Pharmacy Technician (Maternity Cover) in Macclesfield

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 pro-actively 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 and community pharmacists. 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 and technical & administrative categories.

Please note: This is a maternity cover position, working 24 hours per week on Wed/Thu/Fri.

Main duties of the job

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 team and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the practice in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.

About us

School Lane Surgery is one of two large practices in Thetford, with a patient list of over 17000. We are a friendly dynamic practice, delivering excellent care to our patients and providing a positive and supportive working environment for our staff. We have an expanding multi-disciplinary clinical team, comprising two clinical partners and ten salaried GPs, complemented by a diverse range of healthcare professionals including clinical pharmacists, advanced clinical practitioners, mental health practitioners, first contact practitioner care homes team and other allied health professionals. We are a supportive practice for physicians associates and medical students. We participate in research studies and are committed to providing ongoing training and progression. We are one of three practices in the Breckland Alliance Primary Care Network, a group of practices working together to deliver high quality primary care health to the populations of Thetford, Watton and surrounding area.

Job responsibilities

• 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 practice, support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patient transfers between care settings, linking with local community pharmacies. Support the Clinical Pharmacists 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 practice 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 the practice reception team 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 practice to deliver on QIPP agenda, QOF and locally commissioned enhanced services. Support the practice in reviewing and developing practice policies for CQC requirements. All Pharmacy Technicians must work within their competencies and have professional indemnity for their role.

Person Specification

• Attributes

Works efficiently independently and as a member of a team. Self-motivated and proactive. Continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work. Demonstrate ability to work in a busy environment; ability to deal with both urgent and important tasks and to prioritise effectively whilst also supporting others. Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder-focused response. Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments if required. Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change.

• Knowledge and Understanding

Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of General Practice and evidence-based medicine. 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 practice 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. An appreciation of the NHS Agenda and Government targets. Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation.

• Skills and Competencies

Computer literate with an ability to use Microsoft Office packages. Able to analyse data 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. An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues. Ability to use the required GP clinical system (SystmOne). Understand the aims of current healthcare policy within the practice. Influencing and negotiating skills.

• Qualifications

Professional registration with GPhC. BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences. Evidence of continued professional development (CPD).

• Experience

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.

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.