
- To document interventions made to patients medications in their health care records to ensure there is a clear audit trail and changes are clearly accounted for.
- To promote cost effective, safe, evidence-based prescribing in accordance with local formulary, medication optimisation strategy and national guidance.
- Attend local meetings seeking to improve access to medicines or repeat prescribing processes.
- Ensure patients and their families / carers views are taken into account in every stage of the decision-making process.
- Seek advice from clinical lead as appropriate.
Development and Improvement
- Contribute to the development of efficient and effective services
Performance and Quality
- Liaise with reception, admin, and clinical teams to ensure effective care is delivered
Communication
- Communicate effectively by competent use of email, telephone, written, and face-to-face communication
- Ensure timely and accurate handling of messages/tasks, ensuring all unresolved or urgent matters are prioritised
- The post holder has access to confidential patient information and will, therefore need to have a working knowledge and adhere to all aspects of information governance, data protection and confidentiality policies. Ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained at all times
Internal Relationships
- The post holder will work with little supervision, prioritising and managing their own workload on a day-to-day basis
General
- To ensure ongoing compliance with the CQCs (Care Quality Commission) essential standards of quality and safety
- To comply with all relevant Health and Safety regulations and policy
- To comply with and actively promote NCPCs Equality and Diversity Policy
- To support sustainability practices and recognise the shared responsibility of carrying out duties in a resource efficient way
- To undertake any other duties as appropriate
Core Values
- Strong commitment to the vision and values of NCPC
- Genuine interest in and commitment to the needs of the local community
- Commitment to the development of people and services, as required by NCPC
Knowledge and Experience
- Level 3 QCF Diploma in Pharmaceutical Science or GPhC accredited equivalent prior to July 2011 plus BTEC pharmacy services underpinning knowledge
- National Certificate or recognised equivalents Accuracy Checking Certificate
- Must be registered with General Pharmaceutical Council
- Independence patient dispensing systems
- Use of EMIS and Ardens clinical systems
- Min 2 years post qualification experience
Skills and Ability
- Ability to prioritise, organise and carry out own work effectively and within agreed timescales and deadlines
- Ability to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team
- Ability to work quickly and accurately
- Excellent concentration skills, demonstrating undivided attention to detail
- Excellent communication and inter-personal skills
Personal Attributes
- Desire to achieve and maintain high standards
- Able to cope with sensitive nature of work, with a patient and calm approach
- Show complete reliability in all matters and is honest and trustworthy
- Possess a real desire to provide quality service to patients
