Overview
Responsible to: Lead Pharmacist and PCN Lead Manager
Base: North Shropshire Primary Care Network Whitchurch, and on occasion will be required to travel to other practices within the PCN.
Interview Date: TBC
On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.
We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Pharmacy Technician to join our growing Medicines Management Team.
We are looking for an enthusiastic technician with excellent communication and people skills to work with our PCN Pharmacists. This person will have the opportunity to work with our established team of pharmacists and technicians to provide excellent care within the practices across North Shropshire.
Main duties of the job
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 PCN. 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 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, community Pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team. 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. The Pharmacy Technician role will cover clinical, technical and administrative areas in a primary care setting.
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. (See attached JD and PS)
About us
North Shropshire Primary Care Network (PCN) is comprised of 6 GP practices across North Shropshire providing services for 81,000 patients, providing services for another 8,500 patients. (See attached JD and PS)
Job responsibilities
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 teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the PCN in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives. (Continued on attached documents).
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Professional Qualifications & Registration:
* Professional registration with GPhC (General Pharmaceutical Council)
* BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
* Has completed the CPPE Primary Care Education Pathway or is willing to undertake the pathway (https://www.cppe.ac.uk/career/pcpep/pcpep-training-pathway)
* Evidence of continued professional development (CPD) and continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work
* Knowledge & Technical Skills:
* Good pharmacy knowledge including terminology
* Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation
* Excellent IT skills and knowledge of Microsoft Office packages
* An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues
* Work Quality & Organisation:
* 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 timekeeping and prioritisation skills
* Communication & Interpersonal Skills:
* 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, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience
* Works effectively independently and as a member of a team
* Personal Attributes & Adaptability:
* Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder-focussed response
* Self-motivated and proactive
* 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
* Experience & Background:
* Experience of working as a qualified, registered Pharmacy Technician in primary care, community, or hospital pharmacy
* Relevant advanced theoretical and practical knowledge of Primary Care Networks, General Practice and evidence-based medicine
* An appreciation of the NHS agenda and Government targets
* Clinical & System Knowledge:
* 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)
* An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for the improvement of prescribing
* Understand the aims of current healthcare policy within the PCN
* Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data
* Awareness of GP budget-management and funding systems to enable GP clinical pharmacist services to assist delivery of PCN and NHS priorities and requirements for financial balance and quality
* Technical Skills:
* Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems
* Demonstrate ability to influence and persuade partners and stakeholders of the respective merits of different options, innovations, new opportunities and challenges
* Influencing and negotiating skills
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.
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