Clinical Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

Primary Duties & Areas of Responsibility

Supervision, Development and Leadership of the Pharmacy Technician Team

Repeat Prescribing

• Oversee and maintain the practice repeat prescribing policy, ensuring safe, efficient and evidence-based processes. Utilise and comply with resources such as Sussex Formulary and NICE CKS.

Structured Medication Reviews (SMR)

• Lead and continually improve the structured medication review process.
• Undertake complex medication reviews (face-to-face, telephone or home visit), focusing on frailty, polypharmacy, high-risk and dependence-forming medicines, and de-prescribing where appropriate.

Medicines Reconciliation and Continuity of Care

• Provide clinical leadership for the medicines reconciliation process and supervise the pharmacy technician team in completing discharge summaries, clinic letters and care-home admissions (new patient medication requests).
• Identify and resolve medicine discrepancies, ensuring safe transfer of care and accurate prescribing following hospital discharge or attendance.
• Ensure processes are in place to maintain continuity of medicines supply for high-risk and vulnerable patients (e.g., care-home residents or those using compliance aids such as blister packs).

Medicines Support and Clinical Advice

• Act as point of escalation for medicine-related queries from pharmacy technicians, clinical staff, and patients.

Medicines Optimisation Incentive Scheme (MOIS)

• Lead on MOIS, analysing prescribing data and implementing actions to achieve quality and financial targets.

Safe Prescribing & Governance (including MHRA alerts)

• Lead on safe prescribing, including monitoring requirements for high-risk medicines and the de-prescribing of inappropriate or dependence-forming medicines.
• Receive and implement MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and guidance from national and local sources.
• Lead prescribing audits, present findings, and implement improvements with the practice team. Work closely with the clinical and pharmacy technician teams to deliver required clinical audits.

Service Development

• Provide pharmaceutical expertise in the development and implementation of new services, including clinical pathways and patient information resources.

Information Management

• Analyse, interpret and present prescribing data to highlight risks, trends and improvement opportunities.

Pharmacy Technician Team

• Working closely with the Senior Pharmacy Technician in the Leadership and Management of the Pharmacy Technician Team, for example appraisals, rotas and other HR functions

Chronic Disease Management

Long-Term Condition (LTC) Clinics

• Lead and support LTC clinics aligned with QOF and Locally Commissioned Service requirements. Priority will be given to the areas where further service development is needed in the surgery.
• Work collaboratively with GP Leads aswell as Specialist Nurses (e.g., Diabetes, Asthma, Hypertension) and develop the Pharmacy Technician role within LTC management.

Collaborative Working

• Work collaboratively with the wider practice team, community pharmacies, PCN teams and neighbourhood practices to ensure safe and efficient patient care.
• Ensure prescribing follows the ICS formulary and local shared-care / NICE guidance.
• Make recommendations to GPs regarding red / amber drugs and OTC prescribing.
• Provide education and training to clinical and Pharmacy Technician teams on medicines optimisation, prescribing guidance, and safety.
• Support public health campaigns and provide expert advice relating to medicines and public health programmes if needed.
• Recognise the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role to patient care
• Demonstrate use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues, and other professionals, other NHS/private organisations e.g. ICSs)
• Demonstrate ability to work as a member of a team
• Be able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary
• Actively work toward developing and maintaining effective working relationships both within and outside the practice, network and locality
• Foster and maintain strong links with all services across locality
• Explore and take the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships
• Demonstrate ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams
• Liaise with ICS colleagues including ICS Pharmacists, Technicians and Heads of Medicines Management/ Optimisation on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care.
• Liaise with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to:

o Patients

o GP, nurses and other practice staff

o Other healthcare professionals including CCG pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians etc.

o Locality / GP prescribing lead

o Community nurses and other allied health professionals

o Community and hospital pharmacy teams

o Hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation

Other

Essential

• - Self-Motivation
• - Adaptable
• - In date DBS (we will request our own one also)
• - Safeguarding adult and children level three

Desirable

• - Full Driving License
• - Information Governance toolkit completion
• - Immunisation status
• - Basic life support training

Qualifications

Essential

• - Masters degree in Pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)
• - Independent prescriber or working towards/intent of gaining independent prescribing qualification

Desirable

• - Specialist knowledge acquired through post- graduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience

Experience

Essential

• - Minimum of 2 years post- qualification experience.
• - In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence- based healthcare.
• - An appreciation of the nature of GPs and General Practices
• - An appreciation of the nature of Primary Care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• - Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills
• - Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• - Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences (e.g. patients)
• - Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimization issues in core areas for long term conditions
• - Has a history of proactive use of IT to streamline workload - Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
• - Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate
• - Able to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• - Produce timely and informative reports
• - Gain acceptance for recommendations and influence/motivate/persuade the audience to comply with recommendations/agreed course of action where there may be significant barriers
• - Work effectively independently and as a team member
• - Demonstrate accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision

Professional Registration

Essential

• - Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
• - Membership of the General Pharmaceutical Council

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).