Role overview The Harness South PCN Pharmacy Technician will be joining a dynamic and innovative Clinical Pharmacy team which has been established for several years and includes pre-registration pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. This is an excellent opportunity to be part of a valued team within Harness South PCN. Whilst the post holder will be bringing their own experience to the role, they will receive support and training in their development. The Harness South PCN Pharmacy Technician will be joining several aspirational GP practice teams working across a maximum of three to four practices. In addition, the post holder will have the opportunity to collaborate in the wider Harness work streams promoting new ways of delivering the best possible care for our local population. The Harness South PCN Pharmacy Technician will provide expertise in clinical pharmacy as part of a multi-disciplinary team providing care for patients within General Practice and community sites; including care homes and patients homes where required. Experience in General Practice would be desirable but is not essential. You will need to be self-motivated and work autonomously, have excellent written and verbal communication skills and be able to provide support in the delivery of safe, effective and efficient systems for repeat prescribing. You will be supporting the Clinical Pharmacists in the management of long terms conditions, medicines optimisation and reducing medicines waste. The successful candidate will be expected to work flexibly Monday to Friday at practice sites and sometimes remotely and travel between named practices, patient residence and meetings in line with the Harness lone worker policy. Key relationships Clinical Pharmacy Team Clinical Directors and Harness Board General Practices Harness Multidisciplinary Teams Integrated Care Pathway Team Care Home teams Community Pharmacy PCN Leads and Teams Hospital Pharmacy teams (London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust) NWL ICB Medicines Optimisation TeamJob summary The main responsibilities include but are not limited to patient facing and remote consultations: Provision of professional support and clinical expertise to the general practice teams and Clinical Pharmacists with regards to medication queries, prescribing issues and systems for safer prescribing Support Clinical Pharmacists with Clinical Medication Reviews and Structured Medication Reviews including Care Home and Domiciliary Reviews To support practice teams in achieving local medicines optimisation schemes and QOF Support practice teams in the delivery of long-term condition clinics Medicines Reconciliation Participate in the delivery of quality improvement audits Medicines information to practice staff and patients Signposting whilst addressing both public and social care needs of patients Training will be provided on all relevant policies and procedures related to the role including mandatory training in basic life support, safeguarding and infection control. The role is essential to improving the quality of care of patients and the productive management of workload in practices. The successful candidate will be passionate about achieving excellence in care and will be supported to fulfil their job description. Key priorities Provide professional input to practice teams working to support in implementation of systems for safer repeat prescribing and medicines reconciliation Liaise with providers including pharmacists in the community and hospital settings to ensure accurate and effective medication management Provide pharmaceutical support to practices such that medication related processes are reviewed, best practice principles applied, and evidence-based values are embedded in all activities Ensure optimum benefit for prescribed medication through high levels of concordance achieved by support for patients and carers Support the Clinical Pharmacists in providing direct care to patients with long-term conditions and other clinical areas Support with care of complex patients in their own homes or in nursing or residential accommodation as part of a multidisciplinary team Utilise the Pharmacy Technician skill set to ensure NHS resources are used in a cost-effective manner to maximise outcomes whilst reducing wastage Provide professional leadership on matters relating to medicine optimisation and quality improvementClinical duties Apply clinical expertise in supporting practice teams to deliver Clinical Level 3 Medication Reviews/ Structured Medication Reviews (SMR) face-to-face and remotely to deliver high quality patient facing services that are centred on and tailored to each individual patients needs Pro-actively and prospectively work alongside Clinical Pharmacists to reduce inappropriate polypharmacy and over-diagnosis through systematic, evidence-based de-prescribing Support practices with achievement of QOF and local medicines optimisation scheme targets Promote the principles of public health; educate and motivate patients to make healthy lifestyle choices and access services designed to assist health improvement (e.g. smoking cessation, dietetics, rehabilitation) Participate in MDT meetings to ensure best possible patient care Provide professional telephone/ email advice and support to patients and their carers Reconcile the medications of patients whose care is transferred back to primary care in a timely and effective manner, liaising with patients and community pharmacies to ensure patients receive appropriate medication post-discharge Interface between community, hospital and primary care pharmacy colleagues as patients move between care settings Maintain full and complete records of all patient contacts using appropriate clinical templates and SNOMED coding Provide feedback and seek advice from the primary care team for patients where the Pharmacy Technician has clinical concerns around competence to safely manage their medications Medicine management and repeat prescribing Review the ongoing need for medication and make suitable recommendations to the Clinical Pharmacists and GPs Manage acute requests for medication in line with NWL ICB formulary and local agreed standard operating procedures Work with practices to ensure safe and effective systems for the repeat prescribing of medication making recommendations on the reduction of potential wastage Set up systems to ensure the effective and continuous supply of medication to high risk patients Implement changes to medicines in line with MHRA alerts, and other local or national guidance Support practices with the implementation of appropriate NICE guidance in line with local agreements Support practices to comply with local medicine management guidelines Assess and counsel patients on effective techniques required for the use of medication delivered by devices Assist with discharge communications, letters, scans, emails and other correspondence in a timely manner Ensuring medication records are kept up to date with records of interventions from within and from outside the practice Take monitoring observations such as blood pressure, peak flow rate, urine dip stick and record in patient notesAudit, research and risk stratification Engage with the Brent Care/Harness risk stratification procedure to identify high risk patients and those at risk of non-elective admission to hospital Participate in audit activities in practices and with groups of practices to optimise the use of prescribing resources. Feedback results of clinical audit activities in areas agreed with GPs, implement recommendations and complete full audit/PDSA cycle Engage with research activities being undertaken in the Harness Education and Research Hub Proactively identify and recall patients due for medication review ensuring all appropriate monitoring tests are performed Analyse, interpret and present prescribing information at practice and population level to support effective decision-making and change in evidence-based clinical practiceOther duties Support the development of integrated care in Brent Adhere to relevant Harness policies and procedures including: Information governance Equal Opportunities and Diversity Safeguarding Communications Lone worker Health and safety Infection control Support public health campaigns at national, Brent and local levels Work with practices to ensure full compliance with Care Quality Commission standards for safe and effective care Participate as a member of the Harness multidisciplinary team Participate in professional development activities An enhanced DBS check will be carried out for all successful candidates. The post holder will be expected to maintain his or her own professional indemnity in addition to the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP) and supply evidence of this to the employer. It is the responsibility of the post holder to ensure their indemnity covers the scope of the work being undertaken. The post holder will be expected to build their skills and competencies over time. This job description is to assist the jobholder to know what his/her main duties are but is not exhaustive. This may be amended from time to time without change to the level of responsibility appropriate to the grade of the post in consultation with the post holder whose agreement shall not be unreasonably withheld.