PCN - Clinical Pharmacist - Calow and Brimington Practice

Job responsibilities

Key duties and responsibilities

1. Patient facing medicines support

Deliver clinics for patients requiring medication reviews, stratifying the need for technical reviews, medicines adherence reviews (including polypharmacy reviews), focal long-term condition/clinical reviews or holistic long-term condition/clinical reviews (structured medication reviews). Provide support for patients with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines.

2. Medicines related clinical support for care homes

Deliver clinical medication reviews with patients, care home staff and ageing well team, produce recommendations for the multidisciplinary team on medicines optimisation, prescribing and monitoring. Work with care home staff and ageing well team to optimise medicines management, and support safe and effective prescribing, and medicines use.

3. Long-term condition Clinics

Deliver reviews to patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g., Respiratory, Cardiovascular-Reno-Metabolic). 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 Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.

4. Patient facing Domiciliary Structured Medication Reviews

Deliver clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacists, nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.

5. 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. This includes prescription services software such as Eclipse Live Radar 500 searches. Wherever possible, technicians will be accountable for reviewing the results of these searches, with clinical pharmacists being responsible for supporting pharmacy technician's where managing high-risk patient's is outside the scope of their competence, or directly covering during leave and exceptional circumstances.

6. 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 high-risk patient groups.

7. 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).

8. Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answers relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network 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.

9. Signposting

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

10. Repeat prescribing

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.

11. Service development

Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g., advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).

12. Information management

Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.

13. Medicines quality improvement

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

14. Medicines safety

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

15. Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economy's 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 each practices computer system.

Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance.

Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.

16. Education and Training

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

17. Care Quality Commission

Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

18. Public health

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

19. Collaborative working arrangements

As part of an integrated pharmacy team, foster and maintain collaborative working relationships with practice teams, ICB colleagues including medicines management pharmacy professionals, the ageing well team and social prescribing team, and all other relevant services across the PCN and other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit the practice and its patients.

Professional development

Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the role and responsibilities.

Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety.

Work with your line manager to access regular clinical supervision, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.

Review yearly progress and develop clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.

Participate in the delivery of formal education programs.

Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keep up to date with relevant clinical practice.

Research and Evaluation

Critically evaluate and review literature.

Identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice.

Generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.

Apply research evidence base into the workplace.

Health and Safety/Risk Management

Must comply at all times with the Health and Safety policies, in particular following safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisation's Incident Reporting Systems

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 respect patients' confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Comply with the UK GDPR (2021), Data Protection Act (2018) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

Miscellaneous

The post holder is required to travel independently between work sites and to attend meetings etc. hosted by other agencies.

Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.

Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner.

Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility.

Qualifications

Essential

• Mandatory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Demonstrates understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice
• Follows professional & organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management

Desirable

• Membership Primary Care Pharmacists Association
• Membership Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Foundation training in primary care
• Clinical Diploma
• Independent Prescribing or currently working towards qualification

Other

Essential

• Adaptable and self-motivated
• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
• Appropriate Immunisation Status
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes

Experience

Essential

• An appreciation of GPs and General Practice, including the relationship between GP, PCNs and ICBs in the context of the larger NHS and NHS funding.
• Awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• Excellent Interpersonal, influencing & negotiating skills, to make shared decisions in situations where barriers to this may be present
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills, including appreciation of different communication needs and skills
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to various audiences (e.g. patients)
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use clinical systems, word processing skills, spreadsheets and emails to communicate effectively, document consultations and code accurately and safely, and produce timely and accurate reports
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information with accuracy, appropriate management of errors and logical innovation of solutions
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and able to recognise limitations of own competence, referring to more senior clinical colleagues when appropriate
• Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines, including prioritisation, time-keeping and sustainable working, including when resource levels change
• Work effectively independently and as a team member
• Able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more suitable colleagues when appropriate
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals

Desirable

• Experience of working in Primary Care
• In depth therapeutic & clinical knowledge and an understanding of evidence-based medicine, clinical terminology, medicines optimisation and shared decision-making
• Experience of collaborative working and building relationships across a variety of organisations
• Able to plan, manage, monitor, advise & review general medicines optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions (LTCs)
• Understand the systems of research governance
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision

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).