Assistant Technical Officer (ATO) Medicines Management

Job overview

Are you looking for the opportunity to develop your skills and career progression?

Why not try a interesting role in hospital pharmacy?

This could be your first step into a rewarding, challenging, progressive and lifelong career in hospital pharmacy.

An exciting opportunity has arisen, and we are currently seeking to recruit an enthusiastic and motivated Senior Assistant Technical Officer to join and support our busy team in the Pharmacy Department at the Whittington Hospital. You will support the provision of pharmacy services across the Trust, and provide a professional, efficient and customer focused service following agreed departmental policies and procedures.

We are looking for a candidate who has good customer service and interpersonal skills, communicates well, and demonstrates the ability to prioritise and organise work to meet deadlines. The candidate ideally should have previous pharmacy experience and hold an NVQ Level 2 Certificate in Pharmacy Services or equivalent. But if not, you will undertake the BTEC Level 2 Certificate in the Principles and Practice for Pharmacy Support Staff through the Apprenticeship framework. You must have GCSEs in both Maths and English at Grade C (4) or above, or equivalent.

Main duties of the job

This position aims to enhance quality of patient care by contributing to an efficient medicines management service at ward level. The role supports ward services by managing ward top-ups and stock control,, while working closely with Medicines Management Technicians and Ward Pharmacists, assisting with ordering and dispensing individual patients’ medicines and carrying out medicines safety checks.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contribute to medicines management tasks in assigned wards and clinical areas such as:
• Ward top-ups
• Near-patient dispensing
• Stock management
• Evaluating PODs for potential reuse
• Maintaining safe storage of medication
• Monitoring of clinical area environments
• Support dispensary services, including dispensing To Take Away (TTA) medications or blister packs.
• Support Pharmacy Stores in assembling stock for distribution to clinical areas, and completing returns.

Performance and Safety:

• Work accurately, effectively, and efficiently to uphold high-quality service standards for patients, staff, and departments.
• Perform medicine safety checks and environmental monitoring, recording results at every shift.
• Conduct medicines management and handling audits under the supervision of the matron, pharmacist, or pharmacy technician.

Team Collaboration:

• Actively engage as a team member.
• Ensure continuous two-way communication between the pharmacy and clinical ward areas, to maintain high standards across the Trust.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

See Job description attached.

WARD BASED RESPONSIBILITIES

Band 2 duties

• To work on designated wards and perform a range of pharmacy related duties in accordance with set procedures.
• Daily stock replenishments of medicines on assigned wards, to resolve any stock problems and communicate stock issues to the ward pharmacy team and other healthcare professionals, always upholding good medicines management practices.
• To carry out regular expiry date checks and to remove any redundant or expired medication from the ward and report these to the ward pharmacist and ward manager.
• Stock control and ensuring sufficient stock is kept as per stock list.
• To always maintain safe storage of medications on the ward and monitor the room and fridge temperatures to ensure medications are kept at optimal levels.
• Dispense discharge medicines on the allocated wards to support discharge flow and ensure pharmacy sundries are replenished regularly.
• To highlight trends in excessive wastage or medication storage errors in the clinical areas.
• To manage and ensure the smooth transfer between wards or return of medicines to the pharmacy department, following patient transfer or discharge, by liaising with ward staff and/or by checking CareFlow on the Trust computer system.

Band 3 duties (in addition to above)

• After a successful probation period to undertake medicines management accreditations for transcribing and patient’s own drug (POD) checks and then carry out these duties with the guidance of a qualified pharmacy technician or pharmacist once accredited.

STORES/DISTRIBUTION

• To assist with the ordering, issue of stock items to wards and departments using the pharmacy computer system.
• To supervise and assist in the assembly of stock for wards, including intravenous fluids when required. Record requests on our Patient Tracker System and respond to bleeps/calls with requests from ward teams
• Assess returns from wards and return via the pharmacy computer system. Monitor returned stock and highlight wards returning large volumes of excess stock.
• Update and review ward stock lists on a regular basis in conjunction with the ward pharmacy technician/pharmacist and ward manager
• Participate in improvement projects and have input on procedures within Stores.

DISPENSARY

• To assist in the dispensing of in-patient/out-patient prescriptions under the supervision of a pharmacist/accredited checking technician (after appropriate training).
• To assist in the preparation of porter bags/boxes for delivery of medicines to wards and departments.
• To complete other tasks within the dispensary as directed by the Dispensary Team manager.
• Support satellite dispensary in line with dispensing and medicines management standards.
• Band 3 duties (in addition to above)
• To be an active member of the team in the provision of suppling blisters packs or other compliance aid to patients that have been discharged from the ward, providing a prompt and efficient service in a timely manner.

Applicant requirements

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.