PCN Pharmacy Technician

Clinical Pharmacy in General practice is part of an exciting programme of change to address the requirements of the long term plans for the NHS of the future and part of that development is the introduction of Primary Care Networks (PCN's) and the diversification of the clinical workforce. The role available is for a Pharmacy Technician, to work alongside our PCN Clinical Pharmacists, with a range of service delivery objectives.

Main duties of the job:

• Structured medication reviews
• Use of EPS - eRD and online ordering
• Handling prescription requests and queries
• Support the Practice (and PCN) in delivery of National targets, QIPP, QoF, IIF, medicines optimisation and enhanced services.

About us: Garden City PCN looks after 57,000 patients across 3 practices in Rural Gravesend, Dartford and Bexley. The practices are responsible for their own additional roles staff. This role is with Downs Way Medical Practice, a 3 site, 8 partner training practice. Downs Way has always been a high performing, high quality practice and anyone joining the extensive/diverse team of clinicians and non-clinician support will need to put patients at the very centre of all they do.

Job responsibilities:

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. 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 proactively 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, technical and administrative categories. 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.

Clinical:

• Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients.
• 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.
• Support the Clinical Pharmacist in Structured Medication Reviews (SMR) i.e. organise necessary monitoring tests prior to SMR.
• Provide expertise to address both the public health and social care needs of patients, including lifestyle advice, service information, and help in tackling local health inequalities.
• Manage shared care protocols and liaise with Clinical Pharmacists for more complex patients.
• Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing locally.

Technical and Administrative:

• Support the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation processes are being followed.
• Implement efficient ordering and return processes and reducing medication wastage.
• Provide training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
• Promotion of Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) and online ordering.
• Develop relationships with other pharmacy professionals and members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration across health and social care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care and mental health.
• Support practice reception teams in streaming general prescription requests, so as to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists to review the more clinically complex requests.
• Support the implementation of national prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes and other primary care settings.
• Support the PCN to deliver on QIPP agenda, QOF, IIF, Medicines Optimisation Projects and locally commissioned enhanced services.
• Support the PCN in reviewing and developing practice policies for CQC requirements.

All Pharmacy Technicians must work within their competencies, and have professional indemnity for their role.

General:

The postholder will:

• Develop a culture that promotes equality and values diversity.
• Be aware of and committed to the Equality and Diversity policies of the appointing GP Federation and comply with all the requirements of these policies and actively promote Equality and Diversity issues relevant to the post.
• Ensure the principles of openness, transparency and candour are observed and upheld in all working practices.
• Have, or acquire through training provided by the organisation, the appropriate level of safeguarding and knowledge, skills and practice required for the post and be aware of and comply with the organisation’s safeguarding protection policies and procedures.
• Ensure that any infection prevention and control issues are reported to the line manager/Infection Prevention and Control.

Equality and diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of people’s rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation.
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues.
• Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, with such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the team’s performance.
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients’ needs.
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.

Person Specification:

Knowledge and Understanding:

• Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of Primary Care Networks, General Practice and evidence-based medicine.
• An appreciation of the NHS agenda and Government targets.
• 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 PCN 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.
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation.

Experience:

• Evidence of continued professional development (CPD).
• 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.

Quality, Attributes and Other:

• Computer literate with an ability to use Microsoft office packages.
• Understand the aims of current healthcare policy within the PCN.
• Able to analyse 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 people's needs for alternative methods of communication.
• Influencing and negotiating skills.
• An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues.
• Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems.

Qualifications:

• Professional registration with GPhC.
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences.

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.

£14.82 an hour. May be higher depending on experience.