Band 6 Medicines Optimisation Pharmacy Technician - Calne

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust; Calne; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust is seeking a Band 6 Medicines Optimisation Pharmacy Technician to join the Calne team. You will work with the Medicines Safety Pharmacist to enhance medicines safety, governance and patient care across Trust services.

You will contribute to incident reviews, safety investigations, audits and quality improvement projects, and support medicines optimisation in inpatient and community settings, with emphasis on policy development and staff

Qualifications

• Current GPhC registered Pharmacy Technician with post-registration qualification
• Recognised medicines management or medicines optimisation accreditation
• Final accuracy checking accreditation (ACT)
• PWDS Unit 3.1 or equivalent training / willingness to pursue within 1 year
• Member of College of Mental Health Pharmacy or similar qualification
• Medicines safety qualification or accreditation
• Experience with audit/Quality Improvement processes

Responsibilities

• Support medicines safety governance alongside Medicines Safety Pharmacist
• Participate in incident reviews and safety investigations
• Coordinate medicines-related audits and quality improvement projects
• Contribute to policy development and patient safety alerts
• Analyse medicines safety data and governance activities
• Provide medicines optimisation support to inpatient and community services (reconciliation, discharge planning, counselling, stock management)

Skills

Medicines safety

Quality improvement

Clinical governance

Interprofessional collaboration

IT literacy

Education

GPhC registered Pharmacy Technician

Medicines management accreditation

ACT accreditation

PWDS/advanced clinical training

College of Mental Health Pharmacy membership

Medicines safety qualification

Audit/Quality Improvement training

Tools

Word

PowerPoint

Excel

Job description

Band 6 Medicines Optimisation Pharmacy Technician - Calne

Are you an experienced, innovative and motivated Pharmacy Technician with an interest in medicines safety and quality improvement, looking to progress your career? We are seeking an enthusiastic and proactive GPhC-registered Pharmacy Technician to support the delivery and continual development of high-quality medicines safety systems across the Trust. If this sounds like you, AWP would love to hear from you as we continue to grow our Pharmacy team.

The AWP Pharmacy Service has a strong focus on developing staff to reach their full potential, and applicants without a background in mental health will be supported to access the required training. We also actively support staff to access leadership programmes, such as CPPE Leading for Change and NHS Leadership Academy programmes.

This is a Trust-wide role and the base of work can be negotiated. Flexible and hybrid working arrangements may be available for the successful candidate, subject to service requirements.

Main duties of the job

The primary purpose of this role is to work closely with the Medicines Safety Pharmacist to support the delivery of a safe, high-quality and patient-centred pharmacy service, aligned with the Trust's medicines safety agenda. The post holder will contribute to the review and understanding of medicines-related incidents and investigations, supporting organisational learning and embedding a positive safety culture through the application of Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) principles in all aspects of their work.

The role will also support the coordination and delivery of medicines-related audits, quality improvement projects and wider medicines safety initiatives aimed at reducing medicines-related risk and improving patient outcomes across the organisation.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities.

About us

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provideHigh Quality, Compassionate Careeverywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all-round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200 miles, to more than 1.8 million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Job responsibilities

Main duties and responsibilities specific to this role:

This is an exciting opportunity for a Pharmacy Technician to play a key role in supporting medicines safety and governance across Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust. Working closely with the Medicines Safety Pharmacist, you will contribute to incident reviews, safety investigations, medicines-related audits, quality improvement projects, patient safety alerts, and the development of policies and procedures. You will support the analysis of medicines safety data, controlled drug governance activities, organisational learning, and compliance with legal, regulatory and professional standards. In addition to medicines safety responsibilities, you will provide medicines optimisation support to inpatient and community services, including medicines reconciliation, discharge planning, patient counselling, stock management and multidisciplinary team working. This varied role offers the opportunity to influence practice, improve patient safety and support high-quality, person-centred care across the Trust.

Practical Considerations

The post holder must adhere to all security procedures at all times to ensure their and others safety.

Emotional Effort

Due to the nature of our patient group there is risk of occasional exposure both direct and indirect through consultations and record access to highly distressing situations. Full training and support are provided.

Please see the attached Job Description for a full list of duties and responsibilities

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

• Current General Pharmaceutical Council Registered Pharmacy Technician
• Recognised Medicines Management or Medicines Optimisation accreditation
• Final accuracy checking accreditation (ACT)
• Post-registration Advanced Clinical Pharmacy Technician training (e.g. PWDS Unit 3.1) or willing to work towards within 1 year of induction
• Member of College of Mental Health Pharmacy
• Any nationally recognised medicines safety qualification or accreditation
• Training in and experience of audit/Quality Improvement

Experience and Knowledge

• Ability to work collaboratively in a multidisciplinary setting
• Experience of working in a hospital pharmacy or equivalent position
• Experience in a dispensing environment
• Experience of developing, reviewing and implementing SOPs or policies
• Experience of working in a mental health setting
• Experience of using incident reporting systems
• Knowledge of medicines governance, risk management processes, and patient safety frameworks
• Experience of supporting or undertaking incident investigations (e.g. working to PSIRF principles)
• Experience of generating, interpreting and presenting data on medicines-related incidents

Skills and Abilities

• IT literate in Word, PowerPoint and Excel and relevant pharmacy systems
• Excellent communication and organisational skills
• Responds to changing service priorities using professional judgement, independently reviewing and reprioritising workload to meet service needs, supporting staff as required and escalating complex, non-routine or high-risk issues to the Lead Pharmacist
• Innovative, proactive and self-motivated approach
• Ability to handle sensitive information professionally and appropriately
• Ability to appropriately challenge practice and escalating concerns
• Ability to use data to support quality improvement and patient safety initiatives
• Evidence of CPD demonstrating commitment to lifelong learning
• Knowledge of specific requirements for mental health medicines, e.g. clozapine
• Ability to support learning from incidents and promote a safety culture

Other requirements

• Empathy for individuals who have experienced mental health problems and ability to manage occasional potentially challenging situations
• Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary teams
• Demonstrates professional behaviour in line with GPhC standards
• Adaptable and responsive to changing service needs

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.

Lead Pharmacist Medicines Safety and Governance