Pharmacy Finance and Procurement Manager

This vacancy is currently only open to internal applicants from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

This Band 4 role supports and helps to manage the pharmacy procurement and finance function at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, ensuring medicines are purchased, stocked, and financially managed safely, efficiently and in line with national contracts and Trust policies.

Job description

Procurement -The post holder will be responsible for:

Proposing, assisting in developing and, implementing agreed changes to the Procurement service with consideration of impacts on other departments both internal and external to the pharmacy and the trust.

Contributing to the development of all departmental procurement Standard Operating Procedures.

Implementing and managing compliance with all departmental procurement Standard Operating Procedures.

Ensuring systems are in place and followed by all pharmacy procurement and finance staff for the rapid and effective communication and escalating of any stock outs or potential stock outs that cannot be resolved by the procurement team to the Lead Pharmacy Procurement and Finance Manager, the Countywide Procurement and Homecare Patient Services Manager or higher.

Monitoring stocked drug levels and ensuring danger level reports are produced, actioned and any stock issues resolved or escalated rapidly and effectively to avoid stock outs or urgent Cross-County transfer of stock.

The updating and maintenance of the Powergate portal and other systems used for electronic ordering and invoicing.

Ensuring all legal and ethical requirements for the ordering and invoicing of drugs are met by following set SOPs.

Supervising the transfer of stock between the AH and WRH dispensaries and vice versa in liaison with the Stock Distribution Manager and other relevant staff members.

Ensuring there is standardisation of ordering at both the AH and the WRH in order to maximize discounts for the Trust.

Maintaining accurate stock levels on the Pharmacy Computer System, ensuring re-order levels and re-order quantities are appropriate to maintain the smooth running of the Stock Distributions, the Chemotherapy Units and the Dispensaries at both pharmacy sites without unnecessary build-up of stock or stock outs.

Ensuring all computerised and hard-copy documentation of ordering, goods received and invoice payments etc are correct in accordance with the Trusts Standing Financial Instructions and stored and archived appropriately.

Organising regular stock checks and initiating searches when required e.g. on medicines with discrepancies, drugs in short supply or critical medicines.

Supporting the maintenance of the AH and the WRH Drug Procurement Database, ensuring the information is consistent across both sites and re-ordering flags are correct in accordance with the annual or seasonal usage of the product.

Procurement being run in a safe, efficient and economic manner, to ensure stock holding and wastage are kept to agreed levels.

Negotiating and agreeing with suppliers actions regarding goods to be returned and or credits to be received e.g. when goods are wrongly or inappropriately supplied or there are discrepancies between delivery notes and receipts recorded by pharmacy staff.

Ensuring all outstanding orders are chasing to avoid stock-outs and that appropriate action is taken following consultation with the relevant suppliers to ensure that medicines are always available when required.

Ensuring the ordering of drugs is carried out using the correct suppliers according to agreed contracts to maintain efficient stock levels and minimise costs.

Ensuring an appropriate alternative source is found that will have the least adverse financial impact on the Trust when a primary supplier is unable to supply.

Ensuring all goods are received in good condition and thereafter stored under the correct storage conditions.

Ensuring once the Commercial Medicines Unit (CMU) monthly contract changes have been made the products are correctly updated on the relevant systems e.g. Powergate, to purchase them from the correct supplier at the correct price.

Finance -The post holder will be responsible for:

Proposing, assisting in developing and implementing (agreed) changes to the Pharmacy Finance service with consideration of impacts on other departments both internal and external to the pharmacy and the trust.

Contributing to the development of all departmental finance Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Implementing and managing compliance with all departmental finance Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Ensuring systems are in place and followed for managing outstanding invoices and outstanding credits.

Authorising price increases if after investigation it is appropriate to do so, when goods are received at a higher cost than specified when the order was placed.

Obtaining reimbursement of money when contracted suppliers are unable to supply in line with the terms of the contract.

Raising charge notes for drugs purchased by other NHS, private hospitals and businesses outside Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, in line with the Trusts Wholesaler Dealing Procedure.

Ensuring invoices are reconciled with orders placed on the Pharmacy Computer System and payment runs are made on a regularly agreed basis and on time.

Managing and assisting pharmacy-based finance staff to investigate and find solutions for problems relating to goods received and payments requested from suppliers and wholesalers etc.

Managing, organising and processing invoices as they are received. Also maintaining a system tracking all invoices with queries to be resolved, ensuring payments are made promptly and in an order that ensures financial timescales comply with the CBI prompt payment policy.

Checking suppliers invoices and credit notes prior to payment to ensure they reconcile with the Trusts official orders and record of goods received, using the Pharmacy Computer System.

Ensuring all prices are checked against the expected price using the Pharmacy Computer System.

Authorising invoices for payment when the prices being charged are within the authorised tolerance.

Ensuring invoices are batched and sent for payment using the Accounts Payable Interface between the Pharmacy and Finance Creditor Payments Computer Systems checking all fields are completed and all inputting errors have been identified and corrected.

Manually sending invoices for payment to Finance that must be excluded from the interface.

Configuring the Pharmacy Accounts Payable Interface to exclude suppliers with defined characteristics (as necessary for the correct working of the Pharmacy to Finance Interface) and updating the Pharmacy System database creditor reference codes, to ensure payments are made to the correct supplier.

Maintaining hard-copy records of payments made as per policy, to enable queries and checks to be carried out as necessary.

Ensuring suppliers are contacted to investigate all pricing that appears to be incorrect and arrange for credit to be issued to the Trust as necessary.

