Primary Care Pharmacy Technician

Job description Job responsibilities Generic ResponsibilitiesAll staff at this organisation have a duty to conform to the following:Equality, Diversity and InclusionSafety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)The organisation is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities for staff to maintain their health, wellbeing and safety.The post-holder is to manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients and monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines.All personnel have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for themselves, their team and others and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.ConfidentialityThe organisation is committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality at all times.It is essential that, if the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained, all staff must protect patient information and provide a confidential service.Quality and Continuous Improvement (CI)To preserve and improve the quality of organisations outputs, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work.The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice and to discuss, highlight and collaborate with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care.At this organisation, we continually strive to improve work processes which deliver healthcare with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement where everyone counts, and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.Staff should interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice. All staff are to contribute to investigations and root cause analyses whilst participating in serious incident investigations and multidisciplinary case reviews.InductionWe will provide a full induction programme and support throughout the process.Learning and developmentThe effective use of training and development is fundamental in ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake in, and complete mandatory training as directed. It is an expectation for this post-holder to assess their own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate.The post-holder will undertake mentorship for team members and disseminate learning and information gained to other team members to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (e.g., courses and conferences). The post-holder will provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning.Collaborative workingAll staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working and understand their own role and scope and identify how this may develop over time. Staff are to prioritise their own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team.Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments, and the post-holder is to work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working and to work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care deliveryEffective communication is essential, and all staff must ensure they communicate in a manner which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner. All staff should delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence. Plans and outcomes by which to measure success should be agreed.Managing information All staff should use technology and appropriate software as an aid to management in the planning, implementation and monitoring of care and presenting and communicating information.Data should be reviewed and processed using accurate SNOMED codes / practice templates to ensure easy and accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes.Service deliveryStaff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure.The post-holder must adhere to the information contained within practice policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are always adhered to.SecurityThe security of the organisation is the responsibility of all personnel. The post-holder must ensure they always remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager.Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks with anyone and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured. Likewise, password controls are to be maintained and are not to be shared.Professional conduct, uniforms and appearanceAll staff are required to dress appropriately for their role and in accordance with the organisations Uniforms, Dress and Appearance Policy. All staff members are to ensure that their conduct is commensurate with line management expectations and practice protocol.LeaveAll personnel are entitled to take leave. Line managers are to ensure all their staff are afforded the opportunity to take their leave each year.Public holidays will be calculated on a pro-rated basis dependent on the number of hours worked.Primary Key ResponsibilitiesThe following are the core responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician in delivering health services: Support medication reviews and medication reconciliationSupport initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing

Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation and incentive schemes and patient safety audits

Support the implementation of national / local prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes and other primary care settings. This will be achieved through undertaking clinical audits (e.g., use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvement measures and contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services

Work with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including medicines switches and cost reduction

Support practice reception teams in sorting and streaming general prescription requests, to allow GPs and Clinical Pharmacists to review the more clinically complex requests

Support medicines optimisation systems with a range of services to get the best value from medicines by encouraging and implementing electronic prescriptions, safe repeat prescribing systems, and timely monitoring and management of high-risk medicines

Provide training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines and medicine stationery including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).

Develop relationships with other pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration of the pharmacy team across health and social care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, residential care and mental health

Be aware of duties and responsibilities regarding current legislation and adhere to practice policies and procedures on Safeguarding Adults and Safeguarding Children Handle prescription queries and requests directly where needed

Be an integral part of the general practice team

Demonstrate initiative and be creative in finding solutions to problems

Participate in clinical audits and research projects and implement changes as required, including supporting the development and updates to practice protocols / guidelines and procedures locally

Support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements as needed

Support in the management of patient complaints when requested to do so and participate in the identification of any necessary learning brought about through incidents and near-miss events Undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes Contribute to and embrace the spectrum of clinical governance Attend a formal appraisal every 12 months. Attend and contribute to meetings as required Contribute to public health campaigns (e.g., flu clinics) Maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all timesThere may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks, this will be dependent upon factors such as workload, contracts, external priorities and staffing levels