Senior Pharmacy Assistant - Medicines Management

Job overview

Would you like to join our pharmacy team at LUHFT working with our clinical teams on the wards, helping to organise medication supplies to patients.

Working with the technical team you will be involved in the supply and distribution of medication and training and developing various staff in pharmacy services.

You will be required to have a good understanding of hospital pharmacy and play a key role in ensuring patients have their medicines available during their stay and on discharge.

We are looking for a highly motivated and enthusiastic individual who wants to develop existing skills. You must be organised, flexible, have excellent communication skills and have a track record of paying close attention to detail.

You must be a team player who can work on your own initiative and who has a positive attitude towards providing a high-quality service and working to deadlines.

Main duties of the job

In the role as a Senior Pharmacy Assistant – Medicines Management you will work within the pharmacy department and on wards alongside nursing staff and the pharmacy teams.

Using your excellent communication skills, you will deal with queries regarding medicines supply and liaise with Pharmacy Technicians, Pharmacists and dispensary or stores when required.

Maintaining medicines supplies will require analysis of reports to ensure stocks and named patient supplies are identified.

As a senior pharmacy assistant, you will supervise work of pharmacy assistants ensuring work is prioritised appropriately and play a key role in training and development of staff to maintain a quality and standards of work.

You will be expected to participate in evening, weekend and Bank Holiday working in keeping with the Pharmacy Directorate arrangements and the needs of the Trust

Working for our organisation

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was created on 1 October 2019 following the merger of two adult acute Trusts, Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The merger provides an opportunity to reconfigure services in a way that provides the best healthcare services to the city and improves the quality of care and health outcomes that patients experience.

The Trust runs Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital, Liverpool University Dental Hospital and the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

It serves a core population of around 630,000 people across Merseyside as well as providing a range of highly specialist services to a catchment area of more than two million people in the North West region and beyond.

To hear more about our achievements click here https://www.liverpoolft.nhs.uk/media/13089/1606-annual-report-booklet_final.pdf

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook – Liverpool University Hospitals Careers

Instagram - @LUHFTcareers

Twitter - @LUHFTcareers

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. Dispense and issue medicines from the Pharmacy Department including extemporaneously prepared products, controlled drugs, unlicensed medicines and clinical trials, in accordance with the policies, procedures and safe systems of work, which prevail in the department at the time.
2. Order and supply pharmaceuticals as part of the ward stock top-up service.
3. Using judgements within boundaries of own remit and training, interpret reports accurately to identify the correct supply of medicines and quantities.
4. Provide an effective medicine supply service to wards/departments and patients.
5. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team to ensure that patients have access to the correct medicines at the right time and that they are involved in decision making.
6. Receive medicines into the Pharmacy Department and ensure that documentation and computer entry is carried out in a timely and accurate manner.
7. Ensure that all pharmaceutical preparations are stored appropriately.
8. Ensure patients own medicines are brought into hospital through direct discussion with patient/relatives/carers.
9. Providing information to patients on their medicines supplies within remit.
10. Ensuring patients have adequate supply of medicines and reordering as necessary.
11. Liaising with discharge facilitators and multidisciplinary teams to identify patients requiring medicines for discharge.
12. Preparing medicines for discharge and dispensing items where applicable.
13. Acting as a point of contact for basic pharmacy related queries from other staff including nurses and multidisciplinary teams.
14. Interpret pharmacy portal reports and prepare daily handover for pharmacy ward teams.
15. Review antibiotic reports and order stocks as required through the pharmacy portal system.
16. Review controlled drugs report and identify order requirements and liaise with nursing staff to ensure they are ordered.
17. Review percentage report, check for transferred medicines, delete duplicate orders and reorder previously supplied medicines if required through the pharmacy portal system.
18. Ensure that all unused medicines (if appropriate) returned to the pharmacy are recycled in accordance with the safe systems of work and always participate in the safe disposal of medicines in accordance with departmental procedures.
19. Ensures the maintenance and review of ward stocks, liaising with departmental managers, directorate pharmacists, medicines management technicians and the stores and distribution team.
20. Participate in the development and project work in line with the objectives of the Trust and Pharmacy Directorate.
21. Check picked stock items to ensure accuracy of medicines supplies on top-up.
22. Train, supervise, and assess pharmacy assistants.
23. Deliver training to pharmacy assistants and other staff as they rotate through areas of practice.
24. Deal with ad hoc stock requests as they arise (by telephone or portal) from wards/departments and outside clinics. These may be urgent and will need to be prioritised appropriately.
25. Supply emergency orders.
26. Support pharmacy assistants with NVQ level 2 training where appropriate.
27. Prioritise work so that services meet their objectives.
28. Together with other members of staff ensure that procedures are carried out in accordance with current legislation and regulations in respect of the Health and Safety at Work Act, COSHH and that other pertinent recommendations and standards are complied with.
29. Participate and co-operate in weekend, Bank Holiday, Statuary Holiday, early morning, and evening services as per departmental arrangements.
30. Undertake other reasonable duties appropriate with this role as required. This may be subject to change to meet the needs of our patients.
31. Work across sites where required.
32. The post holder will be expected to adapt to changes that may occur, which may affect the current practices within the Pharmacy Department, such as the introduction of new equipment, procedures, policies, and hours of working.

