Pharmacy Technician

Integrated Care System; Croydon; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

An Integrated Care System in Croydon is looking for a qualified pharmacy technician to join their multidisciplinary team. Key responsibilities include supporting clinical pharmacists, managing medicines optimisation, and ensuring high-quality patient care. Candidates should possess professional registration with GPhC, relevant educational qualifications, and excellent communication skills. This role offers opportunities to enhance your professional development in a supportive environment focused on effective medicines management.

Qualifications

• Registered pharmacy technician with experience in primary care and community pharmacy.
• Flexibility to work outside core hours and a clean driving licence required.
• Continued professional development evidence needed.

Responsibilities

• Manage and optimise medicine use through patient interactions and support initiatives.
• Coordinate with multidisciplinary teams to ensure efficient processing of medicines.
• Implement and adhere to national prescribing policies within primary care settings.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Problem solving & analytical skills

Computer literate

Time management

Education

Professional registration with GPhC

BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences

Postgraduate qualifications in Medicines Management/Pharmacy Services

Job description

Pharmacy technicians play an important role, complementing clinicalpharmacists, community pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team.

Main duties of the job

Pharmacy technicians are different to clinical pharmacistsas they are not able to prescribe or make clinical decisions, instead workingunder supervision to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines.Pharmacy technicians core role responsibilities will cover clinical, andtechnical and administrative categories.

About us

East Croydon Medical Centre is centrally located in the fast developing town of Croydonwith its many transport links.

The practice care for 25,000 patients from a diversepopulation.

We are a large, hardworking General Practice with amulti-disciplinary Team which includes Pharmacists, Practice Nurses, HealthcareAssistants, Physician Associates, GPs, along with a supportive and experiencedadministrative Team. We enjoy and feel positive about modern General Practicebut also strive to ensure a healthy home/work balance. We are active members ofour Primary Care Network and support the ethos behind this.

Job responsibilities

Clinical

• Undertaking patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensureeffective medicines use, through shared decision-makingconversations with patients.
• Carrying out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicineadministration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medicationreviews and medicines reconciliation. Where required, utiliseconsultation skills to work in partnership with patients to ensure theyuse their medicines effectively.
• As determined by the PCN, supporting medication reviews andmedicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronisingmedicines for patient transfers between care settings, linking with localcommunity pharmacists, and referring to the pharmacist for structuredmedication reviews.
• Providing specialist expertise, where competent, to address both thepublic health and social care needs of patients, including lifestyleadvice, service information, and help in tackling local healthinequalities.
• Taking a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocolsand liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients.
• Supporting initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduceinappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

Technical and Administrative:

• Working with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficientmedicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering andreturn processes and reducing wastage.
• Providing training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling ofmedicines, including the implementation of the Electronic PrescriptionService (EPS).
• Developing relationships with other pharmacy technicians, pharmacistsand members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration of thepharmacy team across health and social care including primary care,community pharmacy, secondary care and mental health.
• Supervising practice reception teams in sorting and streaming generalprescription requests, so as to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists toreview the more clinically complex requests.

The role will also require pharmacy technicians to support the implementationof national prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homesand other primary care settings. This will be achieved through undertakingclinical audits (e.g. use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvementmeasures and contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework andenhanced services. In addition, pharmacy technicians will assist in thedelivery of medicines optimisation incentive schemes (e.g. medicinesswitches) and patient safety audits.

Pharmacy technicians will provide leadership for medicines managementsystems across PCNs, supporting practices with a range of services to get thebest value from medicines by encouraging and implementing ElectronicPrescriptions, safe repeat prescribing systems, and timely monitoring andmanagement of high-risk medicines).

Training requirements

Pharmacists undertake a masters level qualification (MPharmS) plus a one year post-graduate pre-registration structured programme regulated by theGPhC. The new curriculum for pre-registration trainee pharmacy techniciansis being tested with placements in general practice, through the PharmacyIntegration Fund (PhIF).

Eligibility for reimbursement under the Network Contract DES and proposalsfor reimbursement.

All pharmacy technicians must have completed or be enrolled in, beundertaking or be prepared to start an approved 18-month training pathway(e.g. Primary care pharmacy educational pathway (PCPEP) or MedicinesOptimisation in Care Homes (MOCH)). Pharmacy technicians must beregistered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Entry to the PCPEPprogramme will include the option for an accreditation of Prior Learning(APEL) process.

Confidentiality:

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow usto gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and othermatters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect thatstaff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcareworkers or the business of the practice may only be divulged toauthorised persons in accordance with the practice policies andprocedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal andsensitive data

This job description is not exhaustive and may be adjusted periodically afterreview and consultation. You will also be expected to carry out any reasonableduties which may be requested from time-to-time.

Person Specification

Other requirements

• Flexibility to work outside of core office hours
• Have a clean full drivers licence

Qualifications

• Professional registration with GPhC
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
• Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy
• technician in primary care, community or hospital pharmacy
• Evidence of continued professional development (CPD)
• Postgraduate qualifications of a relevant nature eg FdSc in Medicines Management/Pharmacy Services; BTEC Therapeutics

Experience

• Awareness of general practice and the agenda for medicines optimisation
• Experience of working in Primary Care
• Experience of working in a busy environment and meeting deadlines
• Good clinical pharmacy knowledge including terminology
• Knowledge of pharmacy law and ethics

Skills

• Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data
• Computer literate and familiar with Microsoft Office packages
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written
• Effective time management (Planning & Organising)
• Ability to work as a team member and autonomously
• Good interpersonal skills
• Problem solving & analytical skills
• Ability to follow policy and procedure

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.