About this role
Job summary
We are seeking an enthusiastic, motivated and qualified Pharmacy Technician to join our practice team at The Cambridge Practice. The successful candidate will play a key role in supporting medicines optimisation, ensuring safe, effective and cost-efficient prescribing, and improving patient outcomes across the practice population.
Working closely with GPs, Clinical Pharmacists and the wider healthcare team, the Pharmacy Technician will support medication reviews, medicines reconciliation following hospital discharge, repeat prescription management, shared care monitoring and prescribing audits. The role will also involve liaising with community pharmacies, hospital teams and the ICB Medicines Optimisation Team to ensure seamless patient care across healthcare settings.
The post holder will contribute to quality improvement initiatives, clinical governance activities, patient safety processes and the implementation of prescribing policies and medication-related protocols. They will provide support and guidance to colleagues, participate in training and development activities, and help drive improvements in medicines management and prescribing processes across the practice.
This is an excellent opportunity for an individual who is passionate about patient safety, medicines optimisation and improving healthcare services within a busy and forward-thinking GP practice.
Main duties of the job
Support medicines optimisation and cost-effective prescribing to improve patient outcomes and medication adherence.Undertake medication reviews, medicines reconciliation and transfer of care activities for patients moving between healthcare settings.Manage and support repeat prescribing processes, ensuring safe and effective use of medicines.Monitor shared care arrangements and liaise with GPs, Clinical Pharmacists, hospitals, community pharmacies and other healthcare professionals.Contribute to clinical governance activities, prescribing audits, patient safety reviews and quality improvement projects.Analyse prescribing data and support the implementation of prescribing initiatives and MHRA safety alerts.Provide training, mentorship and support to colleagues, trainees and members of the wider healthcare team.Support clinical reviews and undertake basic patient assessments within scope of practice and competency.Maintain accurate patient records, optimise medication regimens and ensure compliance with prescribing policies and procedures.Participate in practice meetings, continuing professional development and service improvement initiatives.
About us
The Cambridge Practice was established in 2018 following the merger of Southlea Surgery and Victoria Surgery in Aldershot, and has been part of the Aldershot Primary Care Network since 2019.
We are a fully accredited NHS GP Training Practice, with a long history of supporting the education and development of future GPs. We provide a high quality training environment for GP registrars and a range of healthcare students, including nursing, advanced clinical practice, paramedic, and physician associate students. As a training practice, we are regularly reviewed to ensure high standards of patient care and efficient practice management.
Our main site is based within Aldershot Centre for Health, colocated with other healthcare providers, promoting collaborative working. We also operate a branch surgery located to the south of Aldershot, approximately three miles from the main site.
Job description Job responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the Pharmacy Technician. There may be on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks; this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
Medicines optimisation - achieving targets through quality improvement and implementing cost-effective prescribing, addressing poor adherence to medication and ensuring patients are able to take the medicines they are prescribed.
Transfer of care - support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for patients moving across care settings (i.e. discharged from hospital back into community, discharged from hospital to care home, D2A settings)
Shared care - implementing and monitoring shared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients.
Clinical Governance - Developing, reviewing and implementing policy (within general practice and cross-sector for example with care homes) relating to medicines safety, repeat prescribing and clinical pathways, and conducting patient safety audits.
Data interpretation - using prescribing data to implement cost effective prescribing measures
Training and education - training other healthcare professionals (for example in general practice or in care homes) on repeat prescription processes, local formularies and quality improvement projects.
Error reporting - escalating patient safety concerns and using tools such as Learning from Patient Safety Events (https://record.learn-from-patient-safety-events.nhs.uk) to report patient safety errors
Medication reviews - undertaking level 1 medication reviews (technical review of patients medicines without the patient necessarily being present).
Management and leadership - Leadership in quality improvement projects such as repeat prescription processes and development of the technician role within practice.
Repeat prescription management - leading the process by implementing policies to ensure patient safety measures are met and medication waste is monitored.
