Practice Pharmacy Technician

Job responsibilities

Respond to medication queries from patients, GPs, nurses, receptionists, and other healthcare professionals within the post holders expertise in a professional manner e.g. removing unwanted items, checking review dates, ensuring necessary monitoring has been carried out, arranging compliance aids and investigating out of stock medicines. The post holder should refer on to an appropriate clinician where necessary in accordance with practice protocols.

Support the clinical pharmacist to manage drug shortage queries and drug recalls.

Liaise with local community pharmacies and hospitals regarding prescription queries, helping to ensure a smooth transition from secondary to primary care.

Build strong working relationships with local community pharmacies and other care providers to assist patients and provide a high-quality service.

Lead on medication synchronisation to support patients and community pharmacy to manage patient medication ordering.

Understand and apply the protocol for seven or twenty-eight day prescribing when communicating with community pharmacy to arrange compliance aids.

Build relationships with care home teams in South Manchester in order to optimise patient therapy, minimise error and allow for a smooth transition between care settings.

Undertake medicine reconciliation from hospital discharge and secondary care clinic documentation in accordance with practice protocols and update patients medical records accordingly.

Have a comprehensive understanding of Repeat Dispensing (eRD) when it is appropriate to use and how to manage this type of prescribing. Have the ability and confidence to train current and new members of staff in the management of this type of prescribing.

Support the pharmacist and practice team with the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates.

Work with the clinical pharmacist and prescribing co-ordinators to contribute to the review and development of repeat prescribing protocols / Standard Operating Procedures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of repeat prescribing systems.

Provide advice to patients and the practice team in changes to prescribing to support the improvement of prescribing safety, quality and cost effectiveness.

Become familiar with the Greater Manchester Medicines Management Group drug traffic light system for prescribing of high risk drugs and liaise with secondary care specialists to arrange shared care agreements where needed.

Develop and implement computer searches to identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines.

Participate in the induction, education, and training of new members of practice staff where appropriate.

Have an understanding of the practices prescribing Quality and Outcomes Framework targets and work to support the practice to achieve these where possible

Participate in medication audits and support the clinical team on prescribing projects.

To assist in the submission of claims for personally administered drugs as required.

Attend practice and other meetings of relevance where appropriate.

To help plan, develop and support the introduction of new working processes within the practice to optimise the quality of prescribing.

Maintain and develop professional competence and expertise, participate in the appraisal process and agree objectives and a personal development plan.

Work autonomously and be capable of prioritising work whilst maintaining accurate and timely records, escalating when appropriate. Be responsible for own workload to meet set deadlines.

Undertake any other duties applicable to the post holders grade as agreed with the post holders line manager.

Qualifications

Essential

• Diploma Level 3 or equivalent in Pharmacy Services.
• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• Must have completed or be enrolled in, be undertaking or be prepared to start an approved 18-month training pathway (e.g. Primary care pharmacy educational pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH))

Communication

Essential

• Can communicate sensitive information in an understandable form.
• Ability to build strong relationships.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Work effectively independently as a team member.

Qualities

Essential

• Pro-active and self-motivated
• Resilient
• Adaptable
• Hard working, reliable and resourceful
• Respectful
• Personable
• Patient centred approach

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years post-qualification experience.
• Experience of working on own initiative within professional boundaries and within national/local protocols and legislation.
• Experience of responding directly to enquiries from patients.
• Excellent IT skills.
• Using IT systems to record, analyse and communicate information accurately.
• Knowledge and understanding of responsibilities related to patient information and confidentiality.
• Awareness of responsibilities regarding health and safety particularly when working without direct supervision
• Understanding of clinical governance and quality measures
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and can refer to the Pharmacist or GPs when appropriate

Desirable

• Experience of working in Primary Care.
• Previous experience using EMIS web.
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary team.

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).