Senior Pharmacy Assistant

Job description

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for:

Dispensing Duties:

To interpret and dispense prescriptions on a patient specific basis for in-patients and discharge under the supervision of a team pharmacist/accuracy checking technician.

Ensuring all work is carried out to a high degree of accuracy, safely and efficiently following current standard operating procedures of the department on a daily basis.

To successfully complete, a dispensing accuracy assessment to demonstrate competency in dispensing on an on-going basis and once completed to maintain competency accordingly.

To input prescription data into the pharmacy computer system ensuring high levels of accuracy.

To supply controlled drugs on request from designated clinical areas and for discharge / outpatient prescriptions, in accordance with departmental procedures and in compliance with related legislation regarding record keeping, storage and transportation of controlled drugs.

To maintain and replenish identified stock or emergency supplies on a daily basis. To record and monitor medicines room and refrigerator temperatures as delegated to ensure storage conditions are within the defined parameters.

To replace or rotate short dated medicines where appropriate to minimise wastage.

Support with stock checks

To relay complete and accurate information, recognising self-limitations and referring to appropriate person.

To take appropriate daily action to ensure medication requiring delivery is available to individual patients.

To plan own work, liaising with manager to ensure appropriate management of ward/clinical area work.

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

To dispose of waste products according to the Trust waste policy including appropriate handling of corrosive materials, cytotoxics and flammable substances.

To identify stock shortages and place orders communicating with the Acute Unit staff regarding urgency and availability.

To use a variety of communication techniques appropriate to circumstances preventing barriers to understanding in order to provide advice to patients on the medicine supply, estimating waiting times, arranging for items to be ordered/delivered. To assist patients in obtaining necessary medicine supplies e.g. liaising between the doctor and the patient to ensure that prescriptions are available where appropriate. To respect the patients confidentiality and the sensitive nature of information. Confirming the patients understanding

To undertake, complete and pass mandatory and recommended training programmes.

To carry out record keeping and data collection data for audit purposes.

To comply with requirements of statutory regulations, including Medicines Act, Misuse of Drugs Act and Regulations, Health and Safety at Work Act, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH), etc. and local operating procedures to ensure that the work is to a high standard (accurate).

To maintain the security of the medicines within Pharmacy departments at all times To undertake other duties commensurate with this grade of post in agreement with the relevant line manager according to service requirements.

See attached document for further information.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working flexibly within a team
• Experience of accurately dispensing medication

Desirable

• Recent hospital proven experience of successfully delivering technical pharmacy services as a Pharmacy Assistant
• Experience of operating/utilising an electronic prescription tracking system

Qualifications

Essential

• Holds, or is working towards, level 2 in Pharmacy services (previously known as NVQ Level 2 in pharmacy technical services) or equivalent.

Desirable

• GCSE (or equivalent) grade C/4 or above in Maths and English

Skills

Essential

• Have the ability to deal with multiple queries and with changes in priority of workload
• Able to communicate effectively using a variety of methods(written/verbal/presentation)with a wide range of people
• Able to meet deadlines, prioritise tasks and manage time effectively within a busy working environment whilst producing work to the required standard.

Desirable

• Working in a pressured environment
• Skilled at using Microsoft Office to produce word-processed documents e.g. work rotas (MS Word) memorandums and emails (MS Outlook).

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.

Employer details

Employer name

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust

Address

The Alexandra Hospital

Woodrow Drive

Redditch

Worcestershire

B98 7UB

Employer's website

https://www.worcsacute.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)