Clinical Pharmacist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Patient facing Long-term condition clinics

See patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimization is required (e.g. Respiratory, cardiovascular, Diabetes.)

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 optimization). Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.

Clinical Medication Review

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

Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.

Medicines support

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

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

Implement the practice repeat prescribing policy within each PCN practice where required

Manage the repeat prescribing re-authorization 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. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both. The clinical pharmacists will be responsible for ensuring that all drugs that require regular monitoring are prescribed in a safe manner and that all necessary tests and procedures are carried out according to guidance. Examples of such drugs include NOACs, azathioprine, lithium, warfarin, methotrexate

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)

Information management

Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision- making. This will include areas practices are contracted to improve. E.g. NSAID prescribing

Medicines quality improvement & safety

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

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 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).

Monitor adherence to Medication Optimisation Quality Standards

Auditing the practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance (TAG)

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.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)

Desirable

• Specialist knowledge acquired through post- graduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience Independent prescriber or working towards/intent of gaining independent prescribing qualification

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years post- qualification experience. 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 Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences (e.g. patients)

Desirable

• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence- based healthcare. Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimization issues in core areas for long term conditions

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

Yeading Medical Centre

Address

Yeading Medical Centre

18 Hughenden Gardens

Northolt

Middlesex

UB5 6LD

Employer's website

https://www.yeadingmedicalcentre.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)