Clinical roles - pharmacy technicians can be trained on basic clinical assessment (for example manual BP and pulse checks) and can support the practice team to conduct clinical reviews within scope of practice for example hypertension and primary prevention clinics.
Carry out housekeeping whilst in patient records e.g. dose optimisation and medicines synchronisation
Participate in practice meetings, patient participation groups and other meetings to improvement engagement of the role of the pharmacy technician and promote issues relevant to prescribing and medicines optimisation.
Liaise with other pharmacy stakeholders e.g. ICB Medicines Optimisation Team, Community Pharmacy Teams, Hospital Pharmacy Teams as needed.
To be responsible for organising their own workload to meet set deadlines
To undertake and participate in prescribing audits to facilitate quality improvement and changes in practice
Work with the Clinical Pharmacist team to ensure that all major MHRA drug alerts, here appropriate and within level of competence are acted upon within The Cambridge Practice over an appropriate time-frame to advise on any medication changes that occur as a result
To carry out other duties which are appropriate to the skills and competencies of the post holder and grade of the post as the priorities of the service change.
Mentorship and support to Technician Team and internal trainees and external trainees where needed e.g. pre-registration Technicians, Trainee Pharmacists.
Personal & Professional Development
Actively participate in any external training programs required through continued NHS funding
Meet the GPhC CPD requirements for registration on an annual basis
Complete any internal training required by The Cambridge Practice
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
Registered Pharmacy Technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). BTEC/NVQ Level 3 in Pharmaceutical Sciences (or equivalent recognised Pharmacy Technician qualification). Post-registration experience as a Pharmacy Technician. Excellent knowledge of medicines management, medicines optimisation and repeat prescribing processes. Understanding of clinical governance, patient safety and confidentiality requirements. Experience of working with clinical computer systems and maintaining accurate patient records. Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team. Ability to prioritise workload, work independently and meet deadlines. Commitment to continuing professional development and maintaining GPhC registration.
Desirable
Previous experience working in General Practice, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) or another NHS healthcare setting. Experience undertaking medication reviews, medicines reconciliation and transfer of care activities. Experience of medicines optimisation and prescribing quality improvement projects. Knowledge of EMIS Web, Docman, Accurx and NHS prescribing systems. Experience of supporting long-term condition management and clinical review clinics. Experience of staff supervision, mentorship or line management responsibilities. Experience of carrying out prescribing audits and analysing prescribing data. Knowledge of local and national prescribing guidance, shared care protocols and MHRA safety alerts. Independent clinical assessment skills, such as blood pressure monitoring, within scope of practice.
Experience Essential
Experience working as a qualified Pharmacy Technician in a community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, GP practice or other healthcare setting. Experience of medicines management, medicines optimisation and repeat prescription processing. Experience of medication reconciliation and supporting patients following discharge from hospital or other care settings. Experience of maintaining accurate patient records and handling confidential information. Experience of working collaboratively within a multidisciplinary healthcare team. Experience of prioritising workload and managing competing demands effectively. Experience of using pharmacy or clinical IT systems and Microsoft Office applications. Experience of identifying and escalating medication-related risks and patient safety concerns.
Desirable
Previous experience working within General Practice, a Primary Care Network (PCN) or NHS primary care setting. Experience undertaking medication reviews and medicines optimisation projects. Experience of clinical coding and use of EMIS Web, Docman, Accurx or other primary care clinical systems. Experience supporting transfer of care, shared care protocols and long-term condition management. Experience participating in prescribing audits, quality improvement initiatives and clinical governance activities. Experience analysing prescribing data and implementing cost-effective prescribing measures. Experience supervising, mentoring or training colleagues, trainees or support staff. Experience working with community pharmacies, hospital pharmacy teams and ICB Medicines Optimisation Teams. Experience implementing MHRA drug safety alerts and prescribing safety initiatives. Experience supporting clinical review clinics, such as hypertension, anticoagulation or medicines monitoring clinics.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name The Cambridge Practice
Address Aldershot Centre For Health
Hospital Hill
Aldershot
Hampshire
GU11 1AY
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://cambridgepractice.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)