JOB SCOPE
Lincolnshire and District Medical Services (LADMS) is a private limited company providing primary care services throughout Lincolnshire. LADMS is a well-known provider who is commissioned to manage various contracts on behalf of NHS England.
The successful candidate would be primarily employed by LADMS on behalf of Meridian Medical Primary Care Network (PCN).
Meridian Medical Primary Care Network in Lincolnshire is a group of GP Practices coming together to share their experience, workforce and services, with the aim of improving access and meeting the needs of local patients and communities. This allows us to provide better quality services, closer to where patients live and varied to meet their needs. Meridian Medical PCN comprises the following practices: East Lindsey Medical Group - Louth & Tetford, James Street Family Practice - Louth, Tasburgh Lodge Surgery - Woodhall Spa, and Marsh Medical Practice - North Somercotes and Manby, with a total PCN patient population of approx. 38,000 patients.
As a PCN, we build on existing primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care for our patients. This is a shift from reactively providing appointments to proactively caring for the people and communities we serve.
Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice is part of an exciting programme of transformation to develop a new model of care which addresses our ambition to deliver person-centred, coordinated care across the district. The Clinical Pharmacy in General Practice model is supported by national policy including the Five Year Forward View and GP Forward View, which highlight the need to better utilise the role of pharmacy within primary care to help patients stay safe and well and out of hospital, as well as to reduce the demands on general practice.
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 cannot prescribe or make clinical decisions, instead working under supervision to ensure effective and efficient use of medicines.
Pharmacy technicians’ core role responsibilities will cover clinical, technical, and administrative categories.
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.
In addition, the post holder will be responsible for encouraging the development of better understanding of the principles of medicines optimisation throughout the practice teams and promoting good practice in line with therapeutic developments. This will involve assisting the PCN in achieving national requirements, NICE implementation, and utilisation of medicines optimisation initiatives.
Minimum Requirements:
The post holder must:
1. Be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
2. Meet the specific qualification and training requirements as specified by the GPhC criteria to register as a Pharmacy Technician.
3. Be enrolled in, undertaking or qualified from, an approved training pathway, such as the Primary Care Pharmacy Educational Pathway (PCPEP) or equivalent courses approved by the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK).
4. Work under appropriate clinical supervision to ensure safe, effective, and efficient use of medicines.
Focus of the Role:
* Ensuring safe, accurate, and timely supply of prescribed medications for patients, leading on improvements in this area.
* Supporting the delivery of good care, helping patients to get the best outcomes from their medicines.
* Being the main contact for non-clinical medication-related queries from pharmacies, nursing homes, and other health care professionals.
* Supporting implementation of medication changes under guidance of prescribing clinicians.
* Supporting with audit work in relation to safe prescribing and general quality improvement.
* Working closely with practice administration staff, GPs, and pharmacists to answer any queries and take forward work streams identified.
JOB ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Main Duties:
* To undertake medicines reconciliation in accordance with practice protocols and update patients’ medical records accordingly.
* To support the achievement of practices QoF targets.
* Working with practices to contribute to the review and development of repeat prescribing protocols/Standard Operating Procedures.
* To provide advice to GPs, staff, and patients in changes to prescribing to support improvement of prescribing safety, quality, and cost effectiveness.
* To participate in and interpret medication audits.
* To assist in the monitoring and management of prescribing budgets and liaise with medicines management team at the ICB.
* To prepare evidence-based resources to support rational cost-effective prescribing.
* To support the clinical pharmacist team to provide medication reviews and patient information leaflets.
* To support all practices in implementing effective procedures in relation to medicines management.
* To promote medicines adherence including checking inhaler techniques where appropriate.
* To respond to medication queries from patients and staff professionally.
* To advise on the sourcing and safe management of medicines as appropriate.
* Be responsible for the organisation and planning of your own workload meeting set deadlines.
* Administration duties in line with the role and responsibilities.
Responsibilities underpinning the Role:
* To play a role in delivering high-quality primary health care services.
* Provide support to individuals, their families, and carers to take control of their health and wellbeing.
* Working under supervision of core network member practices taking referrals.
* To present the PCN in cross-organisation meetings.
* Collate feedback/analysis data on behalf of the PCN to report to the board and ICBNHSE as required.
* Maintaining a positive, supportive, and patient-focused culture across the wider team.
* Any other duties commensurate with this position.
Key working relationships:
* Local care homes
* LADMS EHCH Multi-Disciplinary Team
* Local Neighbourhood Team
* GP Practices within the PCN
* Practice Leaders (Partners and Practice Managers)
* PCN Social Prescribers
* PCN Clinical Pharmacists
* PCN Clinical Directors and Business Manager
* Clinical Commissioning Group (ICB) and NHSE
* Community Health Teams – both physical and mental health
* Local Authority
CONFIDENTIALITY
In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with sensitive information. They have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately.
The post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff, and other healthcare workers. All such information is to be regarded as strictly confidential.
EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY
The post-holder will support the equality, diversity, and rights of patients, carers, and colleagues.
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the PCN.
QUALITY
The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the PCN.
COMMUNICATION
The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication within the team.
If you are enthusiastic, dedicated, and passionate about changing people’s lives for the better, we’d love to hear from you.
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: £29,949.00-£34,000.00 per year
Benefits:
* Company pension
* Employee discount
* Health & wellbeing programme
* On-site parking
* Store discount
Schedule:
* Day shift
* Monday to Friday
Work Location: In person
Application deadline: 12/01/2025
Reference ID: Meridian Medical PCN - Pharmacy Technician
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