Pharmacy Technician 37.5 hours per week

Penwith Primary Care Network; Marazion; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Cornwall is seeking a Clinical Pharmacy Technician to enhance patient care through medicines optimisation and support clinical pharmacists in a multi-disciplinary team. Responsibilities include medication reviews, promoting best practices, and leading improvements in prescribing. The ideal candidate will hold a professional registration with GPhC and have a minimum of two years' experience in primary care. Join us in delivering coordinated care to our diverse community.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Professional development opportunities

Collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team

Qualifications

• Minimum of 2 years' experience in primary care.
• Evidence of continued professional development (CPD).
• Experience working as a qualified pharmacy technician.

Responsibilities

• Lead improvements to maximise safe prescribing practices.
• Carry out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration.
• Participate in practice meetings to improve integration of pharmacy technicians.

Skills

Clinical pharmacy skills

Medicines optimisation

Communication skills

Teamwork

Leadership

Education

Professional registration with GPhC

BTEC/NVQ level 3 in pharmaceutical sciences

Job description

Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice is part of an exciting programme of transformation to develop a new model of care which addresses our ambition to deliver person-centred, coordinated care across the district. This role will be a flexible role with remote working (the location address provided is the Registered Office, not the actual working location) as you will be working in the pharmacy Hub with a Team of pharmacy technicians and Clinical pharmacist. The Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice model is supported by the direction of national policy including the Five Year Forward View and GP Forward View where there is a need to better utilise the role of pharmacy within primary care to pro-actively help patients stay safe and well and out of hospital as well as helping to reduce the demands on general practice. Pharmacy technicians play an important role, complementing clinical pharmacists, community pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team. Pharmacy technicians are different to clinical pharmacists as they are not able to prescribe or make clinical decisions, instead working under supervision to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines. Pharmacy technicians core role responsibilities will cover clinical, and technical and administrative categories.

Main duties of the job

Main duties of the job

The purpose of the role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality of patient care. The post holder will help patients to get the best from their medicines by switching medications to agreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes in General Practice, including promotion of repeat dispensing and online ordering, minimising clinical risk and aiming to reduce wasted medicines. In addition, the post holder will be responsible for encouraging the development of better understanding of the principles of medicines optimisation throughout the practice teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the PCN in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.

Carry out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medication reviews and medicines reconciliation. Where required, utilise consultation skills to work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines effectively. As determined by the PCN, support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers between care settings, linking with local community pharmacies

About us

Penwith PCN has around 67,000 registered practice population, in the far West of the country. We have 7 GP practices, and our geography includes some remote rural locations as well as towns, surrounded on 3 sides by the coast. This role may be working mainly from one practice, but the successful applicant may be required to change location as per the business's needs.

Job responsibilities

Overview

Penwith Primary Care Network is alarge forward thinking and well-integrated PCN covering the westerly point ofCornwall comprising of seven GP practices. The PCN have recently implemented apharmacy virtual hub which supports practices to complete project & auditwork as well as functioning as a space for sharing best practice across thePCN.

The post holder will be contributingtowards a one team culture throughout the organisation and promotingpersonalised care, focused on what matters to you, not what's the matterwith you. The post holder will be anintegral part of the practice team working as part of the multi-disciplinaryteam of doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and reception/administrators, aswell as functioning as a member of the wider PCN pharmacy team.

Clinical Responsibilities

• Support the pharmacist to provide a clinical pharmacy service ingeneral practice;
• Participate in practice meetings and other meetings to improve theintegration of the pharmacy technician within general practice & promoteissues relevant to prescribing and medicines optimisation.
• Undertake patient facingand patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shareddecision-making conversations with patients;
• Carry out medicinesoptimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checkinginhaler technique), supporting medication reviews, and medicinesreconciliation. Where required, utilise consultation skills to work inpartnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines effectively;
• Support, as determined bythe PCN, medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care homepatients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers between caresettings and linking with local community pharmacists;
• Provide specialistexpertise, where competent, to address both the public health and social careneeds of patients, including lifestyle advice, service information, and help intackling local health inequalities;
• Take a central role in theclinical aspects of shared care protocols and liaising with specialistpharmacists for more complex patients;
• Support initiatives forantimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing;
• Assist in the delivery ofmedicines optimisation and management incentive schemes and patient safetyaudits;
• 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 improvement measuresand contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services.

Technical and Administrative

• Use and maintaininformation systems and databases relevant to the positions including incidentreporting, medicines optimisation, prescribing data, cost savings and patientoutcomes;
• Be responsible for theorganisation, planning of own workload & meet set deadlines;
• Work with the PCNmulti-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, includingimplementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage;
• Supervise practicereception teams in sorting and streaming general prescription requests, toallow GPs and clinical pharmacists to review the more clinically complexrequests;
• Provide leadership formedicines optimisation systems across PCNs, supporting practices with a rangeof services to get the best value from medicines by encouraging andimplementing Electronic Prescriptions, safe repeat prescribing systems, andtimely monitoring and management of high-risk medicines;
• Provide training andsupport on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including theimplementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS);
• Develop relationships withother pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinaryteam to support integration of the pharmacy team across health and social careincluding primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, and mental health.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Qualifications and Experience Professional registration with GPhC BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences Evidence of continued professional development (CPD) Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, community or hospital pharmacy
• Minimum of 2 years' experience in primary care

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.