Pharmacy Technician

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust; City Of London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider in England is seeking a Pharmacy Technician to support medication management processes within GP practices. The role involves optimizing medication usage and ensuring efficient pharmacy practices. Applicants must have GPhC registration and recent experience in a similar role. Strong communication and organizational skills are essential. The position is full-time, requiring 37.5 hours per week, and offers a competitive salary based on experience.

Qualifications

• Recent experience in a comparable General Practice role.
• Patient-facing experience preferred.
• Knowledge of clinical systems such as SystmOne.

Responsibilities

• Support clinical pharmacists on medicines management.
• Assist with medication optimization processes.
• Monitor prescribing expenditure and propose changes.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Good IT skills

Organisational skills

Ability to work under pressure

Teamwork

Education

GPhC-accredited course

GPhC-recognised qualifications

GPhC approved apprenticeship pathway

Tools

SystmOne

Job description

Overview

Job Title: Pharmacy Technician

Salary: £35,793 - £43,573 (based on experience)

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Responsible to: Deputy Head of Pharmacy

Key Relationships: Deputy Head/Head of Pharmacy, Senior Pharmacists, Head of Operations, PCN Business Manager, Project Team, Service Managers, PCN Clinical Directors, Practice Managers

Background: Healthcare Central London is the GP Federation covering the Central London borough area. The organisation supports 30 General Practices and 4 Primary Care Networks (PCNs). We operate NHS contracts including a Care Navigation Service, a Clinical Pharmacy Service, a Community Dermatology Service, etc. Our vision is to be recognised as a leading GP provider network, run by clinicians for the benefit of our local population. We aim to help general practice remain sustainable and independent by delivering services economically, locally, promptly, and in a familiar environment.

Job role

The Pharmacy Technician will support the medicine management role of the Clinical Pharmacy team to deliver safe and efficient medication safety processes, including supporting a cluster of GP practices. The successful applicant will enroll on a CPPE training programme and receive guidance and training from a Senior Pharmacist.

Responsibilities include assisting practices with cost-effective switches for medication (guided by the Senior Management team) to improve GP practice budget sustainability, e.g. switching from expensive brands to generic brands.

The post holder will help patients to optimise their medicines by switching medications via an agreed protocol and will support improvement of repeat prescribing processes, including promoting online ordering, minimising clinical risk, and reducing wasted medicines.

Additionally, the post holder will promote medicines optimisation principles across practice teams, monitor systems, promote drug monitoring and safety, respond to medication alerts, and carry out some medication reviews with patients.

This role supports the GP Federation in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation, and medicines optimisation initiatives. We offer a supportive environment; our Clinical Pharmacist Team works closely with Pharmacy Technicians to improve patient care and experience.

Another key responsibility is assisting GP practices with discharge summaries and medication requests. Discharge summaries are hospital correspondence that may require amendments to a patient €?s medication; Pharmacy Technicians can assist with this process and then hand to a Clinician for final review. Guidance and support will be provided for medication requests.

Key tasks and responsibilities

• Support the role of the Clinical Pharmacist at PCN level on medicines management in the general practice model
• Deliver pharmacy aspects of the Network DES, including medicines optimisation
• Carry out medicines switches in GP practices in line with practice and ICB protocols – review records, amend records and inform patients
• Housekeeping in patient records (e.g., dose optimisation, medicines synchronisation)
• Improve prescribing processes in general practice
• Support appropriate implementation of Electronic Repeat Dispensing as required by practices
• Report on key performance indicators for the federation’s clinical pharmacy service per NICE guidance
• Use and maintain information systems and databases (incident reporting, medicines optimisation, prescribing data, cost savings, patient outcomes)
• Work closely with GP practices and the Senior Clinical Pharmacists
• Participate in practice meetings, patient participation groups, and other meetings to promote the role of the pharmacy technician and medicines optimisation
• Liaise with other pharmacy stakeholders (ICB Pharmacy team, community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy teams)
• Support Medicines Optimisation and the Medicines Optimisation strategy
• Handle sensitive information in line with Data Protection Act, Caldicott Guidelines and Confidentiality Code of Conduct
• Organise and plan own workload to meet deadlines
• Utilise SystmOne (GP practice clinical system) to conduct prescribing audits (training provided)
• Undertake, participate in, and share outcomes of clinical audits to drive improvement
• Ensure major MHRA drug alerts are acted upon within practices and advise on medication changes as needed
• Assist in monitoring prescribing expenditure at individual practice level and propose changes to stay within resources
• Carry out learning and development to meet required knowledge and skills
• Carry out other duties appropriate to the post and priorities of the service
• Undertake tasks related to COVID-19 vaccine management (ordering vaccines and record keeping as appropriate)
• Promote equality and diversity; comply with Equality and Diversity policies; promote issues relevant to the post
• Maintain openness, transparency and candour in working practices
• Obtain or develop safeguarding knowledge and comply with safeguarding policies and procedures
• Report infection prevention and control issues to the line manager
• The above list is not exclusive or exhaustive; additional duties may be required within the scope of the post

Key working relationships

The post holder will maintain constructive relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including General Practice, Clinical Pharmacy Team, Central London division of North West London ICB, and participate in relevant internal and external groups, projects, services and initiatives that develop the role and service.

Requirements

Registration: Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)

Education / Training / Qualifications: GPhC-accredited course, GPhC-recognised qualifications or a GPhC approved apprenticeship pathway

Knowledge and Experience: Recent experience in a comparable General Practice role; patient-facing experience; experience of clinical systems such as SystmOne

Skills / Abilities

Essential: Excellent communication skills (verbal and written), good IT and organisational skills, ability to work under pressure in a busy environment, ability to work as part of a team; capable of planning, managing, monitoring and reviewing pharmacy care programmes; ability to follow policies and codes; involve patients in decision-making; understanding of governance and equality; awareness of priorities and risk management; adherence to performance management policies.

Desirable: Knowledge of national and local priorities for the team/service and ability to implement tasks accordingly.