Senior Pharmacy Assistant Technical Officer -Pharmacy Aseptic Services

Job overview

The Aseptic unit employs 35 staff and is responsible for providing 10,000+ cytos doses a year. It also supports many clinical trial studies particularly in haemato-oncology and liver. The Aseptic Pharmacy team screen and supply 9,000+bags of parenteral nutrition per year for inpatient and home patients under the care of King's College Hospital.

The post holder will support the Aseptic Services department – under the management of the Chief Pharmacy Technician and under the overall leadership of the Associate Chief Pharmacist – to ensure the safe, effective and timely provision of aseptic products to all patients in King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

King’s is committed to delivering Sustainable Healthcare for All via our Green Plan. In line with national Greener NHS ambitions, we have set net zero carbon targets of 2040 for our NHS Carbon Footprint and 2045 for our NHS Carbon Footprint Plus.

The post holder will be responsible for participating in the aseptic manufacture of chemotherapy doses, checking volumes for other Aseptic staff, generating worksheets and labels using the pharmacy computer system, advising the Chief Pharmacy Technician and Associate Chief Pharmacist on amending work practices and documentation to improve the running of the service, maintaining equipment according to procedures and actively encouraging adherence to all procedures relating to the aseptic department and Good Manufacturing Practice.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work alongside pharmacists and technicians in the pharmacy section 10 production unit at the Denmark Hill site. The post holder will assist in the preparation and dispensing of aseptically produced products in isolators, as well as assisting with the daily monitoring and cleaning of isolators, and the monitoring of the clean room. The post holder will be expected to work to the principles of “Good Manufacturing Practice”.

The post holder must be flexible to working at other King’s College Hospital trust sites when required to fulfil the service needs of cross-site working.

All work will be carried out according to procedures and standards of professional practice in the Department; however, staff are expected to develop their own safe systems of work to ensure a high professional standard of work conducive to patient safety.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To actively encourage the adherence to Good Manufacturing Practice and all procedures relating to the aseptic services department and to suggest changes in practice and procedures as appropriate
• To prepare chemotherapy, immunotherapies, CIVAS, parenteral nutrition and clinical trial patient doses, fully gowned and gloved in a clean room environment.
• To assemble ingredients and consumables and record batch numbers and expiry dates accurately on aseptic worksheets.
• To label and package final products accurately and store correctly following aseptic procedures.
• To liaise with the Cleanroom Supervisors and Senior Pharmacy Technicians to ensure the safe, efficient and timely delivery of aseptic products.
• To ensure that all documentation is processed and filed correctly.
• To ensure that all records and logs are completed correctly on a daily basis and to report any out of specification results to the Chief Pharmacy Technician or Associate Chief Pharmacist – Aseptic Services.
• To assist in maintaining equipment according to procedures, including leak testing of isolators and accurately maintain records.
• To check volumes for other Aseptic Services and rotational staff after undergoing an accredited competency process.
• To tidy, clean and disinfect the Aseptic Services department according to procedures as required.  This may involve an early start.
• To participate in the monitoring and cleaning rota of the isolators following standard operating procedures.
• To undertake media and any other validation to ensure on going validation of aseptic competence
• To prepare documentation and labels using the pharmacy computer system.
• To undertake transfer disinfection into the aseptic unit and isolators according to procedures.
• To sit or stand at isolators for long periods.
• To participate in the out-of-hours, weekend and Bank Holiday rotas in Pharmacy Aseptics.