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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 5
Contract
Permanent
Hours
Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday 8.30-5pm)
Job ref
409-8161956
Employer
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Southport DGH
Town
Southport
Salary
£32,073 - £39,043 per annum, pro rata
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
23/08/2026 23:59

Employer heading

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust logo

Pharmacy Technician - Information Governance/Dispensary Checker

NHS AfC: Band 5

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website. By applying for this post you are agreeing to "name of trust" transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Job overview

Pharmacy Technician – Information Governance / Dispensary Checker

Band 5 (37.5 hours per week)

£32,073 - £39,043 (pay award pending)

We have an exciting opportunity for a registered pharmacy technician to join our small but essential Audit and High-cost Drugs / Homecare team.

You will be working alongside the lead pharmacy technician to support the provision of medication via homecare services in line with National Standards. This will involve liaising with patients, clinical teams across the Trust and homecare providers to maintain current relations, provide expertise and ensure a high quality of care for the increasing number of patients who receive their medicines via these services.

You will be based at Southport & Ormskirk DGH however duties will entail travelling to other sites within Mersey & West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as required.

The successful candidate will be expected to participate in the department's checking, late night, weekend working & Bank Holiday rotas. Our core working hours are 8.30 to 5pm Monday to Friday plus our weekend service 8.30am to 4.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. 

The JD & PS are currently under AfC review and are subject to change.

Main duties of the job

You will undertake a variety of detailed audits in Information Governance areas such as safe & secure handling of medicines, controlled drugs and patient safety. This will involve the input & analysis of data, formulation of action plans and ensuring all recommendations are followed through to completion.

If you are looking for a new challenge and are an enthusiastic, progressive and self-motivated pharmacy technician with a passion for spreadsheets and databases we would love to hear from you. You should enjoy working flexibly in a team but must also be capable of working independently and working to strict deadlines. You must be accurate, numerate, highly organised, and possess good IT & communication skills.

Qualification requirements: BTEC in Pharmaceutical science, S/NVQ 3 in Pharmacy services (or equivalent) registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council and a Northwest Framework Accredited Checking qualification (or equivalent).

Previous homecare medicines and / or audit experience would be desirable but full training will be provided.

For further information or an informal visit please contact:

Karen Harwood Lead Pharmacy Technician High-Cost Drugs & Homecare Tel: 01704704164, email [email protected]

For audit information, Claire Richardson Deputy Chief Pharmacy Technician Tel: 01704704166, email [email protected]

Working for our organisation

Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.

We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.

Our services:

Acute Care

Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.

Primary Care

Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.

Community Services

Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.

Specialist Regional Services

We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.

Achievements:

  • Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
  • Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
  • National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1.     To be a member of the Pharmaceutical Service team as required at Southport District General, or Ormskirk District General Hospitals.

2.     To produce an annual audit plan for the safe storage handling and security of drugs across the ICO in conjunction with the Technical Services Manager.

3.     To undertake in-depth ward, department and clinic audits for safe storage handling and security of drugs across the ICO, in accordance to the national guidance; providing a written and/or electronic summary to the Technical Services Manager.

4.     Contribute to the analysis and audit of Datix incidents working closely to provide support to the Medicines Safety Pharmacist.

5.     Contribute to point prevalence antimicrobial audit working closely with the Antimicrobial Pharmacist

6.     To contribute to the maintenance of the departmental forward audit plan in conjunction with the Clinical Services Manager.

7.     To be involved in data collection and analysis covering a wide range of Pharmacy audits; producing reports and action plans in line with Trust guidance.

8.     To participate in inpatient, outpatient and discharge dispensing including extemporaneous, unlicensed, controlled drugs & Clozaril / Aricept within the guidelines of the GPhC Guidelines for Medicines Ethics and Practice.

Person specification

Ou Values

Essential criteria
  • We are Kind
  • We are Open
  • We are Inclusive

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • BTEC / NVQ LEVEL III in Pharmacy Services with relevant underpinning knowledge (or equivalent)
  • Professional Registration with the GPhC
  • BTEC in Accuracy Checking (Northwest framework)
  • ECDL (or equivalent)

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Previous, relevant post qualification experience in a hospital / retail pharmacy
  • Extensive experience in Excel, data capture and analysis
  • Experience in Audit and report writing

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Good communication skills, both written and verbal
  • Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
  • Ability to pay attention to detail
  • Ability to work to a high specification of accuracy
  • Ability to understand the importance of confidentiality
  • Pleasant, helpful disposition
  • Commitment to Continual Professional Development
  • Good time management skills
  • Self-motivating and flexible

Other

Essential criteria
  • Physical Effort - To sit at VDU, to push, pull and handle deliveries of drugs
  • Mental Effort - To concentrate for data capture analysis and report writing
  • Mental Effort - To concentrate for dispensing and accuracy checking
  • Emotional Effort - To dispense and counsel terminally ill and distressed patients
  • Working Conditions - Use of VDU for majority of duties, data input and analysis
  • Working Conditions - To handle drugs and deal with a variety of patients

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Nursing TimesApprenticeships logoDisability confident leaderArmed Forces Covenant Gold AwardNavajo - Merseyside and CheshireCare quality commission - OutstandingDying to Work CharterStep into healthHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingNHS Rainbow Badge - BronzeDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - GoldPeople Promise

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Karen Harwood
Job title
High Cost Drugs and Homecare Manager
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
01704704164
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