Senior Clinical Pharmacy Technician

An exciting development opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and motivated Band 5 Clinical Pharmacy Technician to join our Clinical Pharmacy team and develop specialist skills within oncology.

The post will be based primarily at our Sutton site, with cross-site working at the Kingston Unit as required.

We are looking for a proactive and committed pharmacy technician who is passionate about delivering high-quality, patient-centred care and is keen to develop their clinical knowledge and medicines optimisation skills within a specialist oncology setting.

You will be supported to develop your knowledge of oncology medicines and specialist clinical pharmacy services, while further developing your clinical, communication and medicines optimisation skills.There will be a requirement to participate in the 7-day pharmacy service rota, supporting the delivery of a safe, efficient and responsive pharmacy service throughout the patient’s stay.

Further information
For further information or to arrange an informal discussion or visit, please contact:Hazel Munduru – Lead Clinical Pharmacy Technician-Inpatient Wards SuttonTel: 0208 642 6011 ext. 4387 Email: hazel.munduru@rmh.nhs.uk

Main duties of the job

As an integral member of our established ward-based multidisciplinary team, you will contribute to the delivery of a safe, effective and patient-centred clinical pharmacy service to inpatients and day-unit patients.
Working closely with pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, nursing and medical teams, you will support medicines optimisation throughout the patient’s journey and help facilitate safe and timely discharge.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Undertaking medicines reconciliation and obtaining accurate medication histories
• Assessing and managing patients’ own drugs
• Supporting the timely supply of medicines, including discharge (TTO) medication
• Counselling patients and providing appropriate medicines-related information and advice
• Supporting discharge pathways and helping to minimise medicines-related delays
• Ordering medicines and ensuring continuity of medication supply
• Dispensing and accuracy checking prescriptions and medication supplies
• Participating in audits, quality improvement and service development initiatives
• Working collaboratively with pharmacy colleagues and the wider multidisciplinary team to promote the safe and effective use of medicines

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Day-care Unit in Kingston Hospital.

At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification:-

• To support the implementation of self-administration by patients and/or carers where possible.
• To support the management of the medication supply pathway including the efficient transfer of medicines between wards.
• Participate with patient counselling by undertaking specific accreditations in order to carry out counselling for oral chemotherapy.
• To liaise with ward and pharmacy staff to resolve any technical queries or problems with patients, referring to ward pharmacist when required.
• To liaise on drug related issues with primary healthcare professionals, as appropriate for patients being discharged from hospital.
• To participate in clinical audit and data collection including medicines safe & secure or other forms of research and development in collaboration with the sister/nurse in charge.
• To complete the wards/units quarterly Controlled Drugs (CDs) audit, including balance transfers to new CD registers and checking of CD register balance with the physical stock, reporting any discrepancies in a timely manner.
• To participate in the retrieval of patients own medication from wards and expired or unused ward stock.
• To be involved in the training of new clinical pharmacy ward staff, pre-registration trainees, undergraduates, and peer reviews of existing medicine MMT’s.
• To support the patient medicine pathway by working closely with the pharmacy aseptic unit staff, stores and procurement, clinical trials and all other relevant pharmacy teams and act as a link between the ward and these units, ensuring that a seamless high-quality service is provided.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Qualified Pharmacy Technician Registered with General Pharmaceutical Council
• Practice Supervisor Course or equivalent

Experience

• Significant work experience (post qualification) in hospital pharmacy
• Awareness of training competency requirements for technical staff (Level 2 & 3)
• Experience in training and supervision of trainees
• Experience of final checking complex prescriptions e.g., oncology, paediatrics
• Experience of team leader or suitable management
• Working knowledge/experience of writing SOPs

Knowledge

• Well-developed organisational, time management and planning skills; ability to organise workload and work as part of a team.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills (written and verbal)
• Quality-oriented; strives for continuous improvement
• Ability to be supportive and demonstrate empathy in appropriate situations
• Good leadership qualities: able to take responsibility and to delegate effectively

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application

All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.

The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.