Medicines Management Technician - Emergency Floor

Overview

A Vacancy at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Pharmacy Emergency Floor team at LUHFT on the Royal Liverpool site, working alongside pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and ATOs. The position is full time (37.5 hours). Our pharmacy technicians work over 7 days covering the service 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 4.15pm Saturday and Sunday. Staff have the flexibility to request their shifts/ days off and weekends within the rota. We provide pharmacy services to the Emergency Department and the Acute Medical Unit. You will play a pivotal role in ensuring optimum performance of the pharmacy service whilst working in our busy departments as part of the Medicine Management team. Technicians are encouraged to progress in their role and career path by obtaining additional relevant training to enable them to achieve this. You will be working closely with the pharmacists and other health care professionals within the multidisciplinary team in the Emergency Department and Acute Medical Unit area to deliver high quality, patient focused medicines management services.

You will be responsible for the delivery of safe and cost-effective pharmaceutical care to patients, as well as facilitating efficient discharge and transfer of patients. This will need you to have excellent organisational skills to undertake this role. You will also have a small obligation to rotate through our busy dispensary, making good use of your accuracy checking certificate. You must be able to work accurately, have a good eye for detail, and be able to prioritise your workload, meet deadlines and be committed to the delivery of high standards in a patient focused service.

Key Responsibilities

• To provide a clinical technical service to the POD wards, including the taking of comprehensive medication histories and to provide a cost-effective “one-stop” dispensing service involving accuracy checking patients’ own drugs and assessing their suitability for reuse.
• To provide a cost-effective “one-stop” dispensing service to wards, involving accuracy checking patients’ own drugs and assessing their suitability for use, arranging re-supplies of patients’ drugs, liaising with G.P.s, nursing homes and ward staff, assessing patient concordance and providing counselling and education where necessary.
• To provide a “topping up” service on wards for individual patient drug supplies under the direction of the Dispensary Manager or Senior Technicians and in accordance with procedures.
• To support the clinical pharmacists on POD wards in the provision of complete pharmaceutical care for patients.
• To liaise with GPs, nursing homes, doctors, ward staff and other healthcare professionals to provide complete pharmaceutical care for patients.
• To interpret medical notes and test results, identify pharmaceutical and clinical problems and refer to the appropriate medical staff or clinical pharmacist.
• To counsel and educate patients and carers on the correct use of their medication and assess their understanding of the medicines prescribed.
• To assess patient concordance, identify patients requiring compliance aids and arrange provision of the necessary aids in both primary and secondary care.
• To facilitate patient discharges to ensure timely and effective discharge supplies of medication are available for individual patients.
• To perform a final accuracy check on prescriptions and orders which have previously been clinically checked by a pharmacist and in accordance with Trust procedures, and ensure dispensing errors are corrected by the appropriate member of staff.
• To develop, implement and manage a training package for technical staff in the systems used on POD wards and to assess, train and supervise other technical staff in the systems used on POD wards to ensure optimal and continuous service, adherence to procedures and safe systems of work and expansion of systems to other areas of the Trust.
• To consult with ward managers and train nursing staff in the systems used on POD wards and provide pharmaceutical information and advice, and be prepared to give lectures on pharmaceutical topics to other healthcare professionals and patients where appropriate.
• To carry out audit projects independently and in conjunction with other pharmacy staff to improve and develop service provision and to contribute to the review of existing systems and implementation of new procedural guidelines.
• To co-ordinate and participate in the provision of a patient counselling course for technical staff and to assist with the education and training of all members of staff, other healthcare professionals and patients.
• To participate in personal development review and appraise and perform personal development reviews on other staff members.
• To assist in the provision of directorate financial information and analysis and the implementation of directorate service quality and cost improvement initiatives.
• To attend any meetings relevant to the role and appropriate training courses for technicians, to encourage other staff to undertake further training and to participate in such training schemes necessary to keep relevant pharmaceutical and clinical technical knowledge up to date.
• To advise nursing staff on the correct storage of goods supplied by the pharmacy with regard to security and stability.
• To contribute to the recording and reporting of clinical and non-clinical incidents.
• To liaise and provide support for the Senior Technician Team in the management of ward service activities.
• To act as a role model for student technicians and other members of technical and support staff and provide mentoring, assessing, induction and training of student technicians, pre-registration pharmacists, dispensing assistants and any other relevant members of the pharmacy team.
• To undertake Continuing Professional Development in order to keep pharmaceutical knowledge current, ensure best practice and comply with requirements for entry on the pharmacy technician register.
• To carry out dispensing of prescriptions, including extemporaneous prescriptions, unlicensed drugs, controlled drugs, and in-patient and outpatient prescriptions in accordance with the agreed safe systems of work practice.
• To co-operate in staff rotation within the pharmacy departments of the Trust including all dispensaries, the aseptic department and outpatient services and to participate in Saturday, Sunday, Bank holiday and late night duties as is considered appropriate by the Chief Pharmacist or other senior manager.
• To observe the recommendations contained in the Guide to Good Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Practice and its supplements and to assist in ensuring that work carried out in the department is in accordance with these and any other recommendations issued by the Department of Health or Medicines Inspectorate.
• To observe the regulations in respect of the Health and Safety Act and Data Protection Act.
• To co-operate in the operation and development of computerised systems of stock control and medical speciality costing and to assist in maintaining reasonable stock levels, in accordance with the policies in force.
• To assist in maintaining reasonable stock levels, in accordance with the policies in force, in the section of the pharmacy in which (s)he is currently employed and to assist in ensuring correct storage and turnover of stock to maintain quality and potency.
• To answer telephone and face to face queries of a routine or technical nature from a wide range of staff groups, either in the pharmacy or on the ward, and refer appropriate queries to the relevant member of the pharmacy team when necessary.
• To liaise with various members of the pharmacy team and ward staff when solving supply problems and ensuring the best service to patients.
• To participate in pharmacy and ward based stock audits under the direction of the Senior Technicians.
• To assist in the receipt and issue of goods in pharmacy and to check delivery notes and invoices if required.
• To participate in pharmacy objectives set by the Trust, the National Patient Safety Agency, the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection, the Department of Health and others to meet clinical governance targets, develop patient care, improve clinical outcomes and ensure compliance with all standards for hospital pharmacy services and interface between primary and secondary care.
• To provide accurate record keeping of controlled drugs kept in pharmacy including supplies to wards and departments, orders received into the pharmacy and regular audits of the accuracy of computer and paper records.
• To dispense clinical trials in accordance with the dispensing protocol, ICH GCP guidelines and European Directive under the direction of the clinical trials technician/pharmacist.
• To undertake special dispensing and manufacturing involving the use of aseptic techniques to a suitable standard in preparation of sterile products in accordance with aseptic procedures and under the direction of the Aseptic Services Manager.
• To undertake cytotoxic reconstitution and dispensing in accordance with the recommendations contained in the Aseptic Production Manual and in accordance with the criteria set out under COSHH regulations and Regional and National standards.
• To support equality and diversity.
• To undertake any other related duties, which may be required.

This advert closes on Tuesday 23 Sep 2025.