Job summary
We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity for a Clinical Pharmacist to join Medway Rainham Primary Care Network (PCN) as part of our growing multidisciplinary team. This role is central to delivering high-quality, safe, and effective medicines management across our practices.
As a PCN Clinical Pharmacist, you will work closely with GPs, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to optimise prescribing, support long-term condition management, and improve patient outcomes. You will conduct structured medication reviews, provide expert clinical advice, and play a key role in improving patient safety and reducing health inequalities.
This is a rewarding and developmental role, offering opportunities to expand your skills within primary care, progress towards independent prescribing (if not already qualified), and make a tangible difference in the health and wellbeing of our local population.
Main duties of the job
The Clinical Pharmacist will work as part of the PCN multidisciplinary team to optimise medicines use and improve patient care. Key responsibilities include conducting structured medication reviews, supporting safe repeat prescribing systems, providing expert clinical advice on medicines management, and ensuring cost-effective, evidence-based prescribing. The postholder will liaise with GPs, practice staff, community pharmacies, and secondary care to improve continuity of care, support patients in understanding and managing their medicines, and contribute to wider PCN priorities such as long-term condition management, population health, and quality improvement initiatives.
About us
We are a Primary Care Network (PCN) of eight GP practices working together with a range of local providers, including primary care, community services, social care, and the voluntary sector, to offer more personalized, coordinated health and social care to their local populations.
Our PCN comprises of 38,000 patients, making us large enough to provide resilience and support the development of integrated teams.
Job description
Job responsibilities
When a PCN employs or engages one or more Clinical Pharmacists under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, the PCN must ensure that each Clinical Pharmacist has the following key responsibilities in relation to delivering health services as outlined in Annex B1 of the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service 2024-25 specification
There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using their expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas
- Be a prescriber, or completing training to become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team
- Be responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially the elderly, people in care homes, those with multiple co-morbidities (in particular frailty, COPD and asthma) and people with learning disabilities or autism (through STOMP the Stop Over Medication Programme)
- Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients at the PCNs practice(s) and to help in tackling inequalities
- Provide leadership on person-centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the organisation conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, while contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced service
- Through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care
- Have a leadership role in supporting further integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including community and hospital pharmacy) to help improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage general practice workload
- Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across PCNs and the wider health and social care system
- Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists and anticoagulation
- Be part of a professional clinical network and have access to appropriate clinical supervision. Appropriate clinical supervision means:
- Each Clinical Pharmacist must receive a minimum of one supervision session per month by a Senior Clinical Pharmacist
- The Senior Clinical Pharmacist must receive a minimum of one supervision session every three months by a GP Clinical Supervisor
- Each Clinical Pharmacist will have access to an assigned GP Clinical Supervisor for support and development
- A ratio of one Senior Clinical Pharmacist to no more than five junior Clinical Pharmacists, with appropriate peer support and supervision in place.
- To act as the PCN point of contact for all medicine related matters, establishing positive working relationships
- To liaise with the practices and, when practicable, to standardise the medicines management process across the PCN
- To consult patients within defined levels of competence and independently prescribe acute and repeat medication
- To receive referrals and directed patients from triage services and other clinicians
- To receive and resolve medicines queries from patients and other staff
- To provide medication review services for patients in the practice and during domiciliary visits to the local nursing home
- To manage a caseload of complex patients
- To manage a therapeutic drug monitoring system and the recall of patients taking high risk drugs, i.e., anticoagulants, anticonvulsants and DMARDs etc.
- To deliver long term conditions clinics and home visits particularly for patients with complicated medication regimes and prescribe accordingly
- To provide pharmaceutical consultations to patients with long term conditions as an integral part of the multi-disciplinary team
- To review medications for newly registered patients
- To improve patient and carer understanding of confidence in and compliance with their medication
- To encourage cost-effective prescribing throughout the PCN
- To liaise with practices and implement and embed a robust repeat prescribing system for use across all practices
- To provide advice and answer medication related queries from patients and staff
- To organise and oversee the PCNs medicines optimisation systems including the repeat prescribing and medication review systems
- To improve the quality and effectiveness of prescribing through clinical audit and education to improve performance against NICE standards and clinical and prescribing guidance
- To develop yourself and the role through participation in clinical supervision, training and service redesign activities
- To ensure appropriate supervision of safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs. To apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines
- To provide subject matter expertise on medication monitoring, implementing and embedding a system
- To support clinicians with the management of patients suffering from drug and alcohol dependencies
- To actively signpost patients to the correct healthcare professional
- To manage a caseload of complex patients and potential care institutions and to provide advice for the GP management of more complex patients or areas such as addictive behaviours, severe mental illness or end of life care
- To review the latest guidance ensuring the organisation conforms to NICE, CQC etc.
- To provide targeted support and proactive reviews for vulnerable, complex patients and those at risk of admission and re-admission to secondary care
- To handle prescription queries and requests directly
- To provide proactive leadership on medicines and prescribing systems to the PCN multidisciplinary team, patients and their carers
- To support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the PCN
- To participate in the management of patient complaints when requested to do so and participate in the identification of any necessary learning brought about through clinical incidents and near-miss events
- To undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes
- To contribute to and embrace the spectrum of clinical governance
- To attend a formal appraisal with your manager at least every 12 months. Once a performance/training objective has been set, progress will be reviewed on a regular basis so that new objectives can be agreed
- To contribute to public health campaigns (e.g., COVID-19 or flu clinics) through advice or direct care
- To maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times.
