Thepost holder will play a key role in ensuring the safe, effective, and efficientuse of medicines across both practice populations. As an integral member of themultidisciplinary team, they will contribute to medicines optimisation byundertaking a range of technical, clinical, and patient facing activities designed to improveprescribing quality and support enhanced patient outcomes.
The post holder will work across two practices Carlisle Healthcare and Spencer Street Surgery and will therefore be required to attend both sites.
Main duties of the job
The main duties of the role involves providing patient centredmedicines support, including shared decision conversations, counselling on new or changed medicines, and ensuring safe and effective use of treatments. You will process prescriptions, support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation across care settings, and contribute to medicines optimisation, antimicrobial stewardship, and the implementation of national prescribing guidance. Working as part of the multidisciplinary team, you will help streamline prescription workflows, promote eRD, reduce medicines waste, and maintain accurate clinical records. The role also includes supporting medicines safety through monitoring, postdischarge reconciliation, maintaining sharedcare protocols, and ensuring accurate allergy and alert documentation. You will contribute to clinical governance by responding to MHRA alerts, supporting audits, and assisting with incident reporting, while maintaining your own professional development and supporting the learning of others.
About us
Carlisle Healthcare is a large NHS general practice partnership formed in 2016 through the merger of three established city surgeries. Operating across three sites, we provide care for around 39,000 patients and work collaboratively as a four practice PrimaryCare Network, enabling innovation and improved models of primary care.
We are a diverse, multidisciplinary team delivering high quality, patient centred care, including GPs, Advanced Clinical Practitioners, a Home Visiting Team, Clinical Pharmacists, First Contact Physiotherapists, Mental Health Workers, Practice Nurses and HCAs, and comprehensive management and administrative teams. We also work with remote clinicians to enhance capacity.
As a busy, forward thinking practice, we focus on delivering excellent patient care while supporting staff wellbeing, fostering a positive and fulfilling workplace, and encouraging continuous improvement.
We are an established GP training practice, hosting learners across multiple disciplines including medical, nursing, and ACP trainees, as well as apprentices reflecting our strong commitment to education and developing the future primary care workforce.
Job responsibilities
Undertake patient facing and patient supportingroles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-makingconversations with patients.
Process prescriptions in line with agreedclinical protocols and within your competency.
Where required, utilise consultation skills towork in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicineseffectively.
When required, utilise consultation skills towork in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicineseffectively (e.g. checking inhaler technique)
Support medication reviews and medicinesreconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines forpatient transfers between care settings and linking with local communitypharmacists.
Provide specialist expertise, where competent,to address both the public health and social care needs of patients, includinglifestyle advice, service information, and help in tackling local healthinequalities.
Take a central role in the clinical aspects ofshared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complexpatients.
Support initiatives for antimicrobialstewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisationand management incentive schemes and patient safety audits.
Support the implementation of nationalprescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes and otherprimary care settings. This will be achieved through undertaking clinicalaudits (e.g. use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvement measures andcontributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services.
Work with the multi-disciplinary team to ensureefficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering andreturn processes, and reducing wastage.
Support team in sorting and streaming generalprescription requests, so as to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists to reviewthe more clinically complex requests.
Promote Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) andonline ordering as appropriate to patient and practice needs.
Support efficient ordering to reduce medicineswaste.
Develop relationships with other pharmacytechnicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinary team to supportintegration of the pharmacy team across health and social care includingprimary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, and mental health.
Support service development, contributing toaudits and practice-wide initiatives.
Maintain accurate patientrecords that clearly and comprehensively reflect the content ofeach consultation, ensuring all information is documented in line withprofessional, legal, and organisational standards.
Provide advice within professional remit to GPsand practice staff relating to changes to prescribing guidance to support theimprovement of prescribing safety, quality, and cost effectiveness.
Assist patients and GP staff with responses tomedication queries.
Counsel patients on how to use newly startedmedications, and provide advice regarding any medication changes, to optimisesafety and improve compliance.
Support implementation of local and nationalguidelines and formulary recommendations.
Support and encourage reduction in prescribingof medicines available to purchase over the counter, medicines of low value,and low priority treatments.
Identify patients that are overdue requiredmonitoring and refer to the appropriate clinicians.
Reconcile medicines following discharge fromhospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying andappropriately rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients andcommunity pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need postdischarge.
Ensure shared care protocols are in place whererelevant and ensure the continuation of safe practice within primary care ismaintained.
Work with the pharmacy service team to developand implement systems to ensure the effective and continuous supply ofmedication to high-risk patients.
Understand and accurately record relevantpatient alerts (e.g. visually impaired, hard of hearing).
Ensure patient allergy information is accurateand correctly documented, and that the information is shared with the widermultidisciplinary team.
Clinical Governance
Respond to Medicines and Healthcare RegulatoryAgency (MHRA) alerts, set up searches to identify affected patients on thepractice clinical systems and action them according to practice protocol.
Monitor practice prescribing against the localformulary and report back results to the clinical pharmacist team and action asrequired.
Support in the reporting of medicines relatedincidents, and when required, contribute to investigations and root causeanalysis.
Person Specification
Skills
* Strong communication and consultation skills
* Well-developed word processing/data collection/IT skills
* Excellent interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills
* Effective organisational and time management skills
* Accuracy and attention to detail
* Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team
* Ability to interpret clinical information to support clinical decision making
* Ability to prioritise and manage own workload
* Flexible approach to work, adapting to changing priorities
* Ability to use own initiative
* Experience of use of a medical software package such as EMIS
Experience
* Minimum of 2 years post registration experience
* Experience in medicines optimisation
* Experience working in a primary care, hospital or community setting
* Experience dealing with patients/public
Knowledge
* Understanding of primary care workflows
* Understanding of medicines legislations, including controlled drugs, safeguarding and national prescribing guidance
* Understanding of medicines management, pharmaceutical care principles, and repeat prescribing processes
Qualifications
* Pharmacy Technician registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
* BTEC/NVQ level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical science
* Evidence of continued professional development
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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