Medicines Optimisation Technician

We have an exciting opportunity for a pharmacy technician to join a friendly, highly specialised team on the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit - Miranda - (PICU)

You will have an enthusiastic approach to multidisciplinary team working and a passion for frontline patient-centred care. With compassion and commitment, you will optimise the use of medicines in response to the individual needs of the patients and the unit.

Activities will include reconciling medicines, assessment of Patients own drugs, maintaining appropriate levels of stock control, ensuring cost effective use of medicines, timely and accurately labelling and dispensing medicines, providing advice in relation to safe and secure handling of medicines to patients and colleagues, counselling and educating patients/carers on their medicines, medicines administration and completing medicines related audits.

The successful candidate will be registered as a Pharmacy Technician with the GPhC. You should be friendly with excellent time management and prioritisation skills. You should be able to problem-solve and take responsibility for organising your daily workload in liaison with the Unit Manager.

Typical working week will be based on the unit Monday - Friday, 0800 - 1600 excluding bank holidays and weekend.

Main duties of the job

• To ensure safe, appropriate, efficient and cost-effective use of medicines
• To facilitate an integrated provision of pharmaceutical care including ordering, transport, preparation, administration, storage and disposal of medicines
• To ensure effective medicine stock control and storage on the unit by carrying out regular audits and providing advice to the unit and team on safe, secure and appropriate storage of medicines in line with the Safe and Secure Handling of Medicines Procedures
• To ensure effective management of the pharmacy ordering system and stock control.
• To label, dispense and check non-stock medicines, medicines used for Self-administration and medicines for leave or discharge in line with the Trust process and procedures.
• To provide advice, education and counselling to patients/carers with regards to their medicines.
• Providing information and advice to patient/carers and colleagues in regard to safe and secure handling of medication
• To assist with discharge planning and ensure post discharge plans are in place.
• Accurately completing medicines reconciliation for patients following transfer of care.
• To ensure pharmaceutical waste is handled safely and appropriately. Assisting with or arranging destruction, storage and collection)
• Administer medication
• After training and gaining competency, undertake tasks such as physical health monitoring and phlebotomy.

About us

We are an award winning and CQC rated good health and social care Trust delivering integrated services across Hull, East and North Yorkshire. We are a forward thinking and dynamic Trust with a real commitment to staff development. We value our colleagues and invest in them to ensure they have the right skills to deliver outstanding care.

We are proud to score above or equal to the average for all NHS People Promise theme areas demonstrating our commitment to improve the experience of working in the NHS for everyone. Wherever you work we know you will receive a warm welcome and all the support you'll need to get you started.

We recognise the positive value of diversity and promote equality whilst challenging discrimination. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

Work life balance is about having influence and flexibility over when, where and how you work. If the work pattern for this role does not meet your needs, we welcome an application and are happy to discuss working arrangements that differ from those advertised.

We offer a unique range of benefits that go above and beyond other NHS Trusts including an enhanced leave package and health and wellbeing support.

From city to countryside, market towns to moors you'll find a place to call home including some of the most affordable places to live in the UK.

Job responsibilities

For further information for this vacancy please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

We welcome newly qualified or less experienced pharmacy technicians to apply for the post. If we were to appoint a registered technician who did not meet the criteria for band 5 the candidate would be appointed as a band 4 with the opportunity to progress to a band 5.

Person Specification

Qualifications and Knowledge

• Registration as a Pharmacy Technician with the GPhC
• Knowledge of pharmaceutical technical procedures acquired through training and experience to degree level or equivalent.
• NVQ3/BTEC in pharmaceutical science or equivalent
• Knowledge and understanding of the Mental Health Act.
• Specialist training and experience

Experience

• Experience working as a pharmacy technician and supervising technical area
• Experience working as a Pharmacy Technician within a hospital or in primary care environment.

Skills and Competencies

• Good communicator, both verbally and in writing
• Self-motivated and able to work independently
• Good organisational skills and the ability to prioritise own workload
• Knowledge and experience of principles relating to good medicines management in a mental health setting
• Up-to-date knowledge of medicines available for prescription in mental health.

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.