Pharmacy Technician in Hebburn

Ellison View Surgery is seeking a skilled and enthusiastic Pharmacy Technician to join our friendly, forward-thinking general practice team. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference in patient care by working closely with GPs, nurses, and the wider clinical team. You will play a key role in supporting safe and effective medicines management, ensuring patients receive the highest standard of care.

Main duties of the job

• Support safe and effective medicines management, including medication reviews, reconciliation, and optimisation.
• Assist with antimicrobial stewardship and national prescribing policies to improve patient outcomes.
• Handle prescription requests, queries, and high-risk medicines monitoring.
• Work with the multi-disciplinary team to reduce medicines wastage and improve efficiency.
• Participate in clinical audits, quality improvement initiatives, and enhanced services.
• Provide guidance and training on safe handling of medicines, including electronic prescriptions.
• Contribute to clinical governance, safeguarding, and public health initiatives.
• Be an integral, proactive member of the general practice team.

About us

Ellison View Surgery is a GP practice serving approximately 6,000 patients, supported by a skilled and experienced clinical team comprising 3 Partners and 1 salaried GP. The team also includes 2 Practice Nurses and 2 Health Care Assistants. Our administration team consists of a mix of enthusiastic Medical Receptionists and experienced Senior Administrators. We pride ourselves on a friendly, supportive work environment while maintaining high standards of patient care. We value and support our team members with good terms & conditions.

Job responsibilities

• Medication Reviews and Reconciliation: Conduct medication reconciliation of clinical letters and hospital discharge summaries. Support medication reviews and reconciliation for new care home patients. Complete Level 1 and 2 medication reviews. Assist with Pre-SMR (Structured Medication Review) screening.
• Prescription Management: Screen and process prescriptions accurately, including supporting the repeat dispensing process. Handle patient-related medication queries and communicate effectively to provide guidance. Support practice reception teams by sorting and streaming prescription requests for clinical review. Promote electronic prescribing, safe repeat prescribing, and timely monitoring of high-risk medicines (including DOAC monitoring).
• Medicines Optimisation and Safety: Coordinate with local pharmacies to manage stock levels and shortages. Ensure medication synchronisation for repeat prescriptions and oversee medication recall processes (e.g., blood pressure, blood tests, annual reviews). Review existing and new Shared Care Protocols and act appropriately. Action medicines safety alerts from CAS/MHRA/ICB. Support antimicrobial stewardship initiatives to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Participate in prescribing audits (in-house, CQC/QOF, or local incentive schemes) and patient safety audits. Work with the multi-disciplinary team to improve medicines optimisation, including efficient ordering, returns, and reducing wastage.
• Training, Governance, and Collaboration: Provide guidance and training on the legal, safe, and secure handling of medicines, including the Electronic Prescription Service. Develop and maintain professional relationships with pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and the wider multi-disciplinary team across primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, and mental health. Adhere to current legislation, safeguarding policies, and practice protocols. Participate in clinical audits, research projects, and updating practice guidelines. Support enhanced services, patient complaints management, and the identification of learning from incidents and near-misses. Undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes and participate in regular appraisals to review objectives. Contribute to public health campaigns, such as flu clinics, and maintain a tidy, effective working environment.
• Wider Responsibilities: Participate in formal training events to promote best practice. Contribute to local policies, procedures, and protocols to improve patient care. Demonstrate initiative, creativity, and proactivity in problem-solving. Undertake additional tasks as required, based on workload and staffing levels. Generate and run reports within clinical systems to identify and stratify patients for review.

Person Specification

• Experience: Is able to work under appropriate clinical supervision to ensure safe, effective and efficient use of medicines. Experience of working in a primary care setting. Understanding and knowledge of healthcare provision in GP practices, QOF and enhanced services. An appreciation of the new NHS landscape including the relationship between individual organisations, PCNs and the commissioners.
• Qualifications: Confirmation of registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Meets the specific qualification and training requirements as specified by the GPhC criteria to register as a Pharmacy Technician. Enrolled in, undertaking or qualified from, an approved training pathway. For example, the Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH). Evidence of continued professional development (CPD).
• Personal Qualities: Effective time management (planning and organising). Demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and work well under pressure. Ability to follow legal, ethical and professional policies/procedures and codes of conduct. Ability to use own initiative, discretion, and sensitivity. Able to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity. Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals. Ability to work as a team member and autonomously. Good interpersonal skills. Good organisational skills. Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations. Commitment to ongoing professional development. Knowledge of and ability to work with key policies and procedures. Clear, polite telephone manner. Knowledge of IT systems including the ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports. Problem solver with the ability to process information accurately and effectively, interpreting data as required.
• Clinical Knowledge & Skills: Ability to communicate information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email and face to face. Demonstrate personal accountability, emotional resilience and work well under pressure. Ability to record accurate clinical notes. Understanding of safeguarding adults and children. Problem solving and analytical skills. Good clinical system IT knowledge. Broad knowledge of clinical governance.

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.