Job Summary
Start your day supporting patients in one of Worcester City's care homes, helping them get the most from their medicines through meaningful conversations and careful medication reviews. Mid-morning, you might be in a GP surgery, working closely with the clinical pharmacist and practice teams to streamline repeat prescriptions, reduce medicines waste, and improve patient safety. By the afternoon, you could be leading a training session on best practice in prescribing or collaborating with community pharmacy colleagues to tackle local medicines optimisation challenges.
This is more than a technical role. It's a vital position at the heart of a dynamic Primary Care Network, where you'll use your skills to improve the quality and safety of prescribing, support national health priorities, and help shape how medicines are used across the system.
Worcester City PCN brings together practices from across the city, working collaboratively to deliver integrated, person-centred care. As part of this team, you'll be supported, valued, and given the opportunity to grow, all while making a real difference to the lives of patients in your local community.
Main Duties of the Job
* Support effective use of medicines across care homes and GP practices through audits, medication reviews, and reconciliation.
* Collaborate closely with GPs, clinical pharmacists, and wider PCN teams to optimise prescribing and reduce medicines waste.
* Work directly with patients and carers to improve understanding and adherence to prescribed treatments, for example, checking inhaler technique or discussing lifestyle factors.
* Help deliver the Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes (MOCH) contract as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
* Carry out technical tasks such as streamlining repeat prescribing systems and promoting repeat dispensing and online ordering.
* Provide training and guidance to practice teams on safe and legal handling of medicines, including the use of Electronic Prescription Services (EPS).
* Assist in implementing national and local prescribing policies, NICE guidance, and medicines optimisation initiatives.
* Work with community pharmacy colleagues to address medication-related issues, reduce clinical risk, and support safe transitions of care.
* Contribute to patient safety audits, quality improvement work, and data analysis related to prescribing.
* Play an active role in supporting antimicrobial stewardship and other public health initiatives through pharmacy practice.
About Us
Vertis Health is a fast-growing provider of community-based healthcare services to NHS patients within South Worcestershire. The organisation utilises the excellent clinical expertise that already resides within the local NHS environment and harnesses it with efficient administration pathways to provide patients with more convenient and accessible services. We hope that by doing this we will not only deliver pathway improvements to patients but also go some way to relieving the growing volume pressures that are being experienced within local hospitals and GP practices.
Date Posted: 14 April 2025
Pay Scheme: Other
Salary: £29,970 to £36,000 a year Depending on Experience
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full-time, Job share, Flexible working
Reference Number: B0158-25-0031
Job Responsibilities
Job Purpose
To support the Primary Care Network in maximising clinical outcomes for patients from medicines with an emphasis on safety, governance, professional collaboration and patient engagement. The role holder will also help to deliver the MOCH Contract as part of the Care Home Team.
Key Responsibilities
Pharmacy technicians play an important role, complementing clinical pharmacists, community pharmacists and other members of the PCN multi-disciplinary team. Pharmacy technicians are different from clinical pharmacists as they are not able to prescribe or make clinical decisions, instead working under the supervision of GPs and Clinical Pharmacists to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines. Pharmacy technicians' core role responsibilities will cover clinical, technical, and administrative categories within surgeries and Care Homes.
The purpose of the role is to lead improvements to maximise safe, cost-effective best practice in prescribing to improve the quality of patient care. The post holder will help patients to get the best from their medicines by switching medications to agreed and approved protocols, improving repeat prescribing processes in General Practice, including promotion of repeat dispensing and online ordering, minimising clinical risk and aiming to reduce wasted medicines.
It is a requirement of the role to be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council as a Pharmacy Technician. We are seeking a pharmacy technician preferably with previous experience of working in community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy or primary care.
Clinical Responsibilities:
Undertaking patient-facing and patient-supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients and carers.
Carrying out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medication reviews and medicines reconciliation.
Technical and Administrative Responsibilities:
Working with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes and reducing wastage.
Providing training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS).
General:
To maintain the integrity of medicines delivery for the PCN. Maintain a positive demeanour that supports a happy working environment, and remain flexible and professional at all times.
Apply as early as possible as we may close to job advert early if we receive a sufficient number of applications.
Please note the job location may be subject to change due to the nature of PCN work.
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