Lead Pharmacist for Antipsychotics

Job responsibilities

The post holder will

Be accountable for workforce capacity, capability, and development within the antipsychotic shared care service across the organisation and system partners

Provide clinical supervision for other team members working within the shared care antipsychotic workstream

Assist in the development, delivery and audit of medicines related education and training programmes for healthcare staff

Lead on the development and implementation of workforce models to support service sustainability and expansion across neighbourhood teams and primary care

As an expert, act as a role model and mentor for all staff, supporting the personal and professional development of pharmacy team members, and advise pharmacists of all grades in the area of expert knowledge

Supervise pharmacy technicians, trainee and diploma pharmacists from acute trust hospitals and PCNs who come to LSW for experience of working in mental health

Participate in the service planning, organisation, workload allocation and management of the clinical pharmacy and medicines optimisation services

Work autonomously with access to support when required

Support neighbourhood teams in upskilling and building confidence in safe prescribing, deprescribing, and monitoring of antipsychotics

Be accountable for contributing to and influencing significant areas of medicines expenditure related to antipsychotics across the system

Responsible for identifying, planning, and delivering cost improvement programmes and value-based prescribing initiatives within the service

Provide strategic financial advice influencing commissioning decisions and investment in medicines optimisation initiatives

Contribute to business case development and service investment proposals

Prepare reports, monitor and control formulary and non-formulary prescribing of oral antipsychotics to ensure compliance against local, regional, and national formularies, and lead on the application for any new oral antipsychotics both internally and externally

Contribute to decisions on investment in new therapies, monitoring technologies, or optimisation initiatives through specialist clinical and financial advice

Contribute to the development, maintenance and review of administrative systems and digital tools that support monitoring, reporting, and clinical workflow

Develop reports, and audit outcomes of agreed content for the pharmacy Performance and Quality Management Group, Medicines Governance Group and Medicines Safety Forum

Ensure accurate entry, maintenance and verification of prescribing and monitoring data, supporting organisational performance dashboards and safety audits

Uphold the principles of evidence-based medicine and make recommendations in line with the formulary, LSW prescribing guidelines and other local/ national guidelines (Including NICE recommendations) and national evidence base

Provide an advanced, expert level of clinical reasoning and judgment when advising staff on complex clinical situations where there are conflicting opinions, where data are lacking or interpretation of clinical trials data is required

Ensure that in the absence of available data, decisions made will withstand public scrutiny and legal challenge

Develop and refine standard operating procedures and administrative pathways to ensure efficient and consistent service delivery

Ensure clinical documentation, monitoring data, and shared-care information is communicated effectively across neighbourhood teams and primary care to support continuity of care

Promote a person-centred, recovery-focused approach to antipsychotic treatment and shared care

Ensure shared care pathways prioritise safety, autonomy, shared decision-making and clear communication between LSW, primary care and the person receiving treatment

Develop accessible information resources for service users, carers and primary care clinicians

Provide timely responses to complex medication enquiries and concerns raised by service users and primary care teams.

Champion equitable access to safe and effective antipsychotic care and reduction of health inequalities

Ensure that annual antipsychotic reviews incorporate patient goals, preferences and personalised care planning

Work collaboratively with neighbourhood teams to ensure that annual antipsychotic reviews incorporate personalised care planning, proactive follow-up, and holistic support delivered within a neighbourhood model

Strengthen neighbourhood-based approaches to reducing health inequalities in antipsychotic prescribing and monitoring.

Lead and be accountable for the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, clinical pathways, and service models relating to antipsychotic use across the organisation and system

Translate national strategy, guidance, regulatory requirements, and emerging evidence into clear, operationally deliverable local policy and practice ensuring full system implementation and compliance

Lead large-scale service redesign and transformation programmes impacting multiple teams and organisations

Work autonomously as a clinical specialist for antipsychotic therapy, the post holder will lead the review, and updating of shared care protocols for LSW, clinical governance frameworks, and monitoring requirements

Ensure policies remain up to date, person centred, and aligned with best practice, supporting safe prescribing, effective deprescribing, and prevention of medicine related harm

Lead the design and implementation of an advice and guidance service for primary care, ensuring timely expert support for complex clinical queries and optimisation challenges

Drive standardisation and reduction of variation across the system through service leadership and performance management

Ensure continuous improvement of the annual 12-month shared care review process, ensuring reliable and equitable delivery across the system

Work collaboratively with MDTs, commissioners, digital and data leads, and primary care partners to embed new ways of working, identify system-level improvement opportunities, and support workforce development

Evaluate the impact of policy and service changes through audit, quality improvement, and outcome measurement, providing strategic recommendations to strengthen safety, governance, and person centred outcomes in the management of antipsychotic therapy

Ensure adherence to the standards of the Medicines Policy and other medicines optimisation documents and report any deviations to the wider team and MSO, reporting via the organisation risk management system

Review all medicines incidents reported via the organisations risk management system for oral antipsychotic shared care each month and contribute to patient safety incident reviews

Attend governance meetings to ensure that risk areas related to oral antipsychotic shared care are addressed and implement changes to practice where necessary

Lead the integration of antipsychotic shared-care pathways with neighbourhood-based service models, ensuring alignment with the Community Mental Health Framework and local transformation plans

Embed medicines-optimisation processes within neighbourhood MDT working, supporting shared clinical responsibility and collaborative risk management

