Job responsibilities
Communication
Accountable for ensuring the Pharmacy Department communicates effectively within the Trust and with external partners and agencies.
Ensures medication errors and adverse drug reactions are reported and investigated.
Ensure national and local safety alerts, warnings, advice and information about medicines are effectively handled by the Trust.
Provide, receive and analyse highly complex and sensitive information at very senior level in the Trust.
External relations
Represent the Trust in pharmaceutical and other matters involving external organisations (Department of Health, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Professional Royal Colleges such as Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health).
Advise on pharmaceutical aspects of healthcare at home and on sharing care with primary, secondary and commercial care providers.
Liaise with and contribute to national and international organisations with interests in paediatric drug therapy.
Liaise with professional staff in other Trusts, health authorities, committees and bodies over matters concerning the Trust and pharmacy services or drug therapy.
Analytical skills
Interpret national legislation on all aspects of medicines and their management and provide expert advice to the Trust Board on pharmaceutical matters through the Medical Director, Chief Executive and Clinical Quality Assurance Committee.
Advise the Trust on pharmacy and medicines law and ethics, medicines management and Optimisation.
Advise the Trust on risk management issues relating to the use of medicines and pharmaceutical aspects of litigation involving the Trust.
Planning and organising skills
Planning of pharmaceutical services, taking into account
- national strategic direction for pharmaceutical services and the NHS in general;
- interpretation of broad national guidance and legislation;
- professional and scientific developments;
- new technologies;
- assessed needs of patients, pharmacy staff,
- Clinical Divisions, CCGs and NHSE plus other commissioning bodies
- Regional Health Authorities;
- Trust's business plans.
Ensure active dissemination of information on medicines and that the availability of expertise from the Trust is maximised.
Responsibility for patient/client care
Actively involve pharmacy and its staff in the delivery of Clinical Governance, in accordance with agreed trust-wide strategy; including participation in Clinical Governance activities at ward, Divisional and trust level.
Ensure all aspects of pharmacy service exceed any agreed national or trust minimum standard and that where this is not the case it is identified through the appropriate Trust committee.
Implement and monitor national initiatives and directives, such as NICE guidance, NHSE Patient Safety Alerts, DoH guidance and MHRA drug recalls and alerts.
Ensure errors, complaints and incidents are managed within the Trusts guidelines. For incidents relating to medicines the postholder has specific accountability to ensure monitoring and organisation learning take place.
Ensure pharmacy services are equipped to pro-actively influence safe and cost-effective drug therapy in conjunction with clinical staff. This requires that practice is evidence based and staff appropriately trained. Pharmacy has a specific accountability for providing a risk assessment on the use of all unlicensed medicinal products.
Ensure that the childrens views are accounted for in the planning and implementation of service delivery.
Contribute to planning and delivery of medicines management training for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.
Act as a role model for other pharmacists.
Keep up to date with developments in paediatric practice across the disciplines of medicine, surgery and neonatology. Maintain expert knowledge of developments in health service planning, finance, infection control and risk management.
Provide expert clinical advice to Trust staff and to expert committees within the Trust and Regional Health Authority and to national and international agencies.
Review national and local guidelines and determine the Trust response.
Provide expert advice on adverse reactions, drug dose, safety, administration and formulation.
Accountable for personal professional activity and ensuring maintenance of standards by other pharmacy staff.
Responsibility for policy/service development
Contribute to the development and review of the Trust strategic plans.
Contribute to the development and implementation of national strategies including goals and standards, especially for paediatric pharmacy; the development andincreased availability of safe and effective medicines for children; medicines legislation; national service frameworks and patient safety.
Contribute to developments in clinical pharmacy and education.
Agree a local delivery plan/business plan with the medical director, Divisional Clinical Directors and Associate COOs which takes into account demand for services, trends, developments, resources and the Trust's strategic direction.
Agree service level provision with Clinical directors and the Medical Director.
Responsibility for financial and physical resources
Accountable for ensuring that pharmacy services (procurement, supply, preparative and information) are cost-effective and provided within allocated budget.
Budget holder for Drugs; Commercial Homecare and Medical Gases, responsible for
- ensuring the cost effective use of drug budget resources within the Trust and across the CCG interface;
- identifying pressures and cost improvements; agreeing budget with Clinical Divisions
- identifying and resolving pressures with local commissioners.
Liaise with commissioners and Director of Finance or deputy and agree the annual budget for drugs.
Agree the Trusts drug budget with Divisional Clinical Directors and the Director of Finance or deputy and liaise with the Pharmacy purchasing manager to monitor performance against budget.
Participate in setting the pharmacy service budget.
Be an authorised signatory for Alder Hey Childrens NHS FT in line with Standing Financial Instructions
- for drugs to the value of £100,000
- other items/services to the value of £5,000
Provide direction and advice to the Head of Pharmacy, Consultant/Divisional Pharmacists and senior finance personnel in the analysis and annual review of the drug budget and budget setting processes.
Develop and maintain links with the staff of other Trusts, purchasing authorities and contractors; develop contract income for the Trust and obtain maximum benefit from commercial contracts for medicines and related services
Maximise the potential for income generation by the pharmacy service.
Develop, implement and monitor commercial homecare contracts for medicines and related services to ensure that the Trust and its patients gain maximum benefit.
Responsibility for human resources
Liaise with the Human Resources director and external agencies over the strategy for training, recruitment and retention of professional pharmacy staff.
Facilitate high quality teaching, training and dissemination of information, liaising with the Universities or other academic or teaching institutions.
Foster a culture of lifelong learning, to include provision of pre and post-registration training, continuing professional education/development and vocational training of all pharmacy staff.
Teaching
Participate in the planning, organisation and delivery of teaching in paediatric pharmacy and pharmacotherapy locally, nationally and internationally.
Teach and promote paediatric pharmacy and the concept of better medicines for children whenever possible.
Training
Ensure that pharmacy staff have appropriate training and education.
Participate in Continuing Professional Development as required by the General Pharmaceutical Council of Great Britain.
Contribute to planning and delivery of medicines management training for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals.
Responsibility for information resources
Accountable for electronic information systems in pharmacy, prescribing and medicines information.
Provide reports on all aspects of medicines management to executive team and Board via the Drug and Therapeutics Committee, Clinical Quality Steering Group, Clinical Quality Assurance Committee.
Responsibility for research and development
Assist in the development and implementation of a Research and Development strategy in pharmacotherapy to maximise the Trust's potential.
Support the development and delivery of the PMRU research agenda
Strategic planning of pharmaceutical research taking into account local and national priorities and resources.
Ensure the Pharmacy Department has an active and relevant research programme through the identification and leadership of research themes and funding resources
Ensure all clinical trials involving medicines within the Trust are fully compliant with currently accepted best practice through controls Assurance and Medicines for Human Use (clinical trials) regulations.
Responsible for directing the research activity of pharmacy staff and ensuring that results are disseminated and applied.
Undertake personal research collaborating with other Trust staff, local, national and international partners.
Support the research activity of other professionals in the Trust and provide expert advice on the design and conduct of research involving medicines.
Provide expert advice on legal, technical and indemnity issues of drug trials or research.
Develop audit processes within the pharmacy service to ensure that legal, professional and service requirements are met.
Provide expert advice to the Clinical Audit department on medicines management and assist in ensuring that audit recommendations are implemented.
