Pharmacy Technician

Alliance for Better Care – Burgess Hill and Villages PCN

Reports to: PCN Clinical Pharmacist & Practice Managers

Responsible to: PCN Clinical Pharmacist

Proposed salary: Band 5.1 – 5.12 on the ABC pay scale, which is equivalent to £27, £34,188.93 per annum dependent on experience (pro rata)

Hours of work: Full time (37.5 hours per week), but part-time considered

Base: Will be based mostly at one practice site but there will be an expectation that cross-cover be provided to all four network practices as needed. There will be time dedicated to training and networking. This role will be supervised by a Clinical Pharmacist and/or GP.

About Alliance for Better Care CIC

Alliance for Better Care (ABC) is a GP Federation uniting 77 NHS GP member practices across 98 sites within 24 Primary Care Networks in Sussex and Surrey. We support our Primary Care colleagues - and their patients - to transform how healthcare is delivered in their communities.

We work closely with GP Practices, PCNs, Hospitals, Community Organisations, and the Third Sector. These vital partnerships enable us to deliver a truly integrated approach that offers the support and expertise needed to effectively serve our populations.

More about our organisation:

Our Values

• We innovate

If we can do something better, we should.

• We are honest

Even when it is difficult.

• We care

And put the patient first.

• We are inclusive

We listen and we act.

• We deliver

And we're known to like a challenge

About Burgess Hill and Villages PCN

Burgess Hill and Villages Primary Care Network is an NHS collaboration between four GP practices - Brow Medical Centre, Meadows Surgery, Mid Sussex Health Care and Silverdale Practice - working together to provide enhanced access services.

Our surgery teams work closely, sharing expertise and resources to develop new services. Our vision is to continue to improve the quality of care that we provide in alignment with the needs of our patient population.

Our Primary Care Network builds on the existing primary care services and enables a greater provision of proactive, personalised and more integrated health and social care. We are supported by practitioners in additional roles who allow us to create bespoke multi-disciplinary teams based on the needs of our local population. By working together with local community services, this allows us to make support available to people where it is most needed.

More about our Primary Care Network and our services:

Study Leave/Training

There are opportunities for a study leave allowance.

Supervision

Regular supervisions on a one-to-one basis including an annual formal appraisal are held with a line manager. If you are in a patient-facing role, you will also receive regular Clinical Supervisions with a Clinical Supervisor.

Benefits

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Access to NHS pension
• Bespoke training programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Enhanced maternity pay
• NHS discounts
• Leadership Development Programme
• Salary sacrifice schemes – technology and electric vehicle
• Opportunities for secondments

Induction Programme

You will receive an in-depth induction programme and will be invited to an induction call within your first week to give you relevant information about the organisation and your job role.

Job summary

The post holders will work with an established Clinical Pharmacist team across the PCN and will be assigned a lead clinical and operational contact. This post is part of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme for Primary Care Networks funded by NHS England and includes funded access to the Primary Care Pharmacy Education pathway pilot for pharmacy technicians.

The ambition is 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.

The post holder is a Pharmacy technician, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting pharmacists in general practice to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines. In this role they will be supervised by a pharmacist who will develop, manage and mentor them.

The Pharmacy technicians' core role responsibilities will cover clinical, and technical and administrative categories.

The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team and this role involves provision of technical support for the pharmacy service to ensure professional operational standards and excellence in pharmaceutical care and safety are maintained.

The role will support the practices within Burgess Hill Villages PCN to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and efficient systems for medicines related clinical correspondence; repeat prescribing, medicines optimisation, reducing medicines waste and maximising patient outcomes.

The post holder will support training and development of administrators to support safe, effective and efficient processes involving medicines with a particular focus on repeat prescribing processes and will also provide support to general practice staff and patients regarding prescription and medication queries. They will also help to develop and improve repeat prescribing & medicines reconciliation processes and systems for safer prescribing.

The post holder will ensure that the service is integrated with community and hospital pharmacy to improve patient outcomes. The pharmacy technicians will work closely with the CCG Medicines Optimisation teams, community pharmacists and hospital pharmacy teams to support an integrated approach to prescribing and medicines optimisation which works towards shared goals.

The post holder will be supported in terms of professional development through a structured programme of local education. Peer-support is provided from within the PCN, supported by a local pharmacy network.

An enhanced DBS check will be carried out for all successful candidates. The post holder will be expected to travel between named practices, improved access service hubs and meetings across the patch. The post may involve evening and weekend shifts supporting the improved access hubs.

The post holder will also support quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services and contribute to the delivery of the local medicines' optimisation strategy.

All Pharmacy Technicians must work within their competencies and have professional indemnity.

Primary duties and areas of responsibility

• 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 PCN, support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers between care settings, linking with local community pharmacies
• Support the Clinical Pharmacist in Structure 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
• Support the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation processes are being followed
• Support medications reconciliation for patients when they are discharged from hospital
• 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 multidisciplinary team to support integration across health and social care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care and mental health
• Support practice reception teams 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 PCN to deliver on QIPP agenda, QOF and locally commissioned enhanced services
• Support the PCN in reviewing and developing practice policies for CQC requirements

The postholder will:

• Be committed to a culture that promotes equality and values diversity, actively promote Equality and Diversity issues relevant to the post and comply with relevant ABC policies
• Ensure the principles of openness, transparency and candour are observed and upheld in practices
• Acquire through training provided by ABC CIC, the appropriate level of safeguarding knowledge, skills and practice required and comply with relevant ABC safeguarding policies
• Ensure that any infection prevention and control issues are reported to the line manager in accordance with Infection Prevention and Control guidelines

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

• Acting in a way that recognises the importance of people's 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 all patients, carers and colleagues
• Behaving in a manner which is non-judgmental and respectful of people's circumstances, feelings, priorities and rights

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the Practices/GP Federation as part of this employment, with such training to include:

• Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
• Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the practices 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 team's performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients' needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working as a qualified, registered pharmacy technician in primary care, community, or hospital pharmacy

Desirable

• Evidence of continued professional development (CPD)
• Demonstrate ability to influence and persuade partners and stakeholders of the respective merits of different options, innovations, new opportunities, and challenges

Knowledge and Understanding

Essential

• Relevant theoretical and practical knowledge of Primary Care Networks, 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)
• 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
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law, ethics and current legislation

Desirable

• Understanding of NHS long term plan and priorities relevant to primary care
• Awareness of funding systems to enable GP clinical pharmacist services to assist delivery of PCN and NHS priorities and requirements for financial balance and quality

Qualifications

Essential

• Professional registration with GPhC
• BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences

Attributes

Essential

• Works effectively independently and as a member of a team
• Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder focused response
• Self-motivated and proactive
• Continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work
• Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments if required.
• Independently mobile to be able to work across several sites and travel to meet with stakeholders
• Adaptability, flexibility and ability to cope with uncertainty and change
• 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
• Excellent time keeping and prioritisation skills

Skills and Competencies

Essential

• Computer literate with an ability to use Microsoft office packages.
• Able to analyse 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 verbal and written communication skills with team members, patients, carers, and other healthcare professionals, whilst recognising peoples needs for alternative methods of communication
• Influencing and negotiating skills
• An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues

Desirable

• Ability to use the required GP clinical systems

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.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

Pay: £27,496.89-£34,188.93 per year

Benefits:

• Cycle to work scheme
• Enhanced maternity leave
• Enhanced paternity leave
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Sick pay

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Hassocks BN6 9UQ: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person