Lead Pharmacy Technician, Clinical Services (Band 6)
Be part of our future landscape
At Airedale, we are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. We actively encourage applications irrespective of people’s age, lived experience of living with a disability or long-term conditions, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances.
Increasing our diversity and supporting our organisation to be more inclusive is a key priority here at Airedale and our teams are at the centre of how we work towards this.
We appreciate all people may have diverse and individual needs and we pride ourselves on supporting all people to thrive and flourish at work. We have frameworks in place that support reasonable adjustments and flexible working for colleagues throughout their working lives which starts at recruitment.
These are exciting times for Airedale. We have the once-in-a-career opportunity to be involved in the planning and building of a completely new hospital here on our Steeton site by 2030. By joining us now you’ll be a key part of our journey over the next few years, with the chance to input into a state-of-the-art, modern healthcare facility that will deliver care to our communities for decades to come.We are also on the journey to a new electronic patient record, part of our wider ambition for our digital future – a future that builds on our significant telemedicine and digital care success. Ultimately, what makes Airedale special is our people.
Not just our staff, but our volunteers, patients, visitors, and wider population who make up the Airedale family. This is a Trust that sits at the heart of our community, and our communities are very proud of their Trust.
Job overview
We are seeking to appoint a dynamic, enthusiastic and motivated Band 6 Lead Pharmacy Technician to lead and develop the medicines management Pharmacy Technician service across the Trust,This is an exciting opportunity to join our highly-respected, progressive Clinical Pharmacy Service at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust. Our patient-centred Clinical Pharmacy Teams work on wards and in clinics closely with Multidisciplinary Teams to care for patients.
The post holder will lead the Pharmacy Technician-led warfarin clinic.
The successful applicant will manage the band 5 Medicines Management Pharmacy Technicians and develop the service in line with the trust and departmental vision and objectives. The post holder will also provide a medicines management service, which involves medicines reconciliation, supporting stock management, counselling patients and working with pharmacists to provide and continue to develop an efficient and accurate clinical pharmacy service to patients.In addition, you will participate in general dispensary duties, including dispensing and accuracy checking.
In order to be successful in this role, you will need to be organised, motivated, have excellent communication and people skills as well as the ability to adapt quickly to new situations. You will be expected to have extensive experience of medicines management at a ward and registration as a pharmacy technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is essential.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will:
- To develop the Medicines Management Pharmacy Technician Service across the Trust, working closely with the Lead Pharmacist for Clinical Services and the Deputy Pharmacy Operations Manager
- To lead and manage all of the medicines management Pharmacy Technicians
- To ensure that all medicines management processes are followed by all staff
- To maintain and develop high quality, consistent, patient-focused pharmacy services in conjunction with clinical and patient services staff.
- To provide a medicines management service to clinical areas
Working for our organisation
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is an award-winning NHS hospital and community services trust providing high quality, personalised, acute, elective, specialist, and community care for a population of over 200,000 people from a widespread area covering 700 square miles within Yorkshire and Lancashire – stretching as far as the Yorkshire Dales and the National Park in North Yorkshire, reaching areas of North Bradford and Guiseley in West Yorkshire and extending into Colne and Pendle in the East of Lancashire.
We employ over 2,500 staff and have over 350 committed volunteers. Last year
we treated over 32,000 inpatients, 31,000 non-elective patients and 144,000 outpatients. Our Emergency Department saw more than 70,000 patients, over 2,000 babies were born at Airedale Hospital.
We provide services from our main hospital site, Airedale Hospital, and at other locations across the community – such as Castleberg Hospital, near Settle, Coronation Hospital in Ilkley, and Skipton Hospital.
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for our patients.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities- To adhere to and maintain quality standards and performance indicators for safe medicines use and medication safety initiatives.
- To reduce wastage of medicines within the Trust by developing systems to assist with medication transfer.
- To participate in regular audits of the quality of medicines use and medication safety.
- To be able to follow departmental SOPs and dispense medication accurately.
- To be able to use pharmacy computer systems correctly, enter data accurately from transcription sheets, prescription forms and any other prescriptions written by others and ensure that data is stored and archived appropriately in accordance with local and regionally agreed guidelines.
- To liaise with care managers, community pharmacists and GP’s to ensure accurate drug histories are obtained for all patients on admission.
- To review patients’ own drugs and assess their suitability for re-use against the pharmacy department’s standardised criteria.
- To cross check with patients if the medication history sent by their GP is up to date and correct and to check concordance with the patient.
- To counsel patients regarding the safe and appropriate use of their medicines.
- To assist in the development and promotion of self-medication schemes, assessing patients for suitability.
- To deliver a customer-focused service and to adhere to the highest principles of customer services when dealing with patients, staff and the public
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- BTEC in Phamaceutical Science/NVQ3 in Pharmacy Services or equivalent
- Evidence of CPD
- Registered with the GPHC
- Accredited checking qualification
Knowledge and Experience
Essential criteria- Thorough understanding of all aspects of hospital pharmacy services and medicines management
- Specialist knowledge and expertise in a range of work, hospital processes and practices
- Knowledge of Dispensary and Patient Services.
- Knowledge of hospital prescribing, supply, manufacture and administration processes
- Knowledge of Electronic Patient Records or ePMA
- Law and Ethics of pharmacy
- Cost improvement strategies
- Implementation and assessment of audits
- Understanding of equality and diversity issues and how this affects patients, visitors and staff Knowledge of the NHS Constitution & ‘Understanding the New NHS’
- Extensive experience of Technical pharmacy service delivery with substantial post qualification experience
- Experience of using electronic patient records or E-Prescribing systems
- Experience of working in a hospital pharmacy.
- Experience of managing change & in the improvement of processes
- Leadership and management tools and principles
- HR policy and practices
- Automation and robotics
- Experience of supervising or mentoring staff
- Experience of working in a similar role
- Experiencing of configuring, maintaining or building E-Prescribing or EPR Systems
We are happy to discuss flexible working opportunities.
NOTE: This vacancy may close before the advertised closing date if sufficient suitable applications are received.
If you are offered a position which requires you to undertake a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust will administer the DBS check on your behalf and will recover the cost (Enhanced £54.40, Standard or Basic £26.40) from your first full months salary. This is a condition of your employment.
In applying for a post that requires a DBS check you are confirming that you have read and understood the DBS Privacy Policy for Enhanced and Standard Checks (Click here for the privacy policy)
You are encouraged to participate in the DBS Update Service and pay the £16 cost per year.