Before you begin, have you completed: 

• Enhancing your professional practice: part one
• Enhancing your professional practice: part two
• Enhancing your professional practice: part three.

Introduction

Medicines are used in all healthcare settings and the safe and secure handling of medicines is essential to ensure patient safety.¹ Pharmacy technicians should be able to identify issues that may arise, particularly during the ordering, checking and receiving process. You should also be able to evaluate the storage of medicines in a pharmacy setting and understand the documentation required to make appropriate records to ensure there is an accurate audit trail. 

Suitability

There are many times when it may be necessary to assess a person’s medicines for use, including when helping a person who is confused about their medicines.

While checking a person’s medicines for use, you may determine that they need further supplies. Are you aware of the process for obtaining further supplies in your area of practice? You could access your organisation’s medicines policy or standard operating procedure (SOP) to find the specific detail of how to obtain a further supply. Often in community pharmacy you may need to ask the patient to obtain a prescription from their GP.

Receiving prescriptions and requests 

There are many issues to consider when you receive a prescription or a request for medicines, including checking its validity. As a pharmacy technician, you are well placed to check that a prescription is valid before it is checked by a pharmacist and dispensed.Issues include: 

• Is the prescription form valid and allowed in the NHS?
• Is the prescription signed by the prescriber?
• Is the person who has made the request for a medicine authorised to do so?
• What date was the prescription or request written?
• Is the prescription or request completed in full, containing all of the required information?
• How will the patient receive the medicine? Is someone waiting for it? Is it being collected later? Or will I need to organise for it to be delivered to them?
• Do we have the medicines in stock, or do I need to order it?
• When is the medicine needed? Is it for an emergency? Should it be prioritised?