Senior Clinical Pharmacy Technician
Job overview
An excellent development opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and committed individual to gain specialised oncology skills in a clinical role. This is a full-time post based at the Sutton site of Royal Marsden Hospital with cover at Kingston Unit as needed.
We are looking for a motivated pharmacy technician to join our diverse Clinical Pharmacy team to develop and deliver an advanced, patient-centred medicines optimisation service. You must have excellent communicational skills, the ability to work on your own as well as within a team and be highly motivated to deliver excellent patient care.
You will integrate into our extremely well-developed ward based multidisciplinary team assisting in medication reconciliation, TTO medicine supply, patient counselling and will facilitate discharges to ensure in-patients and day-unit patients are discharged in a timely manner with the correct medication and advice.Additional duties include the assessment of patients own drugs, audits, medication ordering, dispensing and checking of supplies.
There will be a requirement to participate in the Saturday service and Bank holiday service to ensure cost effective and efficient service is maintained throughout our patient’s stay.Applicants must, be a registered Pharmacy Technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council and be an Accredited checking pharmacy technician. You must be willing to obtain the Medicine optimisation course (HEE or equivalent) and practise supervisor qualification.
Main duties of the job- To develop, maintain and manage the safe, efficient, and cost-effective supply of medicines to patients on day units and inpatient wards.
- To deliver quality care to patients at ward level through efficient medicines optimisation by undertaking the assessment of patient’s own medication, medicines reconciliation, individual patient dispensing, discharge planning and patient education on medicines
- To support with clinical audits, data collection and implementation of developments to enhance the needs of the patient.
- To support the Head of Clinical Services with the delivery of any service developments associated with medicine management pharmacy service to meet local and national requirements.
- To participate with the dispensing, final checking and issuing of medicines to deliver a safe service.
- To support with the daily operational management of the dispensary
- To be the practice supervisor for trainee pharmacy staff when required.
Working for our organisation
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer.We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Day-care Unit in Kingston Hospital.
At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That's why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.
At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance.We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our on-going achievements.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
For further information on this role, please see the attached detailed Job Description and Person Specification:-- To support the implementation of self-administration by patients and/or carers where possible.
- To support the management of the medication supply pathway including the efficient transfer of medicines between wards.
- Participate with patient counselling by undertaking specific accreditations in order to carry out counselling for oral chemotherapy.
- To liaise with ward and pharmacy staff to resolve any technical queries or problems with patients, referring to ward pharmacist when required.
- To liaise on drug related issues with primary healthcare professionals, as appropriate for patients being discharged from hospital.
- To participate in clinical audit and data collection including medicines safe & secure or other forms of research and development in collaboration with the sister/nurse in charge.
- To complete the wards/units quarterly Controlled Drugs (CDs) audit, including balance transfers to new CD registers and checking of CD register balance with the physical stock, reporting any discrepancies in a timely manner.
- To participate in the retrieval of patients own medication from wards and expired or unused ward stock.
- To be involved in the training of new clinical pharmacy ward staff, pre-registration trainees, undergraduates, and peer reviews of existing medicine MMT’s.
- To support the patient medicine pathway by working closely with the pharmacy aseptic unit staff, stores and procurement, clinical trials and all other relevant pharmacy teams and act as a link between the ward and these units, ensuring that a seamless high-quality service is provided.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria- Qualified Pharmacy Technician Registered with General Pharmaceutical Council
- Accredited Checking Pharmacy Technician (ACPT) qualification
- Practice Supervisor Course or equivalent
- Medicines Optimisation qualification (HEE LaSE) or equivalent
Experience
Essential criteria- Significant work experience (post qualification) in hospital pharmacy
- Awareness of training competency requirements for technical staff (Level 2 & 3)
- Experience in training and supervision of trainees
- Experience of final checking complex prescriptions e.g., oncology, paediatrics
- Experience of team leader or suitable management
- Working knowledge/experience of writing SOPs
- Oncology pharmacy experience
Knowledge
Essential criteria- Well-developed organisational, time management and planning skills; ability to organise workload and work as part of a team.
- Good communication and interpersonal skills (written and verbal)
- Quality-oriented; strives for continuous improvement
- Ability to be supportive and demonstrate empathy in appropriate situations
- Excellent customer service skills
- Computer literate
- Good leadership qualities: able to take responsibility and to delegate effectively
The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities.
As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.
Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.
All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.
Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff
At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease.
The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.