Band 6 Specialist Pharmacy Technician in Luton

Job Purpose

To improve patient outcomes through safe and effective use of medicines, reducing medicines‑related harm and avoidable admissions, and supporting reduction in medicines waste.

Key Responsibilities

• Work autonomously with a defined caseload, undertaking home visits, discussing medicines with patients during clinic visits, and supporting the multidisciplinary team (MDT), escalating complex issues appropriately to the Specialist Pharmacist – Healthcare at Home or Service Lead as appropriate.
• Provide structured support within specialist clinics such as tuberculosis (TB) services, supporting directly observed therapy (DOT), monitoring adherence to anti‑tuberculous regimens, and contributing to MDT management of complex infectious disease pathways.
• Supervise medicines adherence, and provide training and guidance to encourage patients to take ownership and manage their medicines.
• Communicate clear and accurate medicine‑related information, both verbal and written to patients/carers and other health professionals.
• Promote effective medicines management, escalating poor practice and medication concerns as well as sharing best practice.
• Provide medicines management support to specialist community clinics (e. g., TB, respiratory, diabetes, anticoagulation, heart failure), including medication review, patient counselling, adherence monitoring, identification of medicines‑related risks, and contribution to clinical pathways.
• Assess, plan, implement and evaluate medicines management interventions in patients' homes or in clinics run by the Community Services, identify and address reasons for non‑adherence and develop tailored concordance strategies.
• Maintain accurate documentation of activity, recommendations and outcomes in line with trust standards, inclusive of computer and patient‑held records.
• Support safe transfer of care between healthcare settings by addressing medicine‑related barriers to discharge and continuity.
• Work in partnership with a range of multidisciplinary and organisational personnel within both secondary and primary care, adopting a collaborative approach together with the patient, their family and carers, as well as colleagues including GPs, community pharmacy, and the wider MDT.
• Support TB services through monitoring adherence, recognising adverse effects of anti‑tuberculous therapy, and escalating concerns to the specialist team.
• Provide specialist advice and practical support to patients and carers regarding medicines use, empowering them to manage their medicines and encouraging independence and self‑reliance.
• Devise and provide individualized, structured medication counselling programmes taking a holistic view of the patients and/or informal carers, social situation and health and social support networks, particularly for those identified as being at risk of medication‑related problems.
• Include medication purpose, potential side effects and their management, and when to seek help.
• Provide counselling and demonstration of inhalers, insulin pens and other medical device techniques with particular focus on long‑term condition self‑management and optimisation of chronic therapies.
• Deliver patient education through a range of formats, including group forums and structured educational sessions.
• Provide medicines‑related advice and training as appropriate to MDT colleagues and care providers.
• Act as liaison between the community and acute sector in relation to the pharmacy pathway for the patient when required.
• Complete complex assessment, contribute to care plans in the community ensuring adequate liaison for safe discharge/transfer and seamless service.
• Support admission avoidance and early intervention for patients with long‑term conditions through proactive medicines optimisation, particularly in high‑risk groups (e. g. frailty, respiratory disease, diabetes) by contributing to rapid assessment and appropriate medication support for patients to remain in the community.
• Contribute to safer discharge from hospital, care home or other transfer of care to avoid problems associated with medicines.
• Provide domiciliary visits to review medication‑taking activities in patients identified as being at high risk of medicine‑related problems who have been recently discharged from acute care.
• Accept referrals from other healthcare professionals for patients deemed to be at risk from their medicines.
• Work with patients and residential homes to contribute to safe medicines management.
• Contribute to overall patient health and social care through identification of non‑medication related or safeguarding issues and refer by the appropriate processes.
• Report medicine‑related incidents and contribute to investigation and group‑wide learning from these events.
• Escalate complex or recurrent incidents/risks to the Specialist Pharmacist – Healthcare at Home or service lead as appropriate.
• Support with developing and maintaining Standard Operating Procedures and other documents relevant to the role and wider trust as required.
• Contribute to service improvement activity, audit and evaluation under the direction of the Specialist Pharmacist – Healthcare at Home and in collaboration with Community Service Leads.
