Pharmacy Technician

Job responsibilities

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Work with the GP's, Clinical Pharmacist and Care Navigation team in accordance with agreed practice prescribing procedures/guidelines

Process repeat medication requests, including the conversion of acute requests to repeat medications, and changing quantities of medicines.

Issuing prescriptions in line with agreed clinical protocols and within competency and as agreed with the clinical pharmacist

Update and maintain accurate patient medication records on EMIS, including advice given and action taken

Medication Reconciliations post discharge and liaising with secondary care and community colleagues to ensure correct medications are continued following transfer of care

To assist with the development and review of medicines audits

Provide a contact for patients, clinicians, nursing team, admin staff, secondary care and community pharmacists with medication queries

Ensure monitoring is up to date and accurate especially for high risk drug]

Optimise medications and make cost effective switches in line with local CCG medicines management guidance and in agreement with the clinical

Support patients with their medication queries, general practice queries and refer to the clinical pharmacist as appropriate

Undertake medication use reviews- scope and list of patients to be agreed with the clinical pharmacist

Participate in practice meetings, patient participation groups, and other meetings to improve engagement of the role of pharmacy technician and to promote issues relevant to prescribing and medicines optimisation

Liaise with other pharmacy stakeholders e.g. Medicines Optimisation team, community pharmacy, and hospital pharmacy teams.

Support the delivery of the Medicines Optimisation strategy

Be responsible for the organisation, and planning of own workload to meet set deadlines

Undertake, participate and share the outcomes of clinical audits to facilitate improvement and changes in practice

Work closely with the clinical pharmacist to ensure that all major MHRA drug alerts, where appropriate and within levels of competence, are acted upon within practices over an appropriate time frame and to advise on any medication changes that occur as a result

Undertake training and development, to ensure the required knowledge and skills for practice based work

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, CCG staff and other healthcare professionals/stakeholders across the interface

Qualifications

Essential

• Current GPhC registration
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
• Experience of working in a primary care environment (desirable)
• GPPA qualification
• Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, or in hospital or community pharmacy

Knowledge and experience

Essential

• Knowledge and Understanding
• Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of general practice and evidence based medicine
• Knowledge of the principles of medicines optimisation
• An appreciation of the NHS agenda and government targets
• Awareness of systems to support management of patients in a primary care setting, delivering pharmaceutical input and support in the context of pathways of care and the business of the organisation(s)
• Awareness of GP budget-management and funding systems to enable GP clinical pharmacist services to assist delivery of Federation and NHS priorities and requirements for financial balance and quality
• Good clinical pharmacy knowledge including terminology
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for the improvement of prescribing
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation
• Skills and Competencies
• Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems (desirable) and Microsoft office packages (essential)
• Understand the aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this for Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice pilot sites
• Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data
• Has attention to detail, able to work accurately, identifying errors quickly and easily
• Able to effectively manage allocated resources
• Has a planned and organised approach with an ability to prioritise their own workload to meet strict deadlines
• Able to think analytically; anticipating obstacles and thinking ahead; using analytical techniques to draw logical solutions to problems
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience
• Influencing and negotiating skills
• An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues
• Attributes
• Works effectively independently and as a member of a team
• Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder focused response
• Continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work
• Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments if required
• Independently mobile to be able to work across several sites and travel to meet with stakeholders
• Self-motivated, able to work both independently and collaboratively and possess excellent communication and clinical skills
• Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change
• Demonstrate ability to work in a busy environment; ability to deal with both urgent and important tasks and to prioritise effectively whilst also supporting others
• Excellent time keeping and prioritisation skills

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).