Consultant Pharmacist, Breast Cancer

Job responsibilities

The post is primarily structured around four main functions:

Expert Professional Practice Leadership and Management Education, Training and mentoring Research, Evaluation and Service Development

Expert Professional Practice

To be recognised as the pharmacy professional lead and expert clinical practitioner in support of the breast cancer disease group

Lead expert pharmacy support including the development of trust policy, protocols and SOPs relating to SACT and breast cancer

To appropriately manage difficult and ambiguous problems, managing uncertainty, and to make decisions with limited information.

Responsible for the clinical management of a caseload of patients in the breast cancer disease group under the clinical supervision of the lead consultant clinical/medical oncologist

The Consultant Pharmacist will be an integral member of 2 different breast cancer clinics within the Trust that each occur on a weekly basis including:

1. Medical Oncology Breast Cancer clinicThe Consultant Pharmacist will be embedded within the medical oncology clinical team to review patients with early and advanced breast cancer. They will be responsible for a patient case load including new patients, prescribing SACT from cycle 1, consenting patients to treatment and managing those more complex patients through their treatment and will involve demonstration of effective critical thinking, clinical reasoning and decision making where there is uncertainty, competing and/or complex clinical issues.

2. Pan-alliance HER2 positive Early Breast Cancer Clinic (Thursday am)The Consultant Pharmacist will be responsible for a patient case load and work within a Pan-Alliance centralised service managing patients with HER2 positive Early Breast Cancer across Greater Manchester and Cheshire. This will involve management of this patient cohort including undertaking new patient consultations, prescribing SACT from cycle 1, consenting patients to treatment, requesting and analysing appropriate pre/on-treatment assessments such as ECGs, Echocardiograms, Nuclear Medicine Glomerular Filtration rate estimation, CT and MRI scans as appropriate, reviewing patients throughout treatment, making treatment recommendations to General Practitioners, referring patients to alternative teams and services both within the organisation and across organisational boundaries ie: to surgical sites and discharging patients.

Fulfil the role of Consultant Pharmacist, providing leadership for the pharmaceutical aspects of SACT use in the Trust. Provide information and advice on therapeutic and cost-effectiveness measures and guide doctors and other prescribers in the composition of appropriate drug treatments for individual patients in accordance with guidance from NICE, Trust Policy and other guidelines.

Fulfil the role of expert pharmacy practitioner for patients requiring SACT therapy, developing and evaluating pharmaceutical care for patients across the Trust and beyond.

Whilst clinical screening of prescriptions is part of every pharmacists responsibility, the Consultant postholder will have a greater focus on training more junior pharmacists in the clinical screening of breast cancer prescriptions and expanding the role of pharmacy technicians as they embark on clinical screening as supported by the UK SACT passport. The Consultant will also play a major role in the development of clinical protocols and algorithms in support of the iCheck iQEMO Clinical Decision Support Systems and Artificial Intelligence screening project.

Additionally, the Consultant will act as an expert resource in field providing advice to pharmacists on treatment plans involving SACT in complex patients both within the Trust and at other satellite Trusts and nationally. They will support the development and expansion of clinical pharmacy technician screening in breast cancer and the development of enhanced technician roles within breast cancer clinics.

To practice as an Independent Prescriber as appropriate, within the organisation's policy for non-medical prescribing.

As a prescriber, provide a clinical service for patients requiring SACT agents and liaise with other colleagues where appropriate, including the provision of outpatient clinics as part of the MDT. This will require very advanced skills and may include complex caseloads.

As an independent prescriber, ensure appropriate treatment plans, provide dose adjustment, advice and prescriptions for SACT medication. Including recording relevant biochemistry results in patient medical records, recording action plans, and adjusting doses to account for renal or liver dysfunction or other toxicities. This may be for treatments with a narrow therapeutic range requiring therapeutic effect monitoring.

Complete referrals as appropriate to ascertain relevant information to inform treatment plans and holistic patient management.

To provide complex information and highly specialised advice to patients and their carers to support the use of SACT agents and other related medication as required, in an appropriate format tailored to their needs, including written and verbal information

Conduct consultations with patients and their carers ensuring clear and unambiguous communication to facilitate shared decision making and collaborative treatment plans.

Review prescriptions, challenge treatment choices and communicate highly complex drug and therapeutic information to senior clinicians, senior managers and other professionals in order to influence treatment options and ensure compliance with medicines legislation and avoid errors and side effects.

Participate in multidisciplinary/ pre-clinic meetings and provide highly specialist advice to senior clinicians on drug treatments for individual patients, applying critical analysis skills, professional knowledge and judgement where information is lacking or opinion is divided to influence medical consultants on the management of pharmaceutically complex cases, outside and beyond any national guidelines. Be able to conduct an open discussion when advice is challenged.

Implement new SACT treatment protocols for specialised disease group

Approve SACT regimens on chemotherapy prescribing systems.

Support and provide advice on clinical trials for breast cancer disease group patients

To ensure that all high-cost SACT in use for individual patients is commissioned for the indication in question (i.e. via cancer drug fund, NICE approvals, baseline NHS England commissioned), and provide advice on this to medical and nursing colleagues when required.

Provide all of the above clinical pharmacy services to delivery of SACT in outreach and peripheral satellite locations and homecare for patients in line with the strategic development of the network service for oncology. This may include both off-site working and remote support depending on the service requirements.

