In recognition of the contribution that specialist clinical pharmacy technicians can make to patient care, a key strategy of Medway NHS Foundation Trust Pharmacy Department is to develop innovative and advanced clinical pharmacy technician roles, freeing up the pharmacist workforce to focus on more complex patients. An innovative model to train clinical technicians to validate medical infusion suite (MIS) prescriptions was developed using a robust governance framework and training support.

The MIS cares for patients in a day-case setting delivering intravenous medication that cannot be given in primary care, or where a homecare service is not desirable. They treat a number of long-term chronic illnesses including autoimmune disorders, immune deficiencies, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis using regular intravenous infusions.

Using continuous improvement methodology, a procedure was developed to allow a clinical technician to validate the MIS prescriptions safely following set objective criteria. The technician undertook a rigorous programme of shadowing and training, including an interpretation of clinical bloods course and internal bespoke training and development on the conditions, drugs and clinical pathways being validated. A checklist was developed by a working group and consisted of safe and objective parameters that the technician would be able to validate within. If a parameter was not met, then the prescription would be referred to a pharmacist for validation. Before working independently, the technician undertook a competency assessment, which included supervised logs.

This innovative service development provides professionally rewarding roles for technicians, allowing them to develop clinical expertise in specific therapy areas.

• To learn about exciting new roles for advancing clinical pharmacy technicians.
• To learn about the process of training a clinical pharmacy technician to validate.
• To learn about the journey of a clinical pharmacy technician from registration to validation.