Job Description
Keen to develop your patient facing skills and work with older people in a role you can feel makes a difference?
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a motivated and patient-centred pharmacy technician to utilise their skills in the interface and primary care setting. This post involves working as part of the Lewisham Integrated Medicines Optimisation Service (LIMOS) to support patients in their own homes as part of the domiciliary care service arm of the team.
If you are interested in expanding your career in primary care, please make contact to find out a bit more about this exciting role or arrange an informal visit. Whilst experience in primary care is not essential, lots of enthusiasm and a desire to use transferable skills around medicines management and holistic patient care in a supportive primary care setting is key.
This role involves working across primary and secondary care interfaces promoting safe transfer of care and personalised medicines support across health and social care boundaries. This unique pharmacy technician role will involve working as part of an existing and friendly team of specialist pharmacists and technicians contributing to care of hospital inpatients for discharge planning, as well as visiting patients in their own homes to provide assessment of medication related issues, patient and carer education and counselling to improve adherence and medication use.
Involvement in developing projects with district nursing teams to support patients self-administer medicines their own medicines will provide an exciting opportunity to further develop the service once embedded into the role.
The award-winning LIMOS service provides a formal pathway for the referral of patients with medicine-related problems for assessment, support and follow-up by a specialist pharmacy team, working across both primary and secondary care, and health and social care interfaces. Joint Polices around medicines support have enabled a collaborative approach to care across the pharmacy and wider workforce.
Being supported by a network of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, this post is an exciting opportunity to work in the primary care setting but maintain strong links with pharmacy colleagues in both secondary and community settings.
This close working also includes the ability to access training opportunities and continuing professional development via peer learning events with pharmacy professionals within both primary and secondary care in addition to across the borough and community setting.
Post Title: Interface Pharmacy Technician–Lewisham Integrated Medicines Optimisation Service (LIMOS) / Community Health Services
Base location: University Hospital Lewisham and Community Settings across the Borough of Lewisham
Department: Pharmacy
Responsible to: Band 6 Community Health Services / LIMOS Pharmacy Technician
Supervises: Trainee Pharmacy Technicians and trainee pharmacists on Rotation
Accountable to: Lead Pharmacist Community Health Services / LIMOS (LGT Director of Pharmacy
Grade: 5
Hours: 37.5 (including participation in weekend and bank holiday rota if service requires)
Job Summary
- University Hospital Lewisham, part of Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, along with Lewisham CCG, have developed an integrated approach to the community management of chronic diseases/long term conditions. This role supports the delivery, of the Lewisham Integrated Medicines Optimisation Service (LIMOS) and involves reviewing systems and processes for the management of medicines and targeted reviews for patients with medication related problems, who live in their own homes. The key objective for all members of the LIMOS team are to minimise unnecessary hospital admissions, improve the quality of life and care for these patients and to reduce waste and optimise medication use.
Appropriate use of medicines is integral to effective chronic disease management and this position will provide medicines management support and expertise to address patients’ medicines related needs. This will involve targeted medication review, support of patients and carers following hospital discharge, health promotion, development of self-care, and provision of interface and domiciliary care services.
The post holder needs to have the ability to analyse and assess complex clinical situations and occasional conflicting information and data. Influencing and negotiating skills and the ability to work alone and as part of a team, are essential to support the effective integration of medicines optimisation across a range of care settings and working with a wide range of professionals. The post will be based at and involve working both at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) and community settings and will also involve lone working for part of the role.
Key Result Areas & Performance:
Service Development
1. To work collaboratively with the LIMOS Interface Pharmacists and Technicians, in addition to pharmacy professionals within the PCN setting to deliver high quality medicines support as part of a team approach to care.
2. To contribute to the delivery of Lewisham Integrated Medicines Optimisation Services targets, priorities and tasks.
3. Provide clinical, professional support and training to members of the secondary and primary health or social care team including community pharmacy to enable co-ordination of high-quality prescribing and safe and efficient systems for medicines administration in the primary care setting
1. To work with hospital and primary care pharmacy staff to prioritise medication assessment and review, discharge planning and communication of medication histories of relevant patients across health and social care interfaces.
1. To liaise with community pharmacists, community nurses, hospital pharmacists, doctors and other health and social care providers to manage and ensure agreed changes in medication are implemented and sustained.
1. To develop the role of the pharmacy technician with support from senior pharmacy technicians and pharmacists across the interface settings between both health and social care
1. Plan delivery of workstreams within the LIMOS interface setting to meet set deadlines
1. Participate in nominated clinical audits to facilitate improvement and changes in practice
1. To initiate actions related to improving the use of medicines for better outcomes and reducing medicines waste across the primary/ secondary care interface.
Clinical Services & Patient Care
1. To undertake structured medication management assessments and provide support to other LIMOS team members in reviewing patients pre-identified as being at higher risk of medication related problems, with an ultimate aim to help individuals manage their medicines and promote independence.
1. To support the management of a patient caseload and undertake administrative tasks and patient facing assessments in the home and hospital setting in relation to implementation of medicines management solutions for these patients
1. To support the follow up of patients depending on identified need (as part of a team), including housebound patients receiving social care packages, patients in care homes in the hospital setting, patients on complex multiple medications and patients with mental health issues such as memory loss or learning disabilities.
1. To provide support to improve adherence and help patients get the best from their medicines, reducing medicines related admissions (including falls), and promoting appropriate evidence-based and cost-effective prescribing.
1. To work with the UHL admitting teams and colleagues from primary care to determine previous medication issues and therefore plan patient requirements to optimise medicines management in all care settings.
1. To liaise with social service assessors / carers on issues relating to medicines for at risk patients.
1. To provide medicines management and pharmacy advice to Care Homes, Community Pharmacists, Care Agencies, GPs and other healthcare professionals working with them.
1. To provide medicines advice and training to patients, carers, relatives and other staff from both health and social care on medicines related issues
2. To respond to medicine queries from both staff or patients in need of prompt assistance with the ability to escalate or seek support where needed
3. To provide medicines management support to patients during admission, following hospital discharge and in the community setting as part of a team approach within an agreed pathway. This may include carrying out basic clinical assessment skills such as taking blood pressures and liaising with a pharmacist or other health care professional as needed.
4. To communicate with patients / carers and other health and social care staff on sensitive and complex issues involving medicines.
Information & Data Management
1. To audit and assist in review of identified medicines management policies and procedures within the hospital, community and across the interface with the aim of improving the safe transfer of care of patients and reducing waste.
2. To maintain records of work carried out in this post to inform future developments for LIMOS support to patients in the community and to collect audit data associated with monitoring outcomes associated with the medicines optimisation service.
3. To undertake accurate data entry into patients’ clinical service record (EMIS) and utilise appropriate keyboard and data management skills to support associated analysis of monitoring outcomes and key performance indicators associated with LIMOS.
4. To provide support to the lead pharmacist and pharmacy technician with community health services roles, including carrying out safe and secure handling of medicines audit across community health setting for the Trust.
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