Band 5 Intermediate Care Pharmacy technician

Job overview

***This job advert will close as soon as sufficient applications have been received. Please apply for this job as soon as you can, if interested***

Are you a proactive, self-motivated pharmacy technician who is passionate about delivering high-quality patient care? BCHC is seeking an experienced and enthusiastic GPhC-registered Pharmacy Technician to join our Intermediate Care Pharmacy Team.

The post holder will have the opportunity to support the development and delivery of the team’s medicines optimisation programme, helping to provide the highest quality of care for our patients. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, you will support the management of medicines during transfers of care from other providers and contribute to systems that promote safer prescribing and the safe and secure handling of medicines. A thorough understanding of medicines management and medicines reconciliation following transfers between care settings is essential. You must be able to resolve identified issues and communicate effectively with patients, families and other healthcare professionals.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will primarily work across the Intermediate Care Units, alongside the clinical pharmacists. Our units are located across Birmingham, so the ability to travel between sites is essential.

Duties will include Level 2 medicines reconciliation, assessment of patients’ own medicines, self-medication assessments and discharge counselling. The post holder will also practise as an Accredited Checking Pharmacy Technician (ACPT), both in the dispensary and on the units, checking rewritten medication charts to confirm that they have been transcribed correctly.

Participating in audit and training of pharmacy and nursing staff, along with development of training documentation and Standard operating procedures.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Intermediate Care Unit pharmacists will provide day-to-day guidance and support to the Intermediate Care Unit pharmacy technician. The post holder is expected to undertake the following duties both when an Intermediate Care Unit pharmacist is present and when working in their absence.

Perform level 2 medicines reconciliation as per Trust policy.

Complete accuracy checks on rewritten charts to ensure that the new charts are written correctly. Check patient notes to see if changes to patients medication are as intended. Discuss any potential problems with the ICU Pharmacist.

Obtain medication histories e.g. telephoning GPs when appropriate

Undertake patient counselling for self medication, discharge counselling and inhaler counselling at the request of the ICU pharmacist or Nursing team within the unit

To assess patients to see if they require a compliance aid, this may be in response to requests from doctors, nurses or pharmacists

Ensure medications are ordered by the unit prescribers for individual patients in a timely fashion to ensure continuous supply of medicines to prevent missed doses, liaising with the supplying pharmacies and prescribers

Ensure that medication is not being over ordered and waste medication is kept to a minimum

To check patients own medicines for suitability of reuse and highlight any shortfalls or queries with the patients prescribed / not prescribed medications to the unit pharmacist / unit prescriber or make the nursing team aware.

Ensure homely remedies and emergency drugs are ordered as per ordering schedule

Review and/or aid preparation of the discharge letter, adding any additional information in relation to medication where necessary, in the absence of the pharmacist.

Using own initiative to help ICU staff to ensure that medication is being ordered, stored administered and disposed of in compliance with guidelines and legal requirements.

Report any medication errors on the trust wide Datix system or when requested help investigate causes of errors.

Destroy Patients own medication, including Controlled drugs, on the unit when no longer required.

Act on CAS or Safety alerts as directed by Trust governance and action them in the absence of the ICU pharmacist

Perform audits as directed by Medicines Management

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.