Prescribing Clinical Pharmacist

Job description

Job responsibilities

Outline of the post

Key duties and responsibilities

(This is a nonexhaustive list; specific duties will be determined by Cross Gates PCN and the Lead Pharmacist)

1. Clinical Medication Reviews

Undertake clinical and structured medication reviews to optimise medicines, improve patient outcomes and reduce medicinesrelated harm. Reviews may include care home residents, polypharmacy cohorts, longterm condition groups, or any priority populations identified by the PCN and aligned with your scope of competence. Care home visits and occasional home visits may be required.

2. Repeat Prescribing

Support the repeatprescribing process by reviewing requests, medicines due for review and ensuring appropriate patient monitoring is in place.

3. Medicines quality improvement

Carry out clinical audits of prescribing in areas identified by the PCN. Provide clear feedback on findings and work with the relevant practice teams to implement improvements and monitor impact.

Use riskstratification tools to identify patients who may be at increased risk of harm from medicine, whether due to patientspecific or medicinerelated factors. Implement evidencebased actions to reduce exposure to highrisk medicines and support safer prescribing across the PCN.

4. Medicines safety

Support the existing PCN Pharmacy team and PCN practices to implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

5. Management of common or self-limiting ailments

You may occasionally support patients with common or selflimiting conditions, providing advice within your competence and signposting or referring to other healthcare professionals when needed.

6. Management of medicines at change of care setting

Reconcile medicines after hospital discharge or transfers between care settings, addressing any discrepancies and ensuring patients receive the correct medicines. Support continuity of supply for highrisk groups, such as patients using compliance aids or those in care homes.

7. Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines. Suggest and recommend solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

8. Drug monitoring

Ensure effective drugmonitoring systems across all PCN practices, streamlining processes where appropriate. Apply Leeds trafficlight prescribing guidance, and review pathology results relevant to medicines management, escalating concerns in line with clinical governance.

9. 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.

10. 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).

11. Information management

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

12. Education and Training

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

13. Care Quality Commission

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

14. Public health

Support public health campaigns. Provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the public.

15. Collaborative working arrangements

Work collaboratively with the PCN Clinical Director, PCN pharmacy team, ARRS roles and practice staff.

Participate in the PCN MDT and engage with the Leeds GP Confederation Clinical Pharmacy team for peer support.

Liaise with Leeds ICB Medicines Commissioning teams on prescribing matters to support consistent, safe patient care. Engage with the Leeds Practice Pharmacist and Technician Network to access wider peer support. Maintain strong working relationships across all services within the PCN and neighbouring networks, proactively identifying opportunities for collaborative working.

Work effectively with a range of stakeholders, including:

• Patients and their carers
• GPs, nurses and practice staff
• Social Prescribers, First Contact Practitioners, Physician Associates and Paramedics
• Community pharmacists
• Locality prescribing leads and locality managers
• Community nursing teams and other allied health professionals
• Secondary care teams involved in prescribing and medicines optimisation

16. Professional development

Engage in continuous personal and professional development with support from your line manager, regularly reviewing and evolving your role and responsibilities. Maintain compliance with all organisational policies, including confidentiality, safeguarding, information governance, lone working and health and safety.

Access regular clinical supervision to support reflective practice and effective handling of complex cases. Review progress annually and set clear development objectives aligned to PCN priorities. Contribute to formal education and training activities and remain up to date with relevant clinical and educational developments in your area of practice.

17. Research and Evaluation

Critically evaluate and apply relevant research literature to inform practice. Identify gaps in the evidence base and contribute to generating new insights where appropriate. Produce evidence suitable for sharing at practice or local level and embed research findings into daytoday clinical work to support continual service improvement.

18. Health and Safety/Risk Management

Must always comply with all Health and Safety policies, including following safe working procedures and reporting incidents through the organisations incidentreporting system.

Must also comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Access to Health Records Act 1990.

19. Special working conditions

The postholder will be required to travel independently between PCN sites and to attend meetings hosted by partner organisations. They may also be exposed to body fluids during clinical duties and may be required to visit patients in their own homes.

20. Miscellaneous

Work collaboratively to seek feedback, support continuous service improvement and contribute to PCN business planning. Undertake any duties consistent with the role and grade, ensuring work is carried out effectively and in a timely manner. Responsibilities may be amended periodically to reflect service needs, without altering the overall nature or level of the post.

21. Equality and Diversity

The postholder must adhere to all organisational policies on equality, diversity and inclusion, ensuring fair and always respectful treatment of colleagues, patients and visitors. No individual should be treated less favourably on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion or any other protected characteristic.

22. Respect for Patient Confidentiality

The post-holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Person Specification

Personal Qualities and Attributes

Essential

• 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. ICBs)
• Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary
• Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Ability to work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team or on own initiative
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable experience as an established foundation-level pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice portfolio
• Experience and an awareness of the breadth of common acute and long-terms conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities
• Able to gain acceptance for recommendations and influence/motivate/persuade the audience to comply with the recommendations/agreed course of action where there may be significant barriers

Desirable

• Able to plan, manage, monitor and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions

Qualifications

Essential

• Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Holds an independent prescribing qualification
• Successful completion of the CPPE General Practice Pharmacist Training Pathway
• Demonstrates and understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice.

Desirable

• Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy

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

Cross Gates Primary Care Ltd

Address

The Grange Medical Centre

999 York Road

Leeds

LS14 6NX

Employer's website

https://www.crossgatespcn.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)