Lead medium to long term strategic planning for antipsychotic medicines optimisation services across LSW and system partners

Represent the organisation at system (ICS), regional, and national forums as the clinical lead for antipsychotic optimisation

Identify areas for audit, participate in audits within the oral antipsychotic shared care pathway in accordance with the LSW organisation wide audit programme

Regularly support practice research within specialist area, this includes identifying areas for research, supervising research or acting as a research mentor

Liaise with relevant clinical teams to negotiate and provide support for the service project as roll out progresses

Act as a Designated Prescribing Practitioner, Educational Supervisor or Practice supervisor for members of the team undertaking independent prescribing or other training courses

Act as a senior clinical point of contact for all matters relating to oral antipsychotic medicines within shared care pathways, requiring highly developed and persuasive communication skills

Provide expert advice, accessible advice to GPs, practice pharmacists, mental health clinicians, and wider MDTs, ensuring understanding of complex clinical guidance, monitoring requirements, and optimisation strategies

Build strong, collaborative relationships across LSW, primary care, commissioning bodies, and system partners to support cohesive approaches to safe antipsychotic prescribing

Facilitate effective cross-sector communication to resolve shared care issues, address risk promptly, and ensure consistent application of pathways and protocols

Communicate highly complex, sensitive, or contentious information, such as risk-benefit decisions, deprescribing recommendations, and governance requirements, using advanced negotiation, motivational, and conflict-resolution skills.

Ensure that communication with service users and carers is person-centred, clear, and compassionate, supporting shared decision making and promoting understanding of treatment options, monitoring, and safety considerations to enable shared decision making.

Contribute to system-wide learning by presenting audit findings, QI outcomes and emerging evidence at clinical forums, governance groups and professional networks

Engage clinical teams in the development of the advice and guidance service, supporting them through the change process to achieve successful outcomes

Please see supporting information for full Job Description and Person Specification

Additional requirements

Essential

• Computer literacy including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Email and the Internet.

Desirable

• Experience of using databases.

Knowledge

Essential

• Evidence of significant post registration Pharmacy practice, knowledge and experience to demonstrate the competency in mental health, specifically oral antipsychotic prescribing and shared care:
• Broad clinical and pharmaceutical knowledge, with an understanding of national policies and issues impacting on prescribing and medicines optimisation services.
• Specialist knowledge acquired by postgraduate diploma or equivalent evidence of specialist knowledge, competence and achievements in practice in mental health.
• Knowledge and understanding of antimicrobial stewardship
• Understanding of non-medical prescribing, patient group directions and other alternatives to medical prescribing
• Aware of current healthcare targets, NICE guidance and other national directives and the implications for implementation in primary and secondary care

Desirable

• Willingness to obtain further qualifications in mental health or pharmacy practice as identified through the post holders personal development plan.
• Knowledge of relevant health legislation and awareness of current issues in mental health and learning disability services
• Undertake relevant training to maintain competencies and further develop clinical or technical specialist knowledge to meet the needs of this post
• Willingness to undertake leadership qualification as determined through PDP

Skills

Essential

• Excellent, communication and interpersonal skills, including presentation skills for a wide variety of audiences.
• Team working skills.
• The ability to negotiate, facilitate and influence change
• Critical appraisal and analytical skills, with an understanding of evidence based medicine.
• The ability to deal with complex situations and bring to a satisfactory resolution.
• The ability to be flexible and adjust to a rapidly changing environment.
• Ability to analyse and interpret a wide range of data, including prescribing data.
• The ability to present complex information to a variety of audiences, including service-users and carers, in an understandable way.
• High-level time management skills.
• The ability to plan and organise broad range of complex specialist service activities, as well as dealing with day to day issues this includes managing longer term service redesign and development ideas e.g. planning audit and expanding community services.
• The ability to work on own initiative, organise self and prioritise own workload, including resolution of conflicting priorities.
• The ability to work under pressure and complete work to tight deadlines.
• Logical approach to new situations and problem solving.
• Ability to frequently travel independently and in a timely manner between Livewell Southwest sites and community locations including areas not served by public transport.

Desirable

• Ability to manage change
• Access to own transport
• Able to resolve conflict and disagreement

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters (or equivalent if qualified pre-2001) degree in pharmacy
• Current registration as a Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) UK.
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development.
• Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma or Masters in Psychiatric Pharmacy practice or equivalent clinical experience
• Independent prescribing qualification

Desirable

• Postgraduate diploma/certificate in clinical pharmacy / therapeutics or equivalent clinical experience
• Member of the College of Mental Health Pharmacy.
• Postgraduate leadership qualification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of prescribing in practice within the speciality of mental health and reviewing patients in clinic environment.
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary healthcare team / environment.
• Experience to supervise activities of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and assistants.
• Experience of networking with other healthcare professionals across the full range of disciplines at all levels
• Experience of review and development of pharmacy / medication related policies procedures and prescribing guidelines
• Experience of audit work
• Experience of delivering education to healthcare staff and patients / carers via workshops, informal discussion or formal lectures
• Experience of preparing documents for clinical governance groups and presenting these to a committee
• Experience of leading on audit and producing reports
• Experience of mentoring, supervision and line management
• The ability to work under pressure, to deadlines where there are conflicting priorities.

Desirable

• Experience of delivering training programmes
• Experience of influencing, negotiating and implementing change in practice

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).