Job summary
A new and exciting opportunity has arisen for a Pharmacy Technician to join our team as part of the Childwall and Wavertree Primary Care Network (CWN). The role will provide maternity leave cover for up to 12 months. Our network operates across the Childwall and Wavertree neighbourhood which includes Valley Medical Centre, Rutherford Road Surgery, Penny Lane Surgery, Greenbank Road Surgery, Greenbank Drive Surgery, Lance Lane Medical Centre, and Beacon Health Mossley Hill.
Main duties of the job
Pharmacy technicians core responsibilities will cover clinical, and 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 as set out by the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service, the Investment and Impact Fund, NICE implementation, and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.
For more detail and a full person specification, refer to the supporting document.
About us
Our combined patient population is approximately 43,000. Our network works very closely with our community team and other local healthcare providers. The network adopts new methods of working via a multidisciplinary clinical workforce which includes Salaried GPs, Advanced Clinical Practitioners, Clinical Pharmacists, Practice Nurses, Social Prescribers, Health and Wellbeing Coaches, First Contact Physiotherapists and Physician Associates. You will be joining a well-established pharmacy team of clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Clinical
- Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients
- Carry 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, support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patients transfers between care settings, linking with local community pharmacies
- 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
Technical and Administrative
- Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage
- Supervise 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
- 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 medicines
- 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.
Medicines quality improvement and safety
- Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the relevant practice team
- Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance
- Provide leadership on person centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the practice conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, whilst contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.
- Implementation of local and national guidelines
- Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists and anticoagulation
- 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
Care Quality Commission
- Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved
Professional Development
- Be willing to be enrolled in or have qualified from an accredited training pathway that equips the clinical pharmacists to be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting (currently the CPPE Clinical Pharmacist training pathways)
- Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development taking an active part in reviewing and developing the role and responsibilities
- Adhere to organisations policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety
- Work with your line manager to access a minimum of one supervision session per month by a senior clinical pharmacist or GP clinical supervisor
Research and evaluation
- Critically evaluate and review literature
- Identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice
- Generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level
- Apply research evidence base into the workplace
Health and Safety/Risk Management
- Must always comply with the Health and Safety policies, in particular following safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting Systems
- Comply with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).
Job description
Job responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Clinical
- Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients
- Carry 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, support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patients transfers between care settings, linking with local community pharmacies
- 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
Technical and Administrative
- Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage
- Supervise 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
- 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 medicines
- 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.
Medicines quality improvement and safety
- Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the relevant practice team
- Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance
- Provide leadership on person centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the practice conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, whilst contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.
- Implementation of local and national guidelines
- Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists and anticoagulation
- 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
Care Quality Commission
- Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved
Professional Development
- Be willing to be enrolled in or have qualified from an accredited training pathway that equips the clinical pharmacists to be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting (currently the CPPE Clinical Pharmacist training pathways)
- Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development taking an active part in reviewing and developing the role and responsibilities
- Adhere to organisations policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety
- Work with your line manager to access a minimum of one supervision session per month by a senior clinical pharmacist or GP clinical supervisor
Research and evaluation
- Critically evaluate and review literature
- Identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice
- Generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level
- Apply research evidence base into the workplace
Health and Safety/Risk Management
- Must always comply with the Health and Safety policies, in particular following safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting Systems
- Comply with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, community, or hospital pharmacy
Desirable
- Experience of working in a GP practice or primary care network
Qualifications
Essential
- Professional registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
- BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
Desirable
- Enrolled in or completed an approved training pathway meeting the requirements of the UK-wide Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) National Competency Framework for Primary Care Pharmacy technicians (currently the CPPE or PCPEP training pathways)
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, community, or hospital pharmacy
Desirable
- Experience of working in a GP practice or primary care network
Qualifications
Essential
- Professional registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
- BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
Desirable
- Enrolled in or completed an approved training pathway meeting the requirements of the UK-wide Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) National Competency Framework for Primary Care Pharmacy technicians (currently the CPPE or PCPEP training pathways)
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).
