Senior Production Technician (Chemotherapy Services) - NHS
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
We are looking for a suitably experienced pharmaceutical senior production technician to join our chemotherapy aseptic preparation and dispensing team based in Guy's Cancer Centre. The candidate should be an enthusiastic team player who is able to demonstrate excellent organisational & training skills, effective communication, and has an excellent working knowledge of GMP and manufacturing experience of pharmaceuticals.
Strong foundations in GMP practices, preparing PQS documents such as deviations, change controls and CAPA documents is required.
Main duties of the job
The successful candidate will be responsible for:
Supporting the Principal Pharmacy Technicians (Aseptic Services) in the running of the chemotherapy unit and supervising the production operators in the clean room environment.- - To ensure the safe, efficient and compliant manufacture of a range of pharmaceuticals under section 10 exemption of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012
- Ensure excellent GMP practices are maintained at all times
- - To train junior staff members in aseptic production practices
- To supervise a cohort of pharmacy assistants and production technicians in both preparation and dispensing activities.
- To participate in the aseptic technical verification of screened prescriptions in EPIC
- To manage the workload in both cleanrooms and support areas
- To ensure that effective usage of the raw materials is undertaken and minimise wastage
- To ensure that daily physical monitoring is maintained and QMH courier is organised in a timely manner for daily delivery
- To act as team lead on weekend working
Working for our organisation
The Chemotherapy Preparation and Dispensing Unit is located at the Guy's Hospital Site and produces a variety of Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapies (SACT) for use within the hospital trust for patients.
A satellite Cancer Centre unit is based at Queen Mary's Hospital (QMH) - Sidcup that offers our cancer patients the opportunity for treatment closer to home.
CPDU works in close collaboration with the Quality Assurance team and other pharmacy aseptic services units in the Trust across sites; licensed and unlicensed units.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
As an overview general duties include the following, for full details refer to the JD provided.- To participate and supervise all technical aspects of aseptic preparation and to ensure products are made to the highest quality, enforced by GMP and QA systems and that they are fit for their intended use.
- To act as a role model to staff working throughout the department.
- To undertake any other reasonable duties as specified by the Principal technician and senior team.
- To assist in recruitment and selection of staff to the Trust’s Pharmacy Manufacturing unit and assist in recruitment to the pharmacy as a whole.
- To be the responsible supervisor critical checker within production areas and to undertake when required preparation and dispensing of raw materials and other products.
Person specification
Skills
Essential criteria- Ability to accurately undertake in-process critical checks
- Good interpersonal, communication, written and oral skills
- Ability to work at an isolator preparing aseptically produced CIVAs, PN and cytotoxic drugs for long periods of time (e.g. 3 hour sessions, usually 2 sessions per day)
- Be familiar with handling and preparing cytotoxic drugs following approved procedures: GMP, COSHH
- Demonstrated ability to work in a busy demand-led service and be able to work under pressure
- Significant post-qualification experience in a GMP-compliant facility, preparing/manufacturing medicines for human use
- Good team member and team leadership
- Ability to prioritise workload effectively
- Demonstrated experience of ability to appraise staff and set performance objectives.
Experience
Essential criteria- Demonstrable understanding of the risks associated with aseptic preparation, particularly of hazardous drugs and how to identify/manage the risks
- Specialist working knowledge of cleanroom, pharmaceutical isolator and laminar air flow technologies
- Supervisory and Training delivery experience
- Knowledge of regulations and legislation relevant to Clinical Trial
- Previous evaluated experience of delivering induction and competency based training e.g. Trainer the Trainers or equivalent / NVQ Pharmacy Services Level 3 – optional unit: 12 or equivalent.
- Previous experience of recruitment and selection of staff
Qualification and knowledge
Essential criteria- NVQ Pharmacy services Level 3 plus accredited underpinning knowledge (BTEC in Pharmaceutical Sciences or equivalent) or equivalent plus Professional registration as a Pharmacy Technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council OR Completion of Science Manufacturing Technician Level 3 apprenticeship OR Academic qualification (at least BSc) related to medicines for Human Use plus substantial experience working in a GMP-compliant facility preparing/manufacturing medicines for Human Use.
- Pre and In Process Checking Accreditation (PIPC)
- Product Approval Accreditation Programme (PAAP)
- Accuracy Checking Pharmacy Technician
- Leeds University Aseptic Preparation of Medicines (APDM) short course or equivalent
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.
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