Job summary
The Pharmacy department at The Alexandra Hospital in Redditch is lookingfor an experienced Assistant Technical Officer to join our motivated, friendly and forwardthinking team.
Within this new role, you will be expected to help supportmedicines supply throughout the Trust in a variety of ways. This will be mainly conducted in the Aseptic Unit, but may occasionally require you to work in other areas of the department, such as the Dispensary.
We provide a wide range of competencybased training and support to help you develop your career and your clinicaland practical knowledge and skills.
We want you to be committed to maintainexcellent patient care, yet continually improving the quality of the service.You will need to be enthusiastic and flexible, and be skilled at organisingyour own time and workload, whilst having the capability to change prioritiesat short notice to meet the needs of the service.
You will be an excellent communicator, becaring and passionate about patients. We will support your professional developmentand equip you with the skills and knowledge you will need to provide qualityclinical and technical service to our patients.
You will help us to train and supervise newstaff and students within the Aseptic unit, and will be avaluable and important member of the technical team.
Please note, you will be required toparticipate in the weekend and Bank Holiday rotas.
Main duties of the job
To supervise the day to day running of the Asepticclean rooms ensuring safe, efficient and timely preparation of asepticallydispensed products.
To support the Lead Pharmacy Technician inproviding line management to the Assistant Technical Officers.
Provide practical training and mentoring toAssistant Technical Officers, modern apprentices and pre-registration pharmacytechnicians.
Participate as an Aseptic Operative in all aspectsof the service.
About us
Our purpose is simple - Putting Patients First. We are looking for exceptional colleagues who can help us achieve this.
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a larger population in Herefordshire and beyond.
The Trust operates hospital-based services from three sites in Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester
Our workforce is over 7,000 strong, and our caring staff are recognised as providing good and outstanding patient-centred care. You could be one of them.
We are committed to recruiting the best people to work with us to achieve our Vision - working in partnership to provide the best healthcare for our communities, leading and supporting our teams to move 4ward. Our 4ward behaviours, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin our everyday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.
Our objectives are simple:
1. Best services for local people
2. Best experience of care and best outcomes for our patients
3. Best use of resources
4. Best people
Better never stops, and our Clinical Services Strategy provides a clear future vision for our Trust, our hospitals, our services and our role in the wider health and care system.
We are proud to have achieved Timewise accreditation - this means we are committed to embedding flexible working within our organisation as a flex positive employer.
Job description
Job responsibilities
MAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE JOB
ClinicalResponsibilities:
Superviseand prioritise the daily workload in the clean room, to ensure the provision ofa safe effective and efficient service is maintained.
Supervise,organise and participate in the set-up of Aseptic Facilities on a daily basissuch that the unit is ready for use in a timely manner.
Preparationunder aseptic conditions of cytotoxic preparations and Monoclonal Antibodies.
Carryout supervision of the aseptic dispensing process by providing in process checks as designated by the Lead Pharmacy Technician
Dispensingof pre-filled injection syringes and oral medication for use by clinic staffand patients in accordance with the instructions printed on the prescription.
Finalpackaging of all types of aseptically dispensed products ensuring safe practiceis adhered by all operatives, as specified in the departmental procedures.
Wherenecessary liaise with Pharmacy staff to ensure timely delivery of patientsmedication.
Maintainappropriate stocks of drugs (including oral medication) and consumables for asepticdispensing.
Organiseand carry out departmental technical cleans following the daily, weekly monthlyquarterly and annual schedule. Ensure such activities are accurately recorded.
Reviewreceipt of prefilled aseptic products such that they are assessed for qualityand signed off as acceptable before they are released for dispensing.
ManagerialResponsibilities:
Assistthe Lead Pharmacy Technician, Technical Services by monitoring the trainingvalidation, assessment and broth test requirements for the Assistant TechnicalOfficers, pre-registration pharmacy technicians and pharmacy technicians.
Organiseand assign work tasks to the Assistant Technical Officers (ATOs) such that thedepartment is appropriately staffed for ATOs to complete the required tasks.
Informthe lead Technician and or Pharmacist of any deficiencies in staffing such thatthe ATOs cannot complete the required tasks on a daily basis.
Workwith the Lead Pharmacy Technician and other senior staff in developingprocedures assuring continued compliance with the requirements of GoodManufacturing Practice.
Arrangeregular stock checks such that department stock levels remain accurate at alltime. Where discrepancies occur, discuss with Lead Pharmacy Technician andagree how to remedy the discrepancies.
