Clinical Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

The focus of the post holders work will depend on the qualifications, skills and experience of the individual and the needs of the PCN Practice(s) which may develop over time and may include

Patient facing long term condition clinics-See patients in multimorbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines, including de-prescribing, managing own case load

Patient facing clinical medication review and support-Undertake structured, clinical shared decision making medication reviews with patients and utilising your independent prescribing and order relevant monitoring with appropriate review

Telephone medicines support -Provide a telephone support for patients with queries and concerns about their medicines

Patient facing care home/residential clinical medication reviews -Manage own caseload of care home residents providing a structured medication review.Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration

Patient facing domiciliary/home visits-Manage own caseload of vulnerable housebound patients at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of their medicines.Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences. Identifying key areas of need for vulnerable patients and formulating care plans

Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments -Manage own caseload for patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence, signposting as appropriate

Triage/differentiated/undifferentiated diagnosis -Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate clinician for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time

Medicine information to practice staff and patients -Answer all medicinerelated enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines

Unplanned hospital admissions -Implement practice searches to identify cohorts of patients most likely to be at risk of an unplanned admission/re-admission from medicines

Work with colleagues to manage medicinesrelated risk for readmission and patient harm. Put in place changes to optimise prescribing of these medicines to highrisk patient groups

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital -Reconcile medicines following hospital discharge and upon admission to care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes manage these changes independently

Work with hospital and community colleagues to proactively manage patients at high risk of medicine related problems before they are discharged to ensure continuity of care

Repeat prescribing-Produce if necessary and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy, ensuring promoting cost effective use of medicines and minimising unnecessary waste. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process

Delivery of Quality Improvement programmes-Support the delivery of local and national quality or cost effectiveness initiatives, identifying areas of prescribing for review

Incorporate the objectives of medicines optimisation, where requested and required, into general practice

Conduct clinical audits and quality improvement projects, presenting results and providing leadership on suggested changes

Service development -Support new services that are built around new medicines, or medicines within NICE guidance or a local care pathway. Contribute to the achievement of KPIs and PCN objectives

Information management -Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making

Medicines safety and Risk Stratification-Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines following national and local drug safety alerts e.g. MHRA

Responsibility for management of risk stratification tools on behalf of the practice. Working with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks through medicines optimisation

Manage the process of implementing changes to medicines and guidance for practitioners

Provide leadership for antibiotic stewardship

Care Quality Commission -Support the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved

Undertake risk assessment and ensure the management of medicines in the Practice complies with medicines legislation

Support Shared Care and Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations where requested and required-Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys RAG list for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs) or subject to shared care (amber drugs)

Public health -Support public health campaigns.

Communication and collaborative working-The post-holder should recognise the importance of effective communication.

It is vital the post holder works collaboratively with their PCN clinical director;

Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the network and their role to patient care

Demonstrates use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues, and other professionals, other NHS/private organisations e.g. CCGs)

Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary.

Leadership-Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and implements this appropriately within the workplace.

Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision.

Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service.

Management-Demonstrate understanding of the implications of local and national priorities and/or service and manage self through these changes.

Education and Training-Provide education and training to the, primary healthcare team and other health professionals e.g. nursing staff as required. Participate in a peer support network with fellow practice pharmacists.

Research and Evaluation-Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and review literature, applying research evidence base into working place.

Understanding of principles of research governance.

Health & Safety-The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the employing organisations Health & Safety Policy.

Equality and Diversity-The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues.

Confidentiality-In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, Practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to a Practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the practices policies and procedures, and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Quality-

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality and will:

alert other team members to issues of quality and risk

assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision

contribute to the effectiveness of the team

work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs

Working Conditions-The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice sites (where applicable), and to attend meetings and training etc. hosted by other agencies.

The post-holder may have contact with body fluids i.e., wound exudates; urine etc. while in clinical practice.

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm)
• Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
• Evidence of continuing professional development

Desirable

• Clinical diploma or other post graduate qualification
• Independent prescriber or working towards qualification or willingness to work towards
• The post holder must either have completed the CPPE primary care pathway or be working towards it or willing to work towards

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of two years post-qualification experience
• Understanding of the work of General Practice

Desirable

• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence based healthcare including clinical audit

Other

Essential

• Immunisation status
• Understands the principles of equality and diversity
• Commitment to addressing health inequalities and patient empowerment
• UK driving licence
• Own Vehicle with business use insurance
• UK work permit (if required)

Skills and Aptitude

Essential

• MOTIVATION AND SKILLS-
• Ability to motivate self and other members of the team
• Drive and determination to promote and support the role of pharmacy staff in General Practice
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrates the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences
• Able to influence, motivate and persuade the audience to comply with the recommendations or agreed course of action where there may be significant barriers
• Good IT skills
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate
• Able to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• Produce timely and informative report. Work effectively independently and as a team member
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision
• Ability to work flexibly
• Ability to recognize own limitations and act upon them appropriately;
• Willingness to learn new skills
• An understanding, acceptance and adherence to the need for strict confidentiality

Desirable

• Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine issues in core areas for long term conditions
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical 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).