The postholders will work with an established Clinical Pharmacist team 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 proactively help patients stay safe and well, out of hospital, and to help 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. They will be supervised by a pharmacist who will develop, manage, and mentor them.
The Pharmacy technician's core responsibilities will cover clinical, technical, and administrative categories.
The post holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team, providing technical support for the pharmacy service to ensure professional operational standards and excellence in pharmaceutical care and safety are maintained.
Main duties of the job
The role will support the practice in delivering 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 focus on repeat prescribing processes. They will also support general practice staff and patients regarding prescription and medication queries, and help develop and improve repeat prescribing and medicines reconciliation processes for safer prescribing.
The post holder will ensure that the service is integrated with community and hospital pharmacy to improve patient outcomes. They will work closely with the ICB Medicines Optimisation teams, community pharmacists, and hospital pharmacy teams to support an integrated approach to prescribing and medicines optimisation.
The post holder will also support quality improvement initiatives, manage 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.
About us
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 healthcare delivery in their communities.
We work closely with GP Practices, PCNs, Hospitals, Community Organisations, and the Third Sector. These partnerships enable us to deliver a truly integrated approach to effectively serve our populations.
About Healthy Crawley PCN
Healthy Crawley Primary Care Network is an NHS collaboration between four GP Practices: Furnace Green Surgery, Ifield Medical Practice, Poundhill Surgery, and The Woodlands/Clerklands Partnership, working together to provide enhanced access services.
Our teams share expertise and resources to develop new services. Our vision is to improve the quality of care in alignment with our patient population's needs.
Our PCN builds on existing primary care services, enabling proactive, personalised, and integrated health and social care. Supported by practitioners in additional roles, we create bespoke multidisciplinary teams based on local needs, collaborating with community services to provide support where most needed.
Job responsibilities
Primary duties and areas of responsibility - Clinical
Undertake patient-facing and supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, including shared decision-making conversations with patients.
Carry out medicines optimisation tasks such as checking inhaler technique, supporting medication reviews, and medicines reconciliation. Use consultation skills to work with patients to ensure effective medicine use.
Support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronise medicines during patient transfers between settings, liaising with local community pharmacies.
Assist the Clinical Pharmacist in organising necessary monitoring tests prior to Structured Medication Reviews (SMR).
Provide expertise to address public health and social care needs, including lifestyle advice, service information, and tackling health inequalities.
Manage shared care protocols and liaise with Clinical Pharmacists for complex cases.
Support antimicrobial stewardship initiatives to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
Manage prescriptions, conduct clinical audits, and advise patients and primary care team members as appropriate.
Technical and Administrative
Support the PCN multidisciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation processes.
Assist with medication reconciliation during hospital discharges.
Implement efficient ordering and return processes to reduce medication wastage.
Provide training on the legal, safe, and secure handling of medicines, including Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
Promote Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD) and online ordering.
Develop relationships with pharmacy professionals and the multidisciplinary team to support integrated care across health and social care sectors.
Support practice reception teams in streaming prescription requests to allow GPs and pharmacists to review complex requests.
Assist the PCN in delivering on QIPP, QOF, and locally commissioned services.
Support the implementation of prescribing policies and review practice policies for CQC compliance.
General
The postholder will:
Promote equality and diversity, respecting patient, carer, and colleague rights, and comply with policies.
Ensure openness, transparency, and candour in practice.
Acquire safeguarding knowledge and skills through ABC CIC training, and comply with safeguarding policies.
Report infection prevention and control issues per guidelines.
Equality and diversity
Support the rights of patients, carers, and colleagues, respecting privacy, dignity, and beliefs, and behaving non-judgmentally.
Participate in training and performance reviews, maintaining personal and professional development records.
Quality
Maintain quality standards, alert the team to risks, assess own performance, and contribute to team improvements. Work effectively with other agencies to meet patient needs, manage time and resources efficiently, and prioritize tasks.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* GPhC registration
* BTEC/NVQ Level 3 or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences
* Experience as a qualified pharmacy technician in primary care, community, or hospital pharmacy
* Evidence of CPD
* Ability to influence and persuade stakeholders
Experience
* Knowledge of Primary Care Networks, General Practice, and evidence-based medicine
* Understanding of systems supporting patient management in primary care
* Good clinical pharmacy knowledge and terminology
* Understanding of primary care prescribing concepts and strategies for improvement
* Knowledge of pharmacy law, ethics, and legislation
* Awareness of NHS priorities and funding systems for GP pharmacist services
Attributes
* Ability to work independently and in a team
* Flexible, proactive, and self-motivated
* Willing to develop new skills
* Able to travel across sites
* Adaptable to change and able to work under pressure
* Excellent communication, negotiation, and data protection skills
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post requires a DBS check due to the nature of the role.
Salary: £27,496.89 to £34,188.93 per year, depending on experience.
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