Job description
Job responsibilities
When a PCN employs or engages one or more Clinical Pharmacists under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme, the PCN must ensure that each Clinical Pharmacist has the following key responsibilities in relation to delivering health services as outlined in Annex B1 of the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service 2024-25 specification
There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks. This will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels:
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using their expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas
- Be a prescriber, or completing training to become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team
- Be responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially the elderly, people in care homes, those with multiple co-morbidities (in particular frailty, COPD and asthma) and people with learning disabilities or autism (through STOMP the Stop Over Medication Programme)
- Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients at the PCNs practice(s) and to help in tackling inequalities
- Provide leadership on person-centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the organisation conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, while contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced service
- Through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care
- Have a leadership role in supporting further integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including community and hospital pharmacy) to help improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage general practice workload
- Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across PCNs and the wider health and social care system
- Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists and anticoagulation
- Be part of a professional clinical network and have access to appropriate clinical supervision. Appropriate clinical supervision means:
- Each Clinical Pharmacist must receive a minimum of one supervision session per month by a Senior Clinical Pharmacist
- The Senior Clinical Pharmacist must receive a minimum of one supervision session every three months by a GP Clinical Supervisor
- Each Clinical Pharmacist will have access to an assigned GP Clinical Supervisor for support and development
- A ratio of one Senior Clinical Pharmacist to no more than five junior Clinical Pharmacists, with appropriate peer support and supervision in place.
- To act as the PCN point of contact for all medicine related matters, establishing positive working relationships
- To liaise with the practices and, when practicable, to standardise the medicines management process across the PCN
- To consult patients within defined levels of competence and independently prescribe acute and repeat medication
- To receive referrals and directed patients from triage services and other clinicians
- To receive and resolve medicines queries from patients and other staff
- To provide medication review services for patients in the practice and during domiciliary visits to the local nursing home
- To manage a caseload of complex patients
- To manage a therapeutic drug monitoring system and the recall of patients taking high risk drugs, i.e., anticoagulants, anticonvulsants and DMARDs etc.
- To deliver long term conditions clinics and home visits particularly for patients with complicated medication regimes and prescribe accordingly
- To provide pharmaceutical consultations to patients with long term conditions as an integral part of the multi-disciplinary team
- To review medications for newly registered patients
- To improve patient and carer understanding of confidence in and compliance with their medication
- To encourage cost-effective prescribing throughout the PCN
- To liaise with practices and implement and embed a robust repeat prescribing system for use across all practices
- To provide advice and answer medication related queries from patients and staff
- To organise and oversee the PCNs medicines optimisation systems including the repeat prescribing and medication review systems
- To improve the quality and effectiveness of prescribing through clinical audit and education to improve performance against NICE standards and clinical and prescribing guidance
- To develop yourself and the role through participation in clinical supervision, training and service redesign activities
- To ensure appropriate supervision of safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs. To apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines
- To provide subject matter expertise on medication monitoring, implementing and embedding a system
- To support clinicians with the management of patients suffering from drug and alcohol dependencies
- To actively signpost patients to the correct healthcare professional
- To manage a caseload of complex patients and potential care institutions and to provide advice for the GP management of more complex patients or areas such as addictive behaviours, severe mental illness or end of life care
- To review the latest guidance ensuring the organisation conforms to NICE, CQC etc.
- To provide targeted support and proactive reviews for vulnerable, complex patients and those at risk of admission and re-admission to secondary care
- To handle prescription queries and requests directly
- To provide proactive leadership on medicines and prescribing systems to the PCN multidisciplinary team, patients and their carers
- To support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the PCN
- To participate in the management of patient complaints when requested to do so and participate in the identification of any necessary learning brought about through clinical incidents and near-miss events
- To undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes
- To contribute to and embrace the spectrum of clinical governance
- To attend a formal appraisal with your manager at least every 12 months. Once a performance/training objective has been set, progress will be reviewed on a regular basis so that new objectives can be agreed
- To contribute to public health campaigns (e.g., COVID-19 or flu clinics) through advice or direct care
- To maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Registered Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
- Strong clinical knowledge and understanding of medicines management.
- Experience working with patients and healthcare professionals.
- Excellent communication, organisational, and IT skills.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Patient-centred, flexible, reliable, and motivated.
Desirable
- Independent Prescriber qualification (or working towards it).
- Experience of working in primary care or within a PCN.
- Experience in conducting structured medication reviews.
- Knowledge of EMIS and NHS prescribing systems.
- Involvement in service development, audit, or quality improvement.
- Completed CPPE Pathway or willing to enrol on it.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Registered Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
- Evidence of continuing professional development.
- Strong clinical knowledge and understanding of medicines management.
- Experience working with patients and healthcare professionals.
- Excellent communication, organisational, and IT skills.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Patient-centred, flexible, reliable, and motivated.
Desirable
- Independent Prescriber qualification (or working towards it).
- Experience of working in primary care or within a PCN.
- Experience in conducting structured medication reviews.
- Knowledge of EMIS and NHS prescribing systems.
- Involvement in service development, audit, or quality improvement.
- Completed CPPE Pathway or willing to enrol on it.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working within a multi-disciplinary team
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).
Additional information
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).