• There is also a requirement to be able to handle sensitive and potentially difficult patient issues, lone working, and for travel across Luton and Bedfordshire.
• Communication
• Communicate effectively with EEC staff, hospital colleagues, patients, their family/carers, as well as colleagues in primary care, integrated care board, community pharmacy and social care.
• Facilitate clear and effective communication channels between patients, relatives, carers and professional community colleagues to ensure seamless patient care.
• Communicate, provide and receive sensitive patient medical information, taking into account peoples backgrounds, cultures and personal preferences.
• Effectively and respectfully communicate information regarding prescribed medicines to patients and carers.
• Explain the reasoning for and purpose of each medicine to the patient, and the risks of not taking them as prescribed.
• Apply different strategies where communication difficulties arise.
• Make an accurate record of their activities, plans and strategies in the clinical record.
• Support the cost‑effective use of medicines and avoid waste wherever possible.
• Support the services to ensure the security and appropriate use of stocks of drugs and other devices used for pharmaceutical purposes.
• Improve patient care, reduce medication‑related problems, avoidable hospital admissions and reduce drug costs and waste.
• Be alert to hoarding of unused medicines and work with the patient and the prescriber to reduce the wastage associated with this.
• Guide patients to appropriate destruction of waste medicines.
• People Management
• Maintain own professional development and requirement to take part in appraisal and KSF process.
• Provide guidance and advice to colleagues within and outside the Trust regarding the safe management of medicines.
• Liaise with care agencies, or healthcare support workers; train healthcare support workers as required.
• Check transcribing of medication and records of medicines administered by others in a diplomatic and non‑judgmental way to ensure safe patient care.
• Research and Development
• Participate in research and audit to identify education, training needs and areas for service development relevant to the organisation.
• Collaborate with other members of the Pharmacy Team to develop and share best practice and integrate research evidence into practice to enhance the quality of service provision.
• Clinical and Practice Governance
• Work in accordance with Trust policies and mandatory training relevant to own role, including medicines management, safeguarding, information governance, infection prevention and equality and diversity.
• Observe and maintain strict confidentiality with regards to any patient/family staff records and information in line with the Data Protection Act.
• Ensure that data shared in phone calls or electronic transfer complies with Trust Information Governance and Information Security policies.
• Adhere to Trust risk assessment and risk management processes and infection control policies and procedures, including consideration of communicable diseases such as TB.
• Be aware of Health and Safety issues relevant to the Trust working environment and report as appropriate to the designated Health and Safety Officer.
• Maintain safe systems of working in accordance with Medicines Act and relevant legislation. Report defects that affect safety to the appropriate manager.
• Maintain professional registration with relevant professional body and undertake mandatory and other training as required by East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust.
• Participate in clinical and safeguarding audits, and provide patients and their families/care providers with information on expected standards.
• Participate in relevant emergency preparedness processes for the team.

Qualifications

• Current GPh C registration as a Pharmacy Technician.
• Significant experience in medicines management in community settings.
• Broad pharmaceutical knowledge.
• Knowledge of pharmacy legislation and medicines‑related regulations.
• Strong clinical reasoning and decision‑making skills.
• Specialist post‑registration qualification such as BTEC Level 4 Diploma in Pharmacy Clinical Services or equivalent experience.
• Up‑to‑date knowledge of drug use and issues involved in stock control.
• Experience in developing and contributing to standard operating procedures.
• Experience of direct patient care and medication counselling.
• Experience working in a multidisciplinary team and autonomous working.
• Experience fostering compliance and concordance with medicines, including knowledge of common compliance aids.
• Experience working with social care providers.
• Experience in specialist clinics (e. g., TB, respiratory, diabetes).
• Experience supporting patients with long‑term conditions and complex polypharmacy.
• Standard keyboard skills and ability to communicate through IT packages such as Word, Outlook, Excel, and Power Point.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and listening skills.
• Ability to work independently to meet agreed objectives.
• Ability to work flexibly as part of a team.
• Ability to analyse problems and devise workable solutions.
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