Clinical Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose

To work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using your expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas.

Job Summary

Working within your clinical competencies alongside the general practice team you will prescribe be responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy.

Key Areas of Responsibility

To proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy especially the elderly people in care homes those with co-morbidities - in particular frailty COPD and asthma- and people with learning disabilities or autism - through STOMP Stop Over Medication Programme.

Deliver patient facing and remote clinical medical reviews, including long-term conditions clinics and ensure medicines optimisation. Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists, GPs or nurses for medicine improvement and monitoring.

Working with care home staff improving the safety of medicines ordering and administration.

Attend and/or refer patients to multidisciplinary care conferences.

Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public and social care needs of patients at our PCNs Practices.

Help tackle health inequalities.

Provide training/development to primary healthcare teams on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.

Work with general practice teams to ensure compliance with CQC standards.

Operational Management

Through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care.

Manage common/minor/self-limiting ailments within the scope of your competence and practice.

Provide patient facing, remote, or telephone clinics for those with questions, queries, and concerns.

Manage medicines at discharge from hospital, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes working closely with the patient and community pharmacists so patients receive the medications they need post discharge.

Signpost patients to the appropriate healthcare professional for their care within an appropriate period e.g., pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.

Produce and implement a repeat prescribing policy within each PCN practice.

Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests and reviewing medicines at review dates. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place as required.

Implement local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations, monitoring practice prescribing against the local health economys RAG list, making recommendations for GPs. Assist practices in seeing and maintaining a practice formulary on their computer system and audit practice against the NICE technology assessment guidance.

Work collaboratively with all partners, including PCN MDTs, CCG Pharmacists and Technicians to ensure consistent patient care, benefits and medicine optimisation.

Financial Management and Planning

Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new relevant services.

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

Building capacity through effective leadership

Provide leadership on person-centre medicines optimisation including ensuring prescribers in the practices conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance and quality improvement.

Support further integration of general practice with wider healthcare teams to improve patients outcomes, ensure better access and help manage general practice workload.

Management of Communication

Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across the PCNs and wider health care system.

Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network staff, other healthcare teams and patients. Suggest and recommend appropriate solutions and provide follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.

Support public health campaigns.

Risk Management and Quality Assurance

Contribute to the quality and outcomes framework.

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 antipsychotic use in people with learning disabilities, liaison with community pharmacists and anticoagulation.

Be part of a professional clinical network and have access to appropriate clinical supervision to include one supervision session per month by a Senior Clinical Pharmacist and an assigned GP Clinical Supervisor for support and development.

Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice searches (patient related, medicine related or both).

Review medicines connected to unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions via audit and individual patient reviews. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.

Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients.

Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas as directed by the GPs, feedback, and implement changes collaboratively.

Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other national guidance.

Management of workload and personal development

Act on own initiative in prioritising and managing workload, delegating tasks appropriately and referring to designated Board Members in respect of clinical, managerial, and administrative areas, as necessary.

Maintain own personal and professional development as agreed at your annual review.

Work with your line manager to access regular clinical supervision.

Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes.

Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keep up to date with relevant clinical practice.

Knowledge and skills

Essential

• Plans targets with colleagues and ensure delivery against key milestones including monitoring and review of general medicine optimisation issues
• Communicates clearly to drive team performance and maintain individual resilience
• Proven ability to influence others to gain acceptance for recommendations by taking an evidenced based approach
• Motivates others to play to their strengths and deliver excellence
• Encourages feedback and a transparent culture
• Can obtain, analyse, and present complex data to aid decision making within the PCN
• Manages time effectively, not being distracted by pressures, retains focus, and delivers to deadlines
• Has in depth knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
• Knowledge of IT systems to perform role effectively
• Demonstrates, understands, and conforms to relevant standards of practice
• Understands how the working model of Primary care, the funding structures and is creative in identifying the opportunities for partnership working as a result
• Budget and financial management acumen
• Understands the wider determinants of health
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Understands the principles of research governance
• Awareness of key relevant legislation such as but not limited to health and safety, financial regulations, employment law, commercial law, GDPR,
• Knowledge of and works to policies and procedures, including but not limited to lone working, confidentiality, safeguarding, data protection,

Qualifications

Essential

• Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC)
• Enrolled in or qualified from an 18-month training pathway or equivalent
• Mandatory registration with the GPC

Desirable

• Clinical Diploma
• Membership Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA)
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Association

Experience

Essential

• Translates strategies into operational plans in collaboration with other senior colleagues
• Building team capacity and organisational resilience
• Passionately drives organisational development
• Practices and prescribes safely and effectively in a primary care setting
• Recognises personal and professional limitations and refers to appropriate colleague
• Is emotionally intelligent and resilient
• Has a minimum of two years post qualifying experience
• Identifies and mitigates risk management issues collaboratively

Behaviours

Essential

• Leading with care
• Sharing the vision
• Engaging the team
• Influencing for results
• Evaluating information
• Inspiring shared purpose
• Connecting our service
• Developing capability
• Holding to account

Other

Essential

• Immunisation status
• Access to transport and ability to drive across the locality on a regular basis, including lone visits to patients in their own homes

Values

Essential

• Working Together
• Improvement and Development
• Respect and Compassion
• Engagement and Involvement

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).