Senior Pharmacist Medicines Optimisation

Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB PURPOSE

• Responsible for leading and delivering specialist medicines optimisation, clinical, prescribing and pharmaceutical advice to a providers and other partners in Dorset.
• To deliver the ICB medicines optimisation and prescribing strategies to a number of PCNs.
• Lead and develop clinical audit in prescribing and medicines optimisation to demonstrate continuous quality improvement
• Communicate and support delivery of Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) plans.
• Support the drug decision making process across the System as required.
• Support delivery of change and transformation initiatives to meet the needs of the NHS Long Term Plan and NHS Contractual Frameworks

POST SPECIFIC, TASKS AND OBJECTIVES

• The post-holder will engage and collaborate with PCNs, representing the ICB, liaising with and advising Secondary care healthcare professional, GPs, Practice Managers, PCN Business/Project Managers, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, nurses and support staff to provide information and advice on matters related to prescribing and medicines optimisation.

• The post-holder will review and advise on prescribing choices; this may include advice on complex medication regimes for patients to ensure that maximum benefit can be realised.
• The post-holder will be expected to keep up to date with current prescribing advice from organisations such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and its subsidiaries and the local associates and facilitators.
• This role will include analysing and interpreting complex prescribing data at Secondary care, GP practice, PCN and ICB level. Comparison of data across the ICB and within different functions of the ICB will allow triangulation of prevalence, population and prescribing data which will aid interpretation of trends in prescribing within population health management.
• Analysis will be through the ePACT system and other prescribing systems (local and national), and measurement against budgets set by the ICB, and other data sources demographic data available to support the ICB aims of improving health inequality.
• In order to support the Dorset formulary and the drug decision making process, and ensure an evidence-based approach, the post-holder will develop and maintain skills in analysing and interpreting the results of clinical trials and other published evidence on drug use. The post-holder will then draw evidence-based and cost-effective conclusions from such sources of information.
• Much of this information will be highly complex and the outcome may be contentious. Medical opinion may differ widely, and NICE guidance may or may not be available.
• This role will also need to analyse, interpret and understand the impact of key national contracts and guidelines in order to support providers deliver System-wide safety, quality and medicines optimisation agendas.

The post-holder will be required to:

• Plan and organise their own time, this will include remote or home working;
• Facilitate and support transformation of services that involve medicines optimisation in the clinical pathways
• Develop a strategy to assist providers with managing their prescribing costs;
• Work with colleagues to develop audits including consideration of national guidance, priorities in medicines optimisation and on specialist analysis of local and national datasets. Support the implementation of audits and collate and review the results.
• Prepare reports, collate complex data and present evidence to practice or PCN meetings and Medicines Optimisation Group meetings on a regular basis, to a defined deadline;
• Plan for situations which are known and to be able to re-prioritise work to accommodate unexpected situations and interruptions;
• Respond to new demands in the role and to build those responses into sustainable systems and activities;
• Liaise with community pharmacists and commissioners responsible for pharmacy services to maximise utilization of community pharmacies in improving medicines optimisation and prescribing in patients with long term conditions;
• Work within the integrated care system (ICS) to ensure that Structured Medication Reviews (and other elements of the Network Contract DES) are delivered by the PCNs in a consistent and safe way to optimise patient outcomes and support the ICS Polypharmacy agenda.

• The post-holder must be able to travel to locations across the ICB area, and possibly outside the ICB to meet with peers and represent the ICB at meetings and training events.
• Where appropriate, attend national events/conferences as a representative of the ICB and feedback on issues of importance.

The post-holder will:

• Provide highly specialist pharmaceutical advice to providers and healthcare professionals, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, other NMPs and administrative practice staff on the prescribing for patients and clients in various care settings;
• Engage with PCNs regularly on behalf of the Head of Medicines Management to set and agree action points for medicines and prescribing and assess progress towards these actions. In addition, assess GP practice progress in prescribing against budget and their achievements towards incentive and other prescribing targets;
• Engage with providers and support the ICS in the delivery of the use of medicines quality and safety strategy.
• Inform providers of medicines policy, evidence-based advice and optimum medication therapies to maximise patient care within limited resources;
• Keep records of meetings or visits made and the advice given, in the form of auditable reports; By advising other health care professionals the nature of patient client care will be indirect but the advice will have an impact on the way in which medicines are prescribed and managed in Dorset and how other groups of staff deal with medicines.

