Clinical Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

To apply, please follow this link to our Job Board:https://northcumbriaprimarycareltd.peoplehr.net/jobboard

Job Summary

We are looking for an experienced pharmacist to lead our exciting new Medicines hub in Workington. This has been established following the merger of the 5 Workington practices and brings together all the medicines resource from the practices into one team. You will lead a team of virtual pharmacists, pharmacist technicians, medicines administrators and be supported by both the lead GP for Workington and the medicines lead GP for Workington. We have a population of circa 33,000, over 17,000 (52%) are on a medication and process around 1000 scripts a day.

The job will have 3 main elements:

Leadership of the Hub

- You will lead a team of virtual pharmacists, pharmacist technicians, medicines administrators and be supported by both the lead GP for Workington and the medicines lead GP for Workington.

- You will lead the continuous quality improvement in the hub (safety, outcomes and experience).

- You will lead the continuous improvement of processes in the hub so our patients get a great service.

- You will work with the lead GPs to target areas of improvement for example reducing opiate, hypnotic and Gabapentinoid prescribing and improving antibiotic stewardship.

Oversight of and contribution to the day to day operational delivery

- Keep a daily oversight of the medicines workflow prioritising resources as needed

- Undertake clinical medication reviews.

- To help in reconciliation of medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes

- Signing prescriptions if able to do so. If not yet able to be willing to do the training (supported) to develop this competence.

- Provide advice and expertise to the wider practice and PCN teams

- Provide medicines support and advice to our frailty and care home team as required.

- Keep an overview of safety to include clinical areas such as high risk drug monitoring, anticholinergic burden scores etc. and process areas such as prescription errors or delays.

Continuous quality improvement-

- 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.

- Organise teaching and training for the medicines and wider team as needed.

-Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved. In practice this means reviewing CQC searches and other sources of prescribing data on at least a monthly basis and take action on gaps identified e.g. in DMARD or DOAC monitoring.

- Keep an overview of medicines policy and update when needed.

- Follow the existing Workington Medicines Manual to ensure standardisation of process and reduce variation for example in drug and disease monitoring and how to reauthorise medication.

- 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

-Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys guidance, benchmarks and formulary e.g. 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).

For more information please follow the link above to see our full Job Description.

Qualifications

Essential

• Degree in Pharmacy, and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
• Member of or working towards (through foundation) RPS Faculty membership

Desirable

• Hold or be working towards a prescribing qualification.

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years post graduate experience in pharmacy, as demonstrated within a practice portfolio

Desirable

• Specialist knowledge of medicines management systems and processes.
• Proficient with EMIS Web and Docman.

Knowledge

Essential

• Has an awareness of the breadth of common acute and long term conditions that are likely to be seen in a general medical practice.
• Specialist knowledge of medicines management systems and processes.

Desirable

• Demonstrate specialist knowledge in more than one field.

Other

Essential

• Possess a professional appearance and manner
• To have drive, enthusiasm and initiative
• Self-motivated
• Flexible approach
• Positive thinker
• Ability to challenge constructively
• Able to work under pressure

Desirable

• Car driver.

Skills

Essential

• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing.
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal patter and can refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision.
• Evidence of excellent administration and organisational skills
• Work effectively independently and as a team member.
• Be able to demonstrate tact and diplomacy when working with others.
• A conscientious approach and commitment to working in an adaptable and flexible manner.

Desirable

• Good communications skills.
• Able to cope with stressful situations.

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).