Ensuring credits are issued by suppliers for goods that are received damaged or which are returned to the supplier.

Resolving discrepancies with pharmacy orders and problems between suppliers invoices, credit notes, statements, and payments by contacting and liaising with suppliers and, relevant pharmacy and Trust or external staff.

Investigating enquiries and solving problems raised by suppliers about payments due and received.

Working with the Trust financial accountants to ensure correct file transfers are made and received, queries are answered and, for invoices/credits excluded from the Pharmacy to Finance Interface, they are processed manually.

Managerial -The post holder will be responsible for:

day-to-day management of the AH Pharmacy Procurement and Finance teams, including addressing staffing and resource challenges such as sickness absence. This involves assessing available options to maintain service delivery, evaluating their potential implications, determining appropriate solutions, and implementing agreed actions to ensure continuity of service.

Contributing to pharmacy procurement and finance recruitment/retention in line with workforce planning requirements and developments in conjunction with the Countywide Procurement and Homecare Patient Services Manager and Lead Pharmacy Procurement and Finance Manager.

Participating in interviews for pharmacy procurement and finance staff where required.

Assisting in the departmental performance management system ensuring that all pharmacy procurement and finance staff are performance managed, receive annual appraisals and appropriate associated development plans to deliver the requirements of their role.

Assisting the Countywide Procurement and Homecare Patient Services Manager in managing the departmental sickness/absence policy for pharmacy procurement and finance staff and any subsequent capability/disciplinary action, acting in the best interests of the department, Trust and patients.

Planning and organising ensuring that workload is risk managed, allocated appropriately and delivers the requirements of the Department, Trust, external users and patients.

Providing induction and detailed training for trainees and new members of staff in pharmacy procurement and finance.

Ensuring all pharmacy procurement and finance staff are appropriately trained and can competently use the Pharmacy and other relevant computer systems.

Participating in regular reviews (through audit and evaluation) of the pharmacy procurement and finance services with the Countywide Procurement and Homecare Patient Services Manager contributing to the improvement and development of the service to the Trust and wider users.

Person specification

Personal Qualities

Essential

• * Tactful and diplomatic.
• * Methodical and well organised.
• *Committed to high-quality service.
• * Excellent telephone manner.
• * Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload with minimal supervision working to tight and often changing timescales.

Skills / Knowledge

Essential

• * Full range of organisational and office management skills.
• * Problem solving skills for solving complex supply issues, answering queries, progress chasing, finance purchase order related problems with external suppliers, and task related problem solving face to face and over the phone or Teams.
• * Numeracy and ordering skills to be able to check and reconcile invoices as well as ensure sufficient stock is available for issue whilst minimising stock holding and waste due to expiry.
• * Skills to use and maintaining IT systems for managing computer files, determining the status of orders and invoices, and for correcting receiving and invoicing errors etc.

Desirable

• * Knowledge of quality assurance
• * Developing managing and improving Standard Operational Procedures
• * Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy financial procedures including reconciliation and balances, VAT exemptions, finance and/or pharmacy computer systems, financial records, and coding structures.

Qualifications

Essential

• * GCSE Grade C or above in English Maths and Science (or equivalent)
• AND
• * NVQ (or equivalent experience equal to) Level 2 in pharmacy technical services
• PLUS
• * Previous successful completion of a combination of courses, training and study days to obtain knowledge of Pharmacy Systems and Pharmacy Procurement Policies and Procedures, plus knowledge of how to deal with a range of routine and non-routine activities, answering queries, progress chasing, human resource management and task related problem solving
• * Minimum 4 years experience of successfully delivering hospital technical pharmacy services or hospital Pharmacy Procurement services under the direction of supervisors experienced in financial services or technical pharmacy services including procurement and supervising pharmacy stores.

Desirable

• * Supervisory or team leadership course
• * Knowledge of legislation as it affects pharmacy financial management

Experience

Essential

• * Proven recent experience of working as a finance officer or higher level clerical officer successfully delivering technical pharmacy services or pharmacy procurement services under the direction of supervisors experienced in financial services or technical pharmacy services including procurement in a hospital setting.
• * Experience and knowledge of medicines and pharmacy policies including naming, handling and storage practices.
• * Ordering medicine stock where accuracy is of the utmost importance

Desirable

• * Recent and relevant experience of successfully delivering Pharmacy Procurement or technical pharmacy services as a senior Pharmacy Assistant in a hospital setting.
• * Experience leading a team and facilitating service delivery and training.
• * Experience in management of staff including allocation of workload and personnel issues

About the employer

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is a large acute and specialised hospital trust that provides a range of local acute services to the residents of Worcestershire and more specialised services to a larger population in Herefordshire and beyond.

The Trust operates hospital-based services from three sites in Kidderminster, Redditch and Worcester

Our workforce is more than 7,000 strong, and our caring staff are recognised as providing good and outstanding patient-centred care. You could be one of them.

We are committed to recruiting the best people to work with us. Our values, which we ask all staff to demonstrate, underpin our everyday work and remain firmly at the heart of all we do.

Being open and honest

Ensuring people feel cared for

Showing respect to everyone

We are committed to developing a culture of continuous improvement by embedding the principles of our Improvement System.

We are proud to have achieved Timewise accreditation - this means we are committed to embedding flexible working within our organisation as a flex positive employer.

DBS Checks and Costs

Any applicants who are offered posts requiring a DBS check as part of their employment check will have the cost of this check (at the current rate) deducted from their salary. Please see link in Supporting Information section for more details on DBS checks and costs.