Pharmacy Technician in Workington

Pharmacy Technicians play an important role in Primary Care, complementing clinical and community pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team. The purpose of this role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost-effective best practice in prescribing to improve patient care. The role involves reviewing and recording the medication the patients should be taking, ensuring sufficient supplies, administering medicines, and counselling patients to support their understanding on how to use their medicines safely. Optimising and rationalising medication, switching medications to agreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes, including promotion of repeat dispensing, online ordering, minimising clinical risk and aiming to reduce waste in medicines.

Main duties of the job:

• Work with the Clinical Pharmacist, Community Pharmacists and Clinicians in accordance with agreed practice prescribing standard operating procedures.
• Process repeat medication requests, including the conversion of acute requests to repeat medicines, changing quantities of medicines.
• Issuing prescriptions in line with agreed clinical protocols and within your competency.
• Regular liaison with community and acute hospital pharmacists.
• Provide advice and guidance to patients regarding medication optimisation and lifestyle e.g. inhaler techniques.
• To provide medication review services to patients via clinics in the practice, domiciliary visits and in residential and nursing homes, and to deliver pharmaceutical care plans that maximise cost-effective prescribing and improve the quality of patient care.
• To support the achievement of the practices prescribing Quality and Outcomes Framework targets.
• Dealing with medication queries including acute medication requests, patient medication and prescription queries.
• To update and maintain accurate patient medication records on the practice clinical computer system, including advice given and action taken.
• Liaise with secondary and primary care colleagues to ensure correct medicines are continued following the transfer of care.
• To assist the Senior Clinical Pharmacist with data analysis of prescribing behaviour in line with NICE guidance and local clinical commissioning directives.

About us:

North Cumbria Primary Care Ltd (NCPC) is an innovative not for profit social enterprise, established to create a network of great surgeries which sustains and supports the development of general practice across the local area. We enable our member general practices to continue to operate as local family practices with the benefit of a large and robust infrastructure to provide support.

Job responsibilities:

The post holder will support the primary care team with queries around medication from patients; including face to face and telephone support to patients, primary and community staff. You will work under supervision to ensure safe, accurate and timely supply of prescribed medication to patients as well as providing technical and administrative support to the Clinical Pharmacists and Practice Clinicians. Primary care clinical pharmacy is developing, and we are looking for a motivated individual who is flexible to respond to the developing nature of the role and the needs and priorities of individuals requiring support working under the direction of the clinical pharmacists. We expect that you will be able to work independently and manage your own workload. You will need excellent communication skills to be able to liaise with patients, primary care staff, community pharmacists and other partners. Hours of work should reflect general practice hours 30 hours per week within 8.30am to 6.30pm.

Person Specification:

Personal Qualities:

• Polite and confident
• Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team
• Flexible and cooperative
• Displays self-confidence and self-awareness, especially in dealing with staff and patients
• High levels of integrity and loyalty
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to communicate complex information in situations where there may be barriers to understanding both to patients, their families/carers and other professionals
• Ability to work under pressure

Qualifications:

• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmacy services
• Enrolled in or willing to be, undertaking or qualified from, an approved training pathway. For example, the Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH)

Experience:

• 2 year experience in a hospital, community or primary care pharmacy
• Primary care experience

Skills:

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral)
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office packages and case management systems
• Knowledge of the principles of medication optimisation
• Good pharmacy knowledge including terminology
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improvement of prescribing
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation
• Understanding of current national policies, in particular those that impact on medicines management services
• Effective time management (Planning & Organising)
• High levels of analytical literacy skills
• Organised with good time management
• Ability to follow policy and procedure
• Experience of medicines reconciliation
• Understanding of community pharmacy systems
• Ability to develop and implement policy and procedure to sustain a quality service
• Understanding of QOF

Other Requirements:

• Flexibility to work outside of core office hours
• Evidence of continuing professional development
• 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.

£28,129.51 to £32,834.80 a year based on WTE - Depending on Experience.