Pharmacy technicians and the wider team

Prescribing services work best when every team member understands their role. A pharmacy technician can help map the patient journey from referral or enquiry through booking, consultation, supply, follow-up and communication with the GP practice.

Before launching the service, workload should be reviewed and decisions made about who will monitor referrals, contact patients, manage the appointments diary, prepare consultation rooms and equipment, check stock and process prescriptions. These duties must be allocated through SOPs and competency-based training rather than assumed informally. Pharmacy technicians are well equipped to support these tasks.

During service delivery, pharmacy technicians can protect consultation time by coordinating workflow, responding to non-clinical queries and keeping patients informed about delays. They can also support dispensing, accuracy checking and over-the-counter activity where trained and authorised, escalating anything outside their competence.

The employer should assess pharmacy team member training needs and ensure that prescribing does not compromise core pharmaceutical services. The wellbeing of teams matters because staff may feel less supported when a pharmacist spends more time in consultations and consequently is less visible to patients.

Relevant team members need valid NHS smartcards and the correct access rights to support EPS workflow, national patient records and the EPS Tracker. Pharmacy technicians should know what they are able to access, how to maintain confidentiality, and what to do if a prescription cannot be located or the system becomes unavailable.