Support the disease group consultants to produce Drugs and Therapeutics Committee applications, SACT regimen protocols, drive clinical trials and provide education and training to pharmacy colleagues related to the disease group

Provide clinical supervision to other advanced pharmacists in the disease group and in support of other clinical specialties

Document any actions appropriately in the patients notes and ensure appropriate communication to other healthcare professionals.

Work in occasionally unpleasant and emotionally sensitive ward and outpatient conditions and interact with occasionally aggressive, emotional and distressed patients, carers and staff.

To ensure compliance with all relevant medicines legislation and professional standards

To ensure that patient and staff confidentiality is maintained at all times

Please refer to the attached Job Description for full duties and responsibilities

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent
• Pharmacist registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Postgraduate diploma in clinical pharmacy or equivalent
• Independent Prescriber in advanced oncology pharmacy practice with previous experience of managing SACT for breast cancer patients, including the training and supervision of other advanced pharmacists in prescribing clinics
• Meet the requirements of the RPS Faculty cancer care expert professional practice curriculum
• Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS)
• Membership of the British Oncology Pharmacy Association
• Demonstrated ability to work at Doctorate level
• Credentialed as a consultant pharmacist with the RPSGB (or consultant-ready awaiting appointment to an approved post) is an essential requirement for appointment at Consultant status.
• A majority of competencies in each of the expert professional practice, collaborative working relationships and leadership clusters at the highest level (mastery) as defined in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Advanced Pharmacy Framework (APF)
• A majority of the competencies in each of the management, education, training and development and research and evaluation clusters at the Advanced Stage II as defined in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Advanced Pharmacy Framework (APF)

Desirable

• Post Graduate qualification in Clinical Oncology, HaemOnc, or Clinical Research
• Management, leadership or quality improvement training
• DPharm, PhD or undertaking study at doctorate level

Expert Professional Practice

Essential

• Extensive clinical pharmacy experience within Cancer services
• Evidence of ability to plan complex pharmaceutical care programmes for patients
• Demonstrates application of critical evaluation skills in the context of working practice
• Able to demonstrate ability to apply research and evidence-based practice within the team and/or service
• Able to demonstrate ability to make decisions in the absence of evidence or data or when there is conflicting evidence or data.
• Demonstrates accountability for the delivery of professional expertise at a defined higher level.
• Ability to work in a pressured environment, with an unpredictable workload
• Demonstrates awareness of and commitment to the clinical governance agenda
• Understanding of health economics
• Expert IT skills

Desirable

• Experience of using chemotherapy e-prescribing systems (iQemo, Chemocare or equivalent)
• Experience in the management of pharmacy clinical trials, including GCP

Collaborative Working Relationships

Essential

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Experience of working successfully with a range of stakeholders outside NHS structure eg. industry, service users, Higher Education institutions.
• Ability to analyse, interpret and communicate highly complex clinical and technical information in an informative manner to a wide range of individuals which may be in challenging circumstances
• Team player but also able to work autonomously

Desirable

• Experience of work at national level (development of policies, strategies, national guidelines etc)
• Demonstrable high level understanding of current issues on cancer services and clinical trials

Leadership

Essential

• Highly developed leadership skills
• Experience of leadership skills in highly complex projects and change management skills
• Proven experience of working at a strategic level across healthcare geographies and the wider health community
• Demonstrable experience of change management at a senior pharmacy level
• Excellent interpersonal, negotiating and influencing skills. Able to convince others to share the vision at a higher level.
• Ability to engage, motivate and lead a wide range of professionals
• Inspires confidence and positive role model
• Demonstrates values and behaviours in line with Christie Trust values and behaviours framework

Desirable

• Demonstrates ability to extend the boundaries of the service across more than one team.

Management

Essential

• Proven medicines and risk related policy development, service development, implementation and project management
• Demonstrates ability to horizon scan and forecast in relation to developments in Oncology
• Demonstrates accountability for the delivery of professional expertise at a defined higher level
• Proven ability to respond and shape resources (financial, people) to deliver strategic priorities
• Demonstrates ability to successfully manage a project at team, and/or service level, prioritise and meet deadlines
• Use skills to manage difficult and dynamic situations
• Report and business case writing for a Board level audience

Desirable

• Proven track record of budget management or monitoring ability and demonstrable success in identifying and achieving savings
• Experience of staff management and implementation of Trust HR policies
• Demonstrates ability to successfully manage a project at regional level
• Financial planning
• Demonstrates understanding of culture and climate and ability to plan with the whole of the organisation in mind

Education, Training & Development

Essential

• Experience of designing, delivering and evaluating education programmes to both pharmacy and non-pharmacy professionals.
• Demonstrates ability to influence and educate at a high level
• Demonstrates ability to effectively mentor others within the team and/or service
• Facilitates the professional development of others.
• Participates in education and training in an external environment.
• Ability to interpret national policy to design strategies for local workforce planning
• Committed to life-long learning

Desirable

• Formal teaching/training qualification

Research & Evaluation

Essential

• Evidence of involvement in research activities eg. advanced audits, quality improvement projects, poster presentations or publications including multidisciplinary collaboration
• Demonstrates ability to establish new multidisciplinary links to conduct research projects
• Demonstrates application of critical evaluation skills in the context of working practice

Desirable

• Evidence of peer reviewed publications
• Quality improvement training

Other

Essential

• Required to work unsocial hours (on a rota basis with other team members), including evenings, weekends, Bank Holidays and on-call
• Required to work at any site that treats Christie patients across the local cancer network

Desirable

• Driving licence and access to a car

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).