Lead Pharmacy Technician - Dispensary

Job description

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Ensure high standards of customer care are consistently maintained, with a strong focus on patient needs and experience.
• Supervise and coordinate the day-to-day activities of the Dispensary, seeking guidance from the Principal Pharmacy Technician - Dispensary where required.
• Oversee the technical aspects of the dispensing process undertaken by pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pre-registration/trainee technicians, senior pharmacy assistants, and trainee pharmacists.
• Receive prescriptions into the Dispensary, ensuring prescription charges are collected where applicable and in accordance with departmental procedures.
• Participate in the labelling and dispensing of inpatient, outpatient, controlled drug, day-case, and discharge prescriptions, ensuring compliance with departmental procedures and relevant standards.
• Provide support and guidance to staff in resolving operational issues, including liaising with other healthcare professionals where appropriate.
• Undertake line management responsibility for designated members of the Dispensary Team, as agreed with the Principal Pharmacy Technician - Dispensary.
• Monitor near-miss dispensing errors, identify trends, and support the development and implementation of appropriate actions to address identified issues or training needs.
• Support the Principal Pharmacy Technician - Dispensary in investigating dispensary-related incidents, including near-misses and Trust-wide reports, and contribute to learning and service improvement.
• Support the safe and efficient operation of the robotic dispensing system, working with the Lead Pharmacy Technician for IT and Automation and contributing to the robot maintenance rota as required.

Please refer to the attached JD

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• BTEC National Diploma in Pharmaceutical Science, NVQ level 3 Pharmacy Services or equivalent
• Accredited accuracy checking technician

Desirable criteria

• Educational supervisor for ACPT
• Leadership and Management qualification or equivalent experience

Experience

Essential criteria

• Competence in medication counselling of patients
• Experience of dispensary services and service development
• Formulation of standard operating procedures
• Customer orientated experience
• Training, mentoring and supervision of staff
• Staff recruitment
• Significant hospital experience of a range and level relevant for the post

Desirable criteria

• Experience of Team Leading
• Conducting and supervising audits

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Up to date knowledge of current legislation and accepted standards of practice, pharmaceutical guidance and Medicines Optimisation
• Good IT literacy skills to be able to use computers in all aspects of the job including a working knowledge of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams and other commonly used applications
• An understanding of incident reporting and risk management systems

Desirable criteria

• Good presentation skills
• To be able to deal with complaints from patients and other healthcare staff
• Understanding of importance of monitoring quality of service and clinical audit skills

Personal Skills

Essential criteria

• Strong team working skills and ability to work effectively with other teams
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Negotiation skills
• Able to thrive on development/change
• Ability to lead a team
• Self-motivated and organised
• Ability to plan and organise ongoing service delivery
• Ability to appropriately prioritise competing demands
• Ability to plan and organise ongoing training programmes

It is an exciting time to join Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We run two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Our 7,500 staff provide high quality care for a growing population of around 700,000 across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas.

You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff. As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. Travel between hospital sites may be required. We have state-of-the art facilities placing us at the heart of cutting edge health care. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering their first six months in post.

Employer certification / accreditation badges