Senior Pharmacy Technician, Dispensary Services

Job overview

Band 5 Senior Pharmacy Technician, Dispensary

Full time   (37.5 hours) per week (plus rotational weekends and bank holidays)

An opportunity has arisen within the Pharmacy Department at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, for a motivated and enthusiastic pharmacy technician to join the University Hospital Lewisham dispensary team.

This is an ideal opportunity for pharmacy technicians from  hospital and/or community background  with ACPT qualification and relevant experience  looking for a challenge to develop their skills as a senior technician in dispensary and pharmacy operations.

We are recruiting pharmacy technicians, registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Main duties of the job

The pharmacy department consists of a range of staff from pharmacy assistants, through to registered pharmacy technicians and pharmacists and provides training for staff at all levels.

The dispensary team is fully pharmacy technician lead and made up of a mix of 10-20 multi-skilled staff including a core static team of senior pharmacy technicians and senior assistants.

The Trust provides a free and confidential support service delivered by Workplace Wellness, who are independent from the Trust, and offer you unlimited access to advice, information, coaching and counselling where appropriate. This Employee Assistance Program is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is there to help you manage all of life’s events and support you through the challenges.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Result Areas & Performance:

Dispensary

• To organise the provision of all dispensary-based services, including inpatients, controlled drugs and clinical trials to agreed performance targets with guidance and support from the dispensary Lead Pharmacy Technician – Dispensary Services and/or the Associate Chief Pharmacy Technician - Patient Services.
• To deputise for the Lead Pharmacy Technician – Dispensary Services in their absence, taking responsibility for the smooth running of the dispensary and resolving problems as they arise.
• To use the right first-time procedure to manage the quality of dispensing in the dispensary. This will involve reviewing in-process errors and ensuring that actions are taken to address poor performance and reporting progress to the Lead Pharmacy Technician – Dispensary Services.
• To assist the Lead Pharmacy Technician – Dispensary Services with good stock control in dispensary, ensuring the efficient use of all resources, keeping waste to a minimum and encouraging the re-use of medicines when appropriate.
• To cover, where appropriate, the duties of the other senior dispensary staff in their absence.
• To assist with the preparation of the dispensary rota ensuring that all dispensary duties have sufficient staffing and that any issues are resolved.
• To provide regular activity and quality monitoring information and to use this information to maintain a quality service.
• To accurately dispense all prescriptions.  Prescription types will include: inpatients; discharges; controlled drugs and clinical trials.  This will involve inputting of patients details into the Ascribe computer system and subsequently produce dispensing labels. The label, prescription and product are collected together and assembled. Any additional items such as spoons and bags are also added.  The prepared items are checked for accuracy and passed to the pharmacist/accredited pharmacy technician for final checking.
• To deal with complaints and safety issues, informing the Lead Pharmacy Technician -Dispensary Services at the earliest opportunity.
• To answer queries, both on the telephone and in person, with medical, nursing staff and seek help from a pharmacist when necessary.
• To investigate stock level discrepancies within the dispensary in line with current procedures.
• To assist with/write standard operating procedures for the dispensary.
• To assist in the distribution of FP10 prescription pads, ensuring secure storage arrangements in the pharmacy and when in use throughout the hospital.
• To assist with investigations into clinical incidents that occur in the dispensary.
• To ensure the daily workload for the dispensary is completed and information handed over to the pharmacist responsible for locking-up the department.
• To organise and conduct dispensary induction and training for staff whenever necessary
• To manage dispensary workflow and ensuring dispensary Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets are achieved.
• To investigate and report dispensary incidents
• To ensure smooth and efficient running of dispensary services, working with the Lead Pharmacy Technician – Dispensary Services and other Senior Pharmacy Technicians.
• To ensure safe management of Controlled Drugs in the dispensary Accredited Checking Pharmacy Technician (ACPT) duties:
• Complete Accreditation (ACPT) according to CPPE scheme and local ACPT Policy.
• Conduct checking in dispensary in line with service needs  .
• Provide constructive feedback when informing dispensers that they have made mistakes during dispensing.
• Report in-process errors using the Right First Time Procedure.

.

• Ensure that your knowledge is up to date by reading all pharmacy procedures relevant to the accuracy checking of dispensed medicines and the ACPT Policy.
• Contribute to the quality management of dispensing by suggesting improvements to practice and procedures. 7.

Staff Management & Training

• To line manage staff, including:

a. Regular appraisal of performance and objective setting

b. Identification of training needs, personal development planning and evaluation

c. Ensuring that all human resource policies, procedures and standards are understood and maintained