PCN Pharmacy Technician

Overview

In partnership with Herefordshire & Worcestershire Local Medical Committees. To support the Primary Care Network in maximising clinical outcomes for patients from medicines with an emphasis on safety, governance, professional collaboration and patient engagement. The role holder will also help to deliver the MOCH Contract as part of the Care Home Team. The core themes are based on:

• Integrate care around the patient
• Design, implement and facilitate clinically led medicine optimisation services
• Improve the productivity and affordability of service
• Advise, engage and train health care professionals (where appropriate)
• Improve patient safety and reduce risk
• Empower patients through education and engagement
• Deliver improved patient outcomes
• Manage medication safety within the Worcester City Care Homes via annual audits and reviews
• Medication reconciliations of community patients and Care Home Residents when appropriate

Pharmacy technicians play an important role, complementing clinical pharmacists, community pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team. Pharmacy technicians are different to clinical pharmacists as they are not able to prescribe or make clinical decisions, instead working under the supervision of GPs and Clinical Pharmacists to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines. Pharmacy technicians core role responsibilities will cover clinical, and technical and administrative categories within surgeries and Care Homes.

The purpose of the role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality of patient care. The post holder will help patients to get the best from their medicines by switching medications to agreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes in General Practice, including promotion of repeat dispensing and online ordering, minimising clinical risk and aiming to reduce wasted medicines.

In addition, the post holder will be responsible for encouraging the development of better understanding of the principles of medicines optimisation throughout the practice teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the PCN in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.

• Undertaking patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients and carers
• Carrying out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medication reviews and medicines reconciliation. Where required, utilise consultation skills to work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines effectively.
• As determined by the PCN, supporting medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers between care settings, linking with local community pharmacists, and referring to the pharmacist for structured medication reviews.
• Providing specialist expertise, where competent, to address both the public health and social care needs of patients, including lifestyle advice, service information, and help in tackling local health inequalities.
• Taking a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients.
• Supporting initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

• Working with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes and reducing wastage.
• Providing training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
• Developing relationships with other pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration of the pharmacy team across health and social care including…