Patient Safety Officer in Kettering

To support the management and development of the repeat prescribing system to ensure safe, effective and quality prescribing within the practice. To work closely with the operational lead GP and Deputy Manager on quality and safety audits covering all aspects of patient care.

Main duties of the job:

• Checking to ensure patients have had required blood tests or other checks on a monthly basis to ensure safe prescribing.
• Where blood tests are overdue, to generate recall and safety letters to be sent to patients.
• Contacting the local hospital to obtain blood test results to support safe prescribing within the practice.
• If patients are not compliant with blood tests due, to report this to the prescribing GP and take any other action as advised.
• To follow set protocols and take medication off repeat if a patient does not comply with requests for blood tests to support safe prescribing.
• To build and run regular clinical system searches to facilitate detailed audits to ensure safety and quality in all aspects of patient care.

Projects and Audits:

• To assist with projects and audits to improve services.
• To assist with initiatives to enhance safety, quality and cost effectiveness of prescribing and other areas of patient care.
• To work autonomously and be capable of prioritising work whilst maintaining accurate and timely records.

Other Duties:

• To participate in multidisciplinary meetings and educational sessions related to patient safety in particular prescribing.
• To ensure that all information is recorded accurately using computer systems and Excel.
• To ensure all relevant information is documented in the patients medical record in a timely manner.

This is not an exhaustive list of duties and responsibilities and the post holder may be required to undertake other duties that fall within the grade of the job, in discussion with their manager.

Key working relationships:

The post holder will be required to maintain constructive relationships with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders and communicate with all grades of healthcare staff including all practice staff, secondary health care staff, community health care professionals and community pharmacists. Communicate highly-sensitive condition-related information to patients and relatives if needed.

Health & Safety:

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the practice Health & Safety policy, the practice Infection Control policy and published procedures.

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to practice guidelines.
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks.
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills.
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and keeping them free from hazards.
• Actively reporting health and safety hazards and infection hazards immediately when recognised.
• Keeping own work areas and general/patient areas generally clean, assisting in the maintenance of general standards of cleanliness consistent with the scope of the job holders role.
• Undertaking periodic infection control training (minimum annually).

Equality and Diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

• Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with practice procedures and policies, and current legislation.
• Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues.
• Behaving in a manner that is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review.
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning, and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practice, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance.
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.

Communication:

The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team and will:

• Communicate effectively with other team members.
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers.
• Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

Most instruction and communication of activity will be via the Practice Manager.

Contribution to the Implementation of Services:

The post-holder will:

• Apply practice policies, standards and guidance.
• Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect their own work.
• Participate in audit where appropriate.

Confidentiality:

In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately.

In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Person Specification:

Special Circumstances:

• Able to travel to/from work for the hours required.
• Able to work from home if required.
• Complements the team.
• Flexible over hours on an occasional basis.

Qualifications:

• Acceptable GCSE grades including A-C (or equivalent) in English Language and Maths.
• A-Level grade A-C (or equivalent) in at least one Science subject.
• Good English written and spoken.
• Computer Literate.
• An advanced working knowledge of Microsoft Excel.
• Educated to degree level.

Motivation:

• To work to deadlines.
• Ability to work in a team.
• Experience of organising own work to achieve best outcome.

Experience:

• Task orientated.
• Accuracy in all work.
• Statistical/data analysis skills.
• Experience of inputting data onto a computer system and setting up spreadsheets.
• Working in a GP practice.

Innate Abilities:

• Reliable.
• Methodical, organised, attention to detail.
• Ability to learn new skills quickly.
• Able to speed read documents.
• Ability to question correctly.
• Ability to "up the pace" when necessary.
• To recognise workload priorities and communicate any problems to the Practice Manager.

Physical Make Up:

• Smart and appropriate dress.
• Pleasant and professional manner.
• Clear and articulate speech.
• Understands totally the need for confidentiality.
• Flexible and adaptable.

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.