PCN Pharmacy Technician

The main duties of the

role involves providing patient centred medicines support, including shared

decision conversations, counselling on new or changed medicines, and ensuring

safe and effective use of treatments. You will process prescriptions, support

medication reviews and medicines reconciliation across care settings, and

contribute to medicines optimisation, antimicrobial stewardship, and the

implementation of national prescribing guidance. Working as part of the

multidisciplinary team, you will help streamline prescription workflows,

promote eRD, reduce medicines waste, and maintain accurate clinical records.

The role also includes supporting medicines safety through monitoring, post

discharge reconciliation, maintaining shared care protocols, and ensuring

accurate allergy and alert documentation. You will contribute to clinical

governance by responding to MHRA alerts, supporting audits, and assisting with

incident reporting, while maintaining your own professional development and

supporting the learning of others.

Undertake patient facing and patient supporting

roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making

conversations with patients.

Process prescriptions in line with agreed

clinical protocols and within your competency.

Where required, utilise consultation skills to

work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines

effectively.

When required, utilise consultation skills to

work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines

effectively (e.g. checking inhaler technique)

Support medication reviews and medicines

reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for

patient transfers between care settings and linking with local community

pharmacists.

Provide specialist expertise, where competent,

to address both the public health and social care needs of patients, including

lifestyle advice, service information, and help in tackling local health

inequalities.

Take a central role in the clinical aspects of

shared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex

patients.

Support initiatives for antimicrobial

stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation

and management incentive schemes and patient safety audits.

Support the implementation of national

prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes and other

primary care settings. This will be achieved through undertaking clinical

audits (e.g. use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvement measures and

contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services.

Work with the multi-disciplinary team to ensure

efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and

return processes, and reducing wastage.

Support team in sorting and streaming general

prescription requests, so as to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists to review

the more clinically complex requests.

online ordering as appropriate to patient and practice needs.

Support efficient ordering to reduce medicines

waste.

Develop relationships with other pharmacy

technicians, pharmacists and members of the multi-disciplinary team to support

integration of the pharmacy team across health and social care including

primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, and mental health.

Support service development, contributing to

audits and practice-wide initiatives.

accurate patient records that clearly and comprehensively

reflect the content of each consultation, ensuring all information is

documented in line with professional, legal, and organisational standards.

Provide advice within professional remit to GPs

and practice staff relating to changes to prescribing guidance to support the

improvement of prescribing safety, quality, and cost effectiveness.

Assist patients and GP staff with responses to

medication queries.

Counsel patients on how to use newly started

medications, and provide advice regarding any medication changes, to optimise

safety and improve compliance.

Support implementation of local and national

guidelines and formulary recommendations.

Support and encourage reduction in prescribing

of medicines available to purchase over the counter, medicines of low value,

and low priority treatments.

Identify patients that are overdue required

monitoring and refer to the appropriate clinicians.

Reconcile medicines following discharge from

hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and

appropriately rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and

community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post

discharge.

Ensure shared care protocols are in place where

relevant and ensure the continuation of safe practice within primary care is

maintained.

Work with the pharmacy service team to develop

and implement systems to ensure the effective and continuous supply of

medication to high-risk patients.

Understand and accurately record relevant

patient alerts (e.g. visually impaired, hard of hearing).

Ensure patient allergy information is accurate

and correctly documented, and that the information is shared with the wider

multidisciplinary team.

Agency (MHRA) alerts, set up searches to identify affected patients on the

practice clinical systems and action them according to practice protocol.

Monitor practice prescribing against the local

formulary and report back results to the clinical pharmacist team and action as

required.

Support in the reporting of medicines related

incidents, and when required, contribute to investigations and root cause

analysis.

Spencer Street Surgery is a well-established GP practice located in the heart of Carlisle, providing a comprehensive range of NHS primary care services to the local community. With a patient population of approximately 14,000, the practice operates across two sites within the city.

Our mission is to deliver high-quality, safe and accessible healthcare, ensuring that every patient receives responsive, compassionate and courteous care.

Our multidisciplinary clinical team comprises GPs, Paramedic Practitioners, Practice Nurses and Healthcare Assistants, supported by a dedicated and experienced team of management and administrative staff.

We are also proud to be part of the Carlisle and Rural Primary Care Network (PCN). This partnership enables us to offer patients access to a broader range of specialist skills and services, including a Frailty Team, Social Prescribers and Physiotherapists, alongside other services designed to support the health and wellbeing of our local community.

Qualifications

Skills

Desirable: - Experience of use of a medical software package such as EMIS

Knowledge

Experience