Pharmacy Technician (Maternity Cover)

School Lane Surgery; Macclesfield; On-site; GBP 17,000 - 22,000; Part time

Job summary

School Lane Surgery is seeking a maternity cover Pharmacy Technician to join our GP practice team. The role supports medicines optimisation, effective prescribing, and patient safety, working under supervision to ensure efficient use of medicines.

The post involves 24 hours per week, specifically Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You will be part of a multi-disciplinary team, contributing to national prescribing initiatives and NHS priorities while maintaining high standards of professional

Qualifications

• Qualified pharmacy technician in primary care setting.
• Evidence of CPD and ongoing professional development.
• Proven ability to support medicines optimisation and patient safety.

Responsibilities

• Lead medicines optimization and safe prescribing in GP practice.
• Support electronic prescribing and repeat dispensing processes.
• Assist in reviews for care home transfers and deterioration monitoring.

Skills

Communication

Attention to detail

Teamwork

SystmOne familiarity

Education

BTEC/NVQ level 3 in pharmaceutical sciences

CPD evidence

Tools

SystmOne

Job description

Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice is part of an excitingprogramme of transformation to develop a new model of care which addresses ourambition to deliver person-centred, coordinated care across the district. The Clinical Pharmacy in General Practicemodel is supported by the direction of national policy including the Five YearForward View and GP Forward View where there is a need to better utilise therole of pharmacy within primary care to pro-actively help patients stay safeand well and out of hospital, as well as helping to reduce the demands ongeneral practice.

Pharmacy technicians play an important role, complimentingclinical pharmacists and community pharmacists.Pharmacy technicians are different to clinical pharmacists as they arenot able to prescribe or make clinical decisions, instead working undersupervision to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines. Pharmacy technicians core role responsibilitieswill cover clinical and technical & administrative categories.

Please note: This is a maternity cover position, working 24 hours per week on Wed/Thu/Fri.

Main duties of the job

The purpose of the role is to lead improvements to maximisesafe, cost-effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality ofpatient care. The post-holder will helppatients to get the best from their medicines by switching medications toagreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes inGeneral 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 forencouraging the development of better understanding of the principles ofmedicines optimisation throughout the practice team and promoting good practicein line with therapeutic developments.This will involve assisting the practice in achieving nationalrequirements, NICE implementation and utilisation of medicines optimisationinitiatives.

About us

SchoolLane Surgery is one of two large practices in Thetford, with a patient list ofover 17000.

Weare a friendly dynamic practice, delivering excellent care to our patients andproviding a positive and supportive working environment for our staff.

We have anexpanding multi-disciplinary clinical team, comprising two clinical partners and ten salaried GPs, complimented by a diverse range of healthcareprofessionals including clinical pharmacists, advanced clinical practitioners, mental health practitioner first contact practitioner care homes team and otherallied health professionals.

Weare a supportive practice for physicians associates and medical students. Weparticipate in research studies and are committed to providing ongoing trainingand progression. We are one of three practices in the Breckland AlliancePrimary Care Network, a group of practices working together to deliver highquality primary care health to the populations of Thetford, Watton andsurrounding area.

Job responsibilities

Clinical

Undertake patient-facing and patient-supporting roles toensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversationswith patients.

Carry out medicines optimisation tasks including effectivemedicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supportingmedication reviews and medicines reconciliation. Where required, utilise consultation skillsto work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicineseffectively.

As determined by the practice, support medication reviewsand medicines reconciliation for new care home patient transfers between caresettings, linking with local community pharmacies.

Support the Clinical Pharmacists in Structured MedicationReviews (SMR) i.e. organise necessary monitoring tests prior to SMR.

Provide expertise to address both the public health andsocial care needs of patients, including lifestyle advice, service information,and help in tackling local health inequalities.

Manage shared care protocols and liaise with ClinicalPharmacists for more complex patients.

Support initiatives for antimicrobialstewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing locally.

Technical andAdministrative

Support the practice multi-disciplinary team to ensureefficient medicines optimisation processes are being followed.

Implement efficient ordering and return processes andreducing medication wastage.

Provide training and support on the legal, safe and securehandling of medicines, including the implementation of the ElectronicPrescription Service (EPS).

Promotion of Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) and onlineordering.

Develop relationships with other pharmacy professionals andmember of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration across health andsocial care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care andmental health.

Support the practice reception team in streaming generalprescription requests, so as to allow GPs and Clinical Pharmacists to reviewthe more clinically complex requests.

Support the implementation of national prescribing policiesand guidance within GP practices, care homes and other primary care settings.

Support the practice to deliver on QIPP agenda, QOF andlocally commissioned enhanced services.

Support the practice in reviewing and developingpractice policies for CQC requirements.

All Pharmacy Technicians must work within their competencies and haveprofessional indemnity for their role

Person Specification

Attributes

• Works efficiently independently and as a member of a team
• Self-motivated and proactive
• Continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work
• Demonstrate ability to work in a busy environment; ability to deal with both urgent and important tasks and to prioritise effectively whilst also supporting others
• Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder-focused response
• Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments if required
• Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change

Knowledge and Understanding

• Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of General Practice and evidence-based medicine
• Awareness of systems to support management of patients in a primary care setting, delivering pharmaceutical input and support in the context of pathways of care and the business of the organisation(s)
• Awareness of GP budget-management and funding systems to enable GP clinical pharmacist services to assist delivery of practice and NHS priorities and requirements for financial balance and quality
• Good clinical pharmacy knowledge including terminology
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for the improvement of prescribing
• An appreciation of the NHS Agenda and Government targets
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation

Skills and Competencies

• Computer literate with an ability to use Microsoft Office packages
• Able to analyse data and interpret prescribing data
• Has attention to detail, able to work accurately, identifying errors quickly and easily
• Able to effectively manage allocated resources
• Has a planned and organised approach with an ability to prioritise their own workload to meet strict deadlines
• Able to think analytically; anticipating obstacles and thinking ahead; using analytical techniques to draw logical solutions to problems
• Excellent communication skills, verbal and written, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with team members, patients, carers and other healthcare professionals, whilst recognising peoples needs for alternative methods of communication
• An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues
• Ability to use the required GP clinical system (SystmOne)
• Understand the aims of current healthcare policy within the practice
• Influencing and negotiating skills

Qualifications

• Professional registration with GPhC
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
• Evidence of continued professional development (CPD)

Experience

• Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, community or hospital pharmacy
• Demonstrate ability to influence and persuade partners and stakeholders of the respective merits of different options, innovations, new opportunities and challenges

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.