Person specification

Knowledge

• Knowledge of procedures for own pharmacy area – on the job training, experience to NVQ3 or equivalent level
• Knowledge of stock control systems and storage of medication
• Numerate – able to carry out simple calculations

• Knowledge of hospital pharmacy supply and discharge planning
• Able to relate to all grades of staff within multidisciplinary team

Skills

• Clear and accurate written communication skills
• Ability to use different IT applications
• Methodical with attention to detail
• Ability to train others
• Ability to work alone or part of a team
• Clear and accurate verbal communication skills
• Ability to adapt to change
• Ability to show initiative and work efficiently
• Able to supervise and prioritise tasks for others and prioritise team workflow
• Ability to set routines and implement new working procedures
• Ability to respond to non-routine queries and escalate when outside limitations

Qualifications

• NVQ level 2 in pharmaceutical sciences or equivalent

Experience

• Demonstrable experience working in a pharmacy environment
• Experience of working in a team
• Experience of dispensing prescriptions OR the preparation of aseptic products

Other

• Enthusiasm for the position
• Can use own initiative and shows attention to detail
• Interest in pharmacy service provision
• Proactive
• Friendly, empathetic and reliable team worker
• Able to relate to all grades of staff
• Willingness to learn
• Commitment to work
• Reliable and flexible to the needs of the service
• Self-motivated and ability to motivate others
• Ability to work as per departmental weekend, evening and bank holiday rotas

Please ensure you check the email account (including junk/spam boxes) from which you apply regularly as we will use this to contact you regarding your application.

Posts advertised to ‘internal staff’ are open to employees of hospitals within University Hospitals of Liverpool Group and you should confirm your employment within your application form.

Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.

We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role.

Candidates applying for the role of Healthcare Assistant on the staff bank should note that due to the nature of the role, workers must be aged 18 or above when commencing in post. Applicants are therefore welcome from those aged over 18 or within 3 months’ of their 18^th birthday.

Not all roles are suitable for every flexible working opportunity all of the time. Flexible working options may include reduced hours, compressed hours, fixed shifts, time back in lieu and home working.

The Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity; we value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of the local community. We encourage applicants from the following groups that are currently under-represented in our workforce black, Asian and minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ+), disabled, male and age 16-24.

Bank posts require upfront payment. DBS applications submitted from 2nd December will be subject to the new DBS fee of £26.50 (standard) and £54.50 (Enhanced).

From April 2017, Skilled visa applicants and their adult dependant(s) will be required to provide a criminal record certificate from each country they have lived in consecutively for 12 months or more in the past ten years.

Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website - https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa.

This organisation has a zero-tolerance approach to the abuse of children, young people and vulnerable adults. All staff must ensure they adhere to the organisations safeguarding children and adults’ policy and comply with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Board procedures.

Staff should be mindful of their responsibility to safeguard children and adults in any activity performed on behalf of the organisation in line with the requirements of statutory guidance and legislation.

All employees (and volunteers)are expected maintain their safeguarding knowledge and skills by completing mandatory safeguarding training which includes understanding and recognising the signs of abuse and neglect and taking appropriate action.

As an organisation, we have adopted the Merseyside Domestic abuse workplace scheme which supports our staff who are experiencing Domestic Abuse /any forms of sexual violence.

If you have any personal requirements that will enable you to participate in our recruitment process please contact a member of the Recruitment Services by phone on 0151 706 4666 at the earliest opportunity to ensure that measures can be put in place to enable your application for this post.

Please note: new entrants to the NHS will commence on the first pay point of the relevant band.