Monitorcompleteness of the Microbiology testing programme as identified in StandardOperating procedures. Ensure results are reviewed daily. Ensure the lead Pharmacist or Lead Technicianare notified of any omissions or failures. Perform standard investigation techniques andreport back to the Lead Technician.
Toprovide an error report to the Quality review meeting on a monthly basis.
Contributingto pharmacy aseptic services recruitment/retention in line with workforceplanning requirements and developments in conjunction with the Lead technician.
Participatingin interviews for pharmacy staff where required.
Assistingin the departmental performance management system ensuring that all asepticservices ATOs are performance managed, receive annual appraisals andappropriate associated development plans to deliver the requirements of theirrole.
Assistingthe Lead technician in managing the departmental sickness/absence policy for aseptic services staff.
Administrative Responsibilities
Organise and ensure records are maintained andstored following local standard operating procedures, such that they arearchived at an appropriate point but are accessible for the required period oftime.
Regularlyassess the completeness of documentation completed within the department. Agreemethodologies to reduce any omissions and implement where necessary.
Healthand Safety
Tominimize hazards in the working area, report any identifiable hazards to yourline manager. Adhere to all safe systems of work applicable to your area.
Ensureall documentation relating to COSHH is maintained and kept up to date.
Research & Audit:
Maintain personal GCP training to dispense trialmedication.
Carry out audit data collection as designated by theLead Pharmacist and Lead Technician, Technical Services which meets thereporting requirements of our partner organisations.
Training &Development:
Provide mentoring or supervision of trainee staffsuch that training needs are identified and staff progression is maintained.
Demonstrate and maintain Aseptic competence bysuccessfully completing Aseptic Broth Transfer Test Validation every sixmonths.
Represent The ATOs as a member of the TechnicalServices Senior team and attend the monthly Quality review.
OtherResponsibilities:
The post holder will use the Pharmacy Computer System, financesystems, MS Office and other computer software to produce drug usage reports,management reports, plans, rotas, policies and procedures etc. as required.
The post holder will undertake amutually agreed range of technical duties in the department, meeting therequired standards at all times, gained by completion of the appropriatecompetency based training program.
The post holder will participate in the Trusts Skills DevelopmentReview process on at least an annual basis, preparing for and pro-activelycontributing to the annual review. This will include following the PersonalDevelopment Plan (PDP) devised.
The post holder will be expected to work on some weekends and BankHolidays.
The post holder will maintain patient confidentiality at all timesaccording to Trust procedure and policy.
The post holder will act in a professional, caring and responsiblemanner at all times.
Where concerns or doubts of the accuracy of another member ofstaff are identified by the post holder, these must be communicated promptlyand appropriately to the Lead technician.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
5. 5 GCSE Grade C or above including English and Maths.
6. NVQ (or equivalent experience equal to) Level 2 in pharmacy technical services
7. Evidence of formal training leading to being able to manufacture aseptically prepared products in a clean room environment.
8. Significant experience and demonstrated competence of successfully delivering hospital aseptic services including all aspects of GMP.
Desirable
9. Supervisory or team leadership course
10. GCP qualification
Knowledge and Skills
Essential
11. Good organisational skills.
12. Sound knowledge of aseptic unit processes.
13. Ability to priorities own work, and that of others to meet set deadlines.
14. Work to a high level of accuracy, giving attention to detail.
Desirable
15. Developing managing and improving Standard Operational Procedures
Experience
Essential
16. Proven recent experience of working as an aseptic operative successfully delivering aseptic pharmacy services under the direction of supervisors experienced in aseptic pharmacy services.
17. Experience of supervising less experienced staff to deliver aseptic services.
18. Relevant experience in hospital pharmacy.
19. Experience and knowledge of aseptic and pharmacy policies including quality management systems.
20. Ordering medicine stock and disposable items where accuracy is of the utmost importance
21. Experience of how to deal with a range of routine and non-routine activities, work allocation, problem solving for a team or area of work, answering queries, progress chasing, and task related problem solving.
22. Able to communicate clearly and effectively both verbally and written and have the ability to record details accurately and neatly.
23. Experience of working under pressure with pressurised deadlines.
Desirable
24. Experience leading a team and facilitating service delivery and training.
25. Experience in management of staff including allocation of workload and personnel issues
26. Experience of carrying out of in process checking in aseptic products