Clinical Pharmacist with Diabetes Interest

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Health Triangle PCN based in Bracknell, Sandhurst and Crowthorne in Berkshire, is seeking to recruit a PCN Clinical Pharmacist with an interest in diabetes to develop and support medicines optimisation work within the 3 general practices in the network, all within close geography. The successful candidate will join a thriving MDT currently comprised of 4 Clinical Pharmacists, 5 Paramedics, 2 Physios, 2 Physician Associates, a Social Prescriber and several Care Coordinators. As well as medication reviews, optimisation and reconciliation, you will partake in reviewing and managing patients with diabetes and work proactively with other healthcare professionals as part of a multidisciplinary team across the PCN.

The PCN Clinical Pharmacist will need to be committed to improving health and putting patients first. Key qualities will be the ability to build effective relationships with patients, GPs, nurses, community pharmacists, hospital and practice staff, and to work effectively as part of a team. Demonstrable general pharmaceutical skills and knowledge in core areas, including long term conditions, together with an understanding of general practice are essential.

Clinical Pharmacist in General Practice Primary Care Network Role Person Specification

Reports to: Clinical directors, MDT Lead, MDT Manager

Job Overview: 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, including diabetes 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 patients in the GP practices.

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.

The post holder will be supported to develop their role to become a nonmedical prescriber.

Responsibilities and Duties

Patient facing long-term condition clinics:

• See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. hypertension, asthma).
• Have regular diabetes clinics, using local and national guidelines to optimise diabetes care provision, incorporating patient education and pharmacological treatment as appropriate
• Review the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to GPs for medicine improvement.

Patient facing clinical medication review:

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

Patient facing care home medication reviews:

• Undertake structured medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacist, nurses or GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
• Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

Patient facing domiciliary clinical medication review:

• Undertake structured medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
• Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.

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 medicines support:

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

Telephone medicines support:

• Provide telephone clinics for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Medicine information to practice staff and patients:

• Answers 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

Unplanned hospital admissions:

• Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews.
• Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to highrisk patient groups.

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 highrisk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Signposting:

• Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.

Repeat prescribing:

• Produce and implement a 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.

Risk stratification:

• Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches

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:

• Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations:

• Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys RAG list and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs) or subject to shared care (amber drugs).
• Assist practices in seeing and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system.
• Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance.

Education and Training:

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

Care Quality Commission:

• Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

Public health:

• To support public health campaigns.
• To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.

Qualifications /Required experience

• Degree in Pharmacy, MPharm/BPharm
• GPhC Registered
• Accredited course in diabetes
• Full driving licence
• IP Qualified or working toward an IP qualification
• General Practice and understanding of medicines optimisation roles

Desired experience

• Member of the RPS
• Clinical Diploma
• Minor ailments qualification
• Clinical systems trained (Emis)

Contract length: permanent on completion of probation

Key Benefits

Training PCN with vast opportunity for professional growth

Private Healthcare provided for all clinicians

Remote home working options

Birthday day off in addition to annual leave

Weekly in-house training/education sessions and weekly MDT meetings

Protected daily Clinician coffee break

Innovative use of technology with AI triage and Robot automation of results/prescriptions

Tier 1 Visa Sponsorship available

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree in Pharmacy, MPharm or BPharm
• GPhC Registered
• Accredited course in diabetes
• Full driving licence
• IP Qualified or working toward an IP qualification
• General Practice and understanding of medicines optimisation roles

Experience

Essential

• Member of the RPS
• Clinical Diploma
• Minor ailments qualification
• Clinical systems trained Emis

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).

Employer details

Employer name

Ringmead Medical Practice

Address

Birch Hill Medical Centre

Leppington

Bracknell

Berkshire

RG12 7WW

Employer's website

https://www.ringmeadmedicalpractice.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)