Primary Care Practice Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

Clinical Practice Based Pharmacist

Responsible to: Practice Partners/ Practice Manager as necessary

Accountable to: Practice Partners as necessary

Base: Salary: Dependent on experience

The post holder is a pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of pharmacists in general practice.

The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role. The post holder will take responsibility for areas of chronic disease management within the practice and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.

The post holder will provide primary support to general practice staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. They will help support the repeat prescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both public and social care needs of patient in the GP practice.

The post holder will provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.

The post holder will ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice.

Primary duties and areas of responsibility

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge. Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Repeat prescribing

Follow/maintain the practice repeat prescribing policy. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.

Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer relevant medicine related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines.

Suggesting and recommending solutions.

Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

Telephone medicines support

Provide a telephone consultations for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Patient facing medicines support

Provide patient facing clinics for those patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.

Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments

Managing caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence. Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Patient facing Clinical Medication Review

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring.

Unplanned hospital admissions

Review the use of medicines most associated with unplanned hospital admissions and re-admissions through audit and individual patient reviews. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.

Risk stratification

Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both.

Information management

Work in collaboration with the CCG Pharmacist to analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.

Medicines quality improvement

Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team.

Medicines safety

Working collaboratively with the CCG Pharmacist, implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

Education and Training

Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.

Collaborative Working Relationships

Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role to patient care

Demonstrates 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. PCN's)

Demonstrates ability to work as a member of a team

Can 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 and locality

Foster and maintain strong links with all services across locality

Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships

Demonstrates ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams

Liaises with PCN colleagues including PCN Pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit

Liaises with PCN pharmacists and Heads of Medicines Management/ Optimisation to benefit from peer support

Liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to patients, GPs, nurses and other practice staff, other healthcare professionals including PCN pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians etc. community nurses and other allied health professionals, community and hospital pharmacy teams, hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation

Job Description Agreement

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities only. There may be other duties required of the post-holder commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the Practice. All members of staff should be prepared to take on additional duties or relinquish existing duties in order to maintain the efficient running of the Practice.

This job description is intended as a basic guide to the scope and responsibilities of the post and is not exhaustive. It will be subject to regular review and amendment as necessary in consultation with the post holder.

Education, Training and Development

Essential

• Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team and/or service.
• Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process.
• Demonstrates ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan with supervision from more experienced colleagues.
• Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development activity; working alongside senior clinical pharmacist to identifying areas to develop. Participates in the delivery of formal education programmes.
• Demonstrates an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keeps up to date with relevant clinical practice.
• Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development.
• Enrolled into review and appraisal systems within the practice.

Experience

Essential

• Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
• A suitable prescribes qualification is critical to us.
• Minimum of 2 years' experience as a pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice Portfolio.
• Have experience and an awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice.
• Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate.
• Able to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct.
• Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines

Desirable

• May hold or be working towards an independent prescribing qualification. Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace.
• Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision.
• Engages with Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) and involves PPGs in development of the role and practices.
• Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service.
• Reviews yearly progress and develop clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.
• Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals.
• Promotes diversity and equality in people management techniques and leads by example.

Research and Evaluation

Essential

• Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and review literature.
• Demonstrates ability to identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice.
• Demonstrates ability to generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.
• Demonstrates ability to apply research evidence base into working place. Demonstrates understanding of principles of research governance.

Management

Essential

• Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or service.
• Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation. Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice. Demonstrates ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol.
• Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management.
• Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.

Health and Safety / Riske Management

Essential

• The post-holder must always comply with the Practices Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System. The post-holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990). Equality and Diversity. The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc. Respect for Patient Confidentiality: The post-holder should always respect patient confidentiality and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Qualifications

Essential

• Completion of undergraduate degree in Pharmacy and Registration with 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).