Job responsibilities
ABOUT THE PCN
Mansfield North PCN is made up of 6 practices and covers a population of approximately 60,000. We work collaboratively with our local health and non-health partners as we believe we can achieve more by working together by harnessing the strengths of all partners. We like to be innovative and try new things and new approaches, reflecting on our actions with a view of continuous improvement.
The care of local people is at the heart of everything we do, and we believe everyone who lives and works in Mansfield can realise their potential to