The post-holder will:

• Contribute to ICB medicines standards and applicable groups to meet safety recommendations and NICE guidance, implement in their own practice and assist providers to implement them;
• Take a pharmaceutical lead in the implementation and audit of NICE guidance or other national best practice, for example contributing to local implementation teams for a NICE Quality Standard or Technology Appraisal and providing professional pharmaceutical advice and input to aid implementation;
• Keep abreast of national guidance and other evidence-based sources of prescribing advice, to update and maintain ICB and Dorset wide prescribing policies and formulary
• Be required to participate in work groups supporting the work programme of the Dorset Medicines Advisory Group, deriving and recommending the development of cost- and clinically-effective drug therapies in response to national guidance or developments in clinical practice;
• Support the delivery of the medicines question service in Dorset;
• Support the assurance of clinical governance in medicines optimisation to providers;
• Support the quality and performance monitoring of ICS and national metrics to ensure patent outcome targets are met and financial balance is maintained.

• The post-holder will contribute to the primary care prescribing budget setting process and aid practices and PCNs in the management of that budget. This will involve monitoring performance against budget on a regular basis using national and local datasets. Current ICB prescribing budgets are in the range of £128 million. The post-holder will contribute to the management of the devolved prescribing budget at PCN level.
• Budget setting will involve horizon scanning for medicines which may have an impact on budgets in the future, and additional cost pressures which may influence prescribing costs such as patent expiries, a move of care into the community or a change in NICE or other clinical guidance.
• The post-holder will monitor the prescribing expenditure in their allocated PCNs or other allocated caseload and advise on prescribing to maintain spend within allocated resources.

• The post-holder will be required to:
• Supervise and provide line management including 1:1s and appraisals to pharmacy technicians.
• Supporting development of team members and sharing learning across the system.

The post-holder will:

• Regularly provide reports on their activity related to prescribing support to the Chief Pharmacist for the purpose of performance management of providers of services to the ICB.
• Review prescribing performance of assigned services.
• Maintain records on prescribing advice given and meetings/visits with providers including reports and action plans agreed.
• Contribute to development and maintenance of the Dorset formulary and the drug decision making processes which underpin this.
• The post holder may act as an associate representative for collating and communicating NICE information.

The post-holder will:

• Regularly develop audits to support their role in improving medicines optimisation;
• Develop, implement and report on audits as part of continuous quality improvement plans.

Please note we reserve the right to extend the closing date or close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible

For further information, please see full Job Description attached.

Person Specification

Skills, Abilities and Knowledge

Essential

• Leadership Skills: demonstrable evidence of leadership competencies in vision, delivery, control and decision making
• Leadership Skills: demonstrable evidence of leadership competencies in understanding and managing context
• Leadership Skills: demonstrable evidence of leadership competencies in emotional intelligence
• Leadership Skills: demonstrable evidence of leadership competencies in relationship building,
• Leadership Skills: demonstrable evidence of leadership competencies in tackling difficult issues
• Leadership Skills: demonstrable evidence of leadership competencies in team and people development
• Management Skills, demonstrable and evidence skills in recruitment and selection
• Management Skills, demonstrable and evidence skills in managing performance.
• Management Skills, demonstrable and evidence skills in financial and risk management
• Management Skills, demonstrable and evidence skills in workforce planning
• Management Skills, demonstrable and evidence skills in coaching and mentoring

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters Degree (or equivalent) in Pharmacy
• Registered pharmacist with GPhC
• Post graduate diploma or equivalent in pharmacy.
• Evidence of continuing professional development that enhances theoretical and practical knowledge

Experience

Essential

• Experience of work in a primary care setting
• Post relevant experience in a commissioning or provider management setting, NHS or other.
• Direct management of a relevant functional or multidisciplinary team.
• Relevant experience in the successful management of change with demonstrable outcomes.
• Relevant experience of managing within a clinical and/or corporate governance setting.
• Relevant experience of working effectively across organisational professional boundaries in complex organisations.

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

NHS Dorset

Address

Vespasian House

Barrack Road

Dorchester

Dorset

DT1 1TG

Employer's website

https://nhsdorset.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)