A unique and exciting opportunity has arisen for an enthusiastic and highly motivated Pharmacy Technician to join our growing and forward thinking department as a Pharmacy Technician for Aseptic Services.
The Pharmacy departments have a good mix of staff including Pharmacy Support Workers, Pharmacy Technicians, Pharmacists, Administrative and Clerical staff and students. The Pharmacy department currently has one centralised Pharmacy Aseptic unit at Boole Technology Centre, Beevor Street, Lincoln. This Aseptic facility dispenses a range of CIVAS, chemotherapy products, Total Parenteral Nutrition and Clinical Trials.
The unit is a brand new state of the art unit designed to accommodate production of Aseptic products in a purpose built central location. The unit has recently gone live and is now looking to expand. The unit is currently unlicensed but actively working towards obtaining a Manufacturing Specials Licence to achieve long-term capacity and sustainability.
The post holder will be responsible for the day to day supervision of the Pharmacy Aseptic Unit under the management of the Senior Pharmacy Technicians to ensure safe, effective and timely provision of Aseptic products to all patients.
The post holder will be responsible for participating in the staff training, Aseptic manufacture of chemotherapy doses, checking volumes for other compounding staff, generating worksheets and labels using the Pharmacy computer system, assisting the Aseptic Services Managers in the development of new services for the Trust, advising the Senior Aseptic Technicians on amending work practices and documentation to improve the running of the service, maintaining equipment according to procedures and actively encouraging adherence to all procedures relating to the aseptic services department and GMP.
Our Trust is situated in the beautiful county of Lincolnshire and is one of the biggest acute hospital Trusts in England, serving a population of more than 700,000 people. We provide acute and specialist services to people in Lincolnshire and neighbouring counties. We have an annual income of £643 million (20/21) and we employ nearly 8,500 people.
Our Board have recently agreed a new vision statement – “Outstanding Care Personally Delivered” – stating their ambition for our Trust to be among the best.
We also have a five year Integrated Improvement Plan setting out how we will achieve our strategic objectives, for patients, services, people and partners, the last recognising that our future success depends on our ability to ensure the Lincolnshire healthcare system is successful in achieving its ambition to help people live healthier lives and provide care closer to where people live.
Our latest CQC report increased our ratings for being effective and well-led from “Requires Improvement” to “Good”. Our rating for caring remained as “Good”.
This is in recognition of the huge amount of work that our amazing staff have done to improve the quality of care for our patients in recent years.
We are committed to helping our staff balance their work and home lives and ensure they feel supported, valued and appreciated.
To assist the Senior Aseptic Services Technicians in the effective and safe operational running of the Boole Aseptic Facility (BAF) including supervision of the day to day workload and training of staff.
To ensure staff are undertaking activities following department standard operating procedures and work in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and Good Distribution Practice (GDP).
Operational:
1.To assist in the daily operational management of the Boole Aseptic Facility (BAF), and in the absence of the Senior Aseptic Services Technician(s) to act as their deputy.
2.To assist the Senior Aseptic Services Technician(s) to co-ordinate the daily workload within the BAF, ensuring products are supplied to service users in a timely manner.
3.To provide appropriate supervision to all aseptic staff members.
4.To actively encourage adherence to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and all procedures relating to the BAF.
Health & Safety
5.To ensure any aseptic work is carried out in accordance with Departmental Policies and Health and Safety Policies.
6.To safely handle hazardous materials and waste according to Trust policies without further increasing the risk to themselves or their colleagues.
7.To work in confined area using positive and negative pressure isolators for a period of time.
To be able to work in a variety of PPE for a period of time. This includes but not limited to;
- Mob Cap
- Beard Snood (if applicable)
- Mask
- Sterile Gloves
- Scrubs
- Socks
- Overcoat
Production / QA
8.To assist the Senior Aseptic Technician with regular environmental monitoring and quality control tasks to ensure the unit environment and product quality remains within specified limits.
