Senior Pharmacy Technician ePMA

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust; Walsall; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent healthcare provider in Walsall is seeking a Lead Technician to play a key role in supporting their Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration System (ePMA). The ideal candidate will have significant experience in hospital pharmacy environments, strong leadership abilities, and a proven record in managing and developing ePMA systems. The position involves collaborating with the pharmacy team to optimize system functionality and training staff to ensure effective use.

Qualifications

• Experience working as a senior technician in a hospital environment.
• Proven supervisory and management skills.
• Experience building and maintaining EPMA systems.

Responsibilities

• Support ePMA maintenance and development.
• Act as a superuser for the ePMA system.
• Develop training for staff on ePMA use.
• Analyze complex data from the ePMA system.

Skills

Leadership skills

Teamwork

Clinical IT systems

Communication skills

Prioritization

Education

BTEC and NVQ Level 3 in Pharmaceutical Science

Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council as a practising Pharmacy Technician

Tools

ePMA systems

Job description

This is a key role within our organisation and exciting time to join Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust as we embark on our ePMA journey. The post holder will act as a specialist Lead Technician, providing technical support, configuration and testing expertise, and superuser status for the Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration System(s)(ePMAs) utilised at WHT. This will include the development and maintenance of the ePMA system(s), meeting the current and future needs of the Trust and leading the change control processes around this.

Main duties of the job

The post-holder will:

Support the Lead Pharmacist - ePMA and the Principal Pharmacist - ePMA and Digital Medicines Management in implementing ePMA (including software and hardware).

Work together with partners such as IT to ensure that the ePMA system is used to support medicines optimisation initiatives.

Support the Lead Pharmacist - epMA and the Principal Pharmacist - ePMA and Digital Medicines Management in developing reports and dashboards to maximise the benefits of the ePMA system and demonstrate its effectiveness in medicines optimisation.

Support and help provide training for ePMA for all staff groups across the Trust.

About us

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is an integrated Trust and the only provider of NHS acute care in Walsall, serving a population of 284,300, providing inpatient and outpatient services at the Manor Hospital as well as a wide range of services in the community. Walsall Manor houses the full range of district general hospital services under one roof. The £170 million development was completed in 2010 and the continued upgrading of existing areas ensures the Trust now has a state-of-the-art Critical Care Unit, Neonatal Unit, Obstetric Theatre, and Integrated Assessment Unit facilities.

A new Urgent Emergency Care Centre was opened in March 2023. The two-storey development has significantly improved emergency care facilities and capacity and has provided almost 5,000 square metres of additional clinical space.

We are committed to welcoming and making everyone feel valued at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and embody the Trust's values and behaviours. We promote a culture on based on fairness, respect, honesty and trust with both patients and staff being at the heart of all that we do.

Job responsibilities

• To support the implementation, maintenance and future development of the ePMA system, working closely with the Pharmacy ePMA team and Trust ePMA project team.
• To be a superuser for the ePMA system, developing routine housekeeping of the system to ensure optimal performance and contributing to the development of business continuity plans.
• To ensure there is clear and transparent processes and timeframes for the completion of changes and developments to the EPMA system(s) that can be measured and reported upon.
• To maintain and update drug template files for the ePMA system and implement the required medicine configuration workflows so they are reproducible through testing to provide clinical assurance.
• Ensure the governance arrangements are implemented regarding workflows and drug template files.
• Contribute to troubleshooting complex issues identified by users with the ePMA system , facilitating training where required.
• To liaise with the external supplier as required to manage complex system issues, faults, downtime and upgrades.
• To help develop, put in place and be part of a robust clinical and operational governance structures and processes around the EPMA system(s), including their use by all Trust staff and development or changes to the system(s).
• To analyse and interpret complex data from the ePMA system to produce reports and communicate this to the wider Trust.
• To help facilitate improvements in digital literacy for Pharmacy staff in conjunction with the training team in readiness for ePMA implementation.
• Prepare risk assessments associated with the use of ePMA systems for grading and action by the Lead Pharmacist for ePMA.
• To write and develop Trust procedures for the ePMA system.
• Liaise with medical, nursing, midwifery, allied health professionals and support staff to ensure effective use of ePMA.
• Support the development and monitoring of error monitoring systems for ePMA.
• To help develop and be responsible for managing and achieving Key Performance Indicators and other such targets for their area(s).

Person Specification

Qualifications

• BTEC and NVQ Level 3 in Pharmaceutical Science or equivalent qualification
• Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council as a practising Pharmacy Technician

Experience

• Evidence of experience of working as a senior technician in a hospital environment.
• Proven experience of supervising and management of staff.
• Relevant experience in utilising and understanding EPMA systems
• Experience building and maintaining EPMA systems

knowledge and skills

• Evidence of leadership skills/abilities
• Able to work as part of a team
• Highly skilled at using a variety of complex clinical IT systems
• Ability to prioritise own work and that of the team.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to confer complex information to clinical staff and patients.

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.