Senior Pharmacy Technician - Medicines Management Acute Medicine
Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.
Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.
Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it.Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions.
Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.
In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.
We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.
Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’.Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.
The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS.We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.
We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.
Job overview
To provide a comprehensive pharmaceutical Medicines Management service for the Acute Medicine directorate. This includes accurate ward-based pharmacy support, timely medication reconciliation, and facilitating safe and efficient supplies for patient discharge.The role supports the dispensary in dispensing, accuracy checking, and patient counselling. Additionally, it involves contributing to service development, audit, and education.
We are expanding our technical pharmacy team to support the growing demands of Acute Medicine and to enhance the development opportunities for our staff. This expansion ensures a well-supported structure that allows our pharmacy technicians to focus on delivering excellent care, contributing to service improvement projects, and pursuing professional development.
Main duties of the job
As a Senior Pharmacy Technician in Medicines Management, you will:
- Provide ward-based medicines management services, including medication history-taking, discharge planning, and patient counselling.
- Support the safe and effective supply of medicines through dispensing and accuracy checking.
- Participate in audits, quality improvement initiatives, and training of rotational staff and trainees.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to optimise patient care in Acute Medicine.
This is an exciting opportunity to join a team focused on delivering high-quality care and innovation, with access to protected time for training, audits, and education.
Working for our organisation
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust is among the largest in the UK and is recognised for its clinical excellence, teaching, and research. In addition to providing local hospital and community services, the Trust delivers specialist care in cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory, paediatrics, and Acute Medicine.Evelina London Children’s Hospital and Guy’s Cancer Centre are key components of its services.
In February 2021, the Trust merged with Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, forming one of Europe’s largest centres for heart and lung services. This merger enhances collaboration across services and research, enabling innovation and ensuring exceptional care for patients with complex conditions.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ continues to build on its legacy of delivering world-class care, with Acute Medicine at the forefront of its commitment to meeting the evolving needs of patients. The Trust is also committed to creating a supportive and inclusive environment for its patients and staff.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Duties and Responsibilities
Service Delivery and Operational Management- Provide ward-based Medicines Management services:
- Assess Patients’ Own Drugs for suitability.
- Record accurate medication reconciliation for admitted patients.
- Ensure timely, cost-effective medication supply using the department’s MMP system.
- Dispense and perform final accuracy checks on clinically screened prescriptions.
- Support discharge processes by reviewing and ordering TTO medications.
- Maintain medication storage, stock control, and risk management:
- Conduct Controlled Drugs checks as per Trust policy.
- Review ward stock lists to reduce risks and wastage.
- Support cycle counts and automated dispensing tasks.
- Replenish compliance aids and provide patient information leaflets as needed.
- Liaise with pharmacists to highlight clinical issues and prioritise medication needs based on urgency.
- Contribute to operational improvements, such as supporting actions related to drug recalls.
- Supervise rotational pharmacy technicians, trainee pharmacy technicians, and trainee pharmacists on request, ensuring high standards of work.
- Support the induction and training of rotational staff and trainee pharmacy technicians.
- Participate in recruitment and selection processes when required.
- Assist in collecting workload quality and financial data for audit and service improvement.
- Contribute to incident investigations and help implement learning from errors.
- Ensure compliance with Trust and departmental health and safety policies.
- Participate in delivering Medicines Management training to staff, including non-pharmacy colleagues (e.g., nurses).
- Contribute to assessments and appraisals for pharmacy staff, including support for NVQ and QCF qualifications.
- Undertake mandatory CPD and professional development as per GPhC requirements.
- Collect and analyse data for audits to measure and improve service delivery.
- Support initiatives to develop and implement evidence-based practices.
- Participate in the department’s out-of-hours rota, including weekends and holidays.
- Ensure tasks align with departmental SOPs and Trust policies.
- Actively participate in multidisciplinary team discussions to optimise patient care and medication therapies.
Person specification
Knowledge/Qualifications
Essential criteria- Registered with GPhC or eligible to register
- Accuracy checker
- Medicines management experience in award based setting
- BTEC Pharmaceutical Science / GPhC-accredited Level 3 Pharmacy Technician Qualification or equivalent
- Medicines management qualification MOP or equivalent
- Practice supervisor /Educational supervisor or equivalent
Experience
Essential criteria- Experience of hospital pharmacy dispensary operations
- Experience of supervising staff and workload on a day-to-day basis
- Ability to work to set procedures under pressure
- Experience of counselling patents on use of medications
- Ability to develop and deliver competency-based training assessments
- Ability to write or contribute to SOPs
- Experience of appraising staff and setting performance objectives
- Familiarity with hospital pharmacy systems, including EPIC
- xperience of participation in project and audit work
Skills
Essential criteria- Demonstrates ability to dispense accurately to set standards
- Mandatory professional CPD as defined by the General Pharmaceutical Council
- Recruitment and selection experience
Guy’s and St Thomas’ celebrates, respects and values the diversity of its staff and patients. We review our policies, procedures and practices to ensure that all employees, patients and carers are treated equitable according to their needs. We are actively committed to ensuring that no one who applies for a job, works or study’s at the Trust, or accesses our services is discriminated against on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion or belief, age, gender identity , gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, or marital/civil partnership.
Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.
As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends.
Flexible working
We are committed to supporting all employees to achieve a healthy work life balance and to work in a way that is best for them and our patients. We will consider all requests to work flexibly, taking in to account the individual’s personal circumstances as well the needs of the service.We encourage all prospective applicants to discuss their individual circumstances with the recruiting manager as part of the on-boarding process.
Your e-mail address is important to us - We communicate to all job applicants via the e-mail address which has been provided on the application form. Please ensure that you check your e-mail on a regular basis.
Please apply for this post by clicking "Apply Online Now."