9.To accurately complete all documentation needed for Quality Assurance, including writing and updating procedures and archive and file appropriately.
10.To advise the senior aseptic technicians on amending work practices and documentation, which would improve the running of the service including quality, efficiency and Health and Safety issues.
11.To receive, assess and action orders for all products managed by BAF.
12.To assemble all raw materials, consumables and equipment for products requiring aseptic preparation.
13.To interpret prescriptions and formulate worksheets and labels using the Pharmacy IT system for individual aseptic preparation of cytotoxic drugs, total parenteral nutrition and CIVA products.
14.To carry out Pre & In-Process Checking for all aseptic products.
15.To accurately and consistently participate in the aseptic preparation of high quality aseptic products. These include but are not limited to;
- Chemotherapy
- Total Parental Nutrition
- CIVAS
- Clinical Trials.
16.To maintain the necessary competencies. These include but are not limited to;
- Gowning Verification
- Material Transfer Verification
- Operator Broth Tests
- Pre & In-Process Checking
- Product Approval & Release
- General Aseptic Re-Validation
17.To be responsible for reporting internal errors and deviations in accordance with defined standard operating procedures.
18.To be involved in Quality Control ensuring environmental and physical monitoring, sterility testing and validations are carried out and plates and necessary documentation are sent for incubation in a timely manner.
19.To be responsible for ensuring all laundry is packed and sent for processing.
20.To ensure that the unit is clean, tidy and hygienic state at all times.
21.To clean all classified and un-classified clean rooms, isolators and equipment according to departmental procedures and participate in regular cleaning rota.
22.To ensure all equipment and facilities within the BAF are in good working order, and assist the Senior Aseptic Technician if remedial actions are required.
23.To assist the Aseptic Service / Quality Managers with the development of new products, procedures and work practices, and completion of associated paperwork.
Stock Maintenance
24. To assist in maintaining Aseptic stock control. This includes but not limited to;
- Monitoring ordering levels to maintain appropriate quantities are available for use
- Investigating stock discrepancies
- Maintaining appropriate storage of medicines and consumables.
- Completion of regular Stock Takes and appropriate actions required
- Completion of regular Expiry Checks and appropriate actions required
- Ensure stock rotation is completed on receipt of new materials and ingredients
25.To assist in the ordering of Aseptic materials and ingredients. This includes but is not limited to;
- Ordering of Ingredients
- Ordering of consumables
- Allocation of High Cost Drugs (HCD’s)
- Ordering of patient specific drugs including products from external suppliers
- Investigating issues with stock levels
26.To liaise with pharmacy stores / procurement staff to ensure a high standard of service with regards to stock control in aseptics.
27.To be aware of the cost of items prescribed and supply appropriate quantities.
28.To liaise and communicate effectively with external Specials suppliers to ensure the Trust is receiving a high quality and efficient service.
Training & Education
29.To assist with the training of all Aseptic staff members. This includes but is not limited to;
- GMP training
- Gowning
- Worksheet & Label Generation
- Assembly of Materials
- Pre & In-Process Checking
- Material Transfer
- Aseptic Preparation
- Labelling & Packing
30.To ensure all aseptic staff are trained to an appropriate level and all records and competencies are completed, their training is recorded and their competency assessed.
31.To contribute towards the training qualification of students where appropriate.
Miscellaneous
32.To assist in the recruitment and selection of Technical Services personnel.
33.To support staff to improve standards and quality within the Pharmacy department.
34.To foster and maintaining good relationship with Pharmacy, Medical, Nursing and other staff.
35.To answer the telephone, take accurate messages and pass on appropriate information in a professional and timely manner.
36.To deal with enquiries from internal / external parties.
37.To keep up-to-date with professional practice and to undertake CPD (if appropriate).
38.To participate in the pharmacy bank holiday, weekend and late rotas, as required to meet the needs of the service 7 days a week.
39.To participate in the aseptic emergency duty rota
40.To perform any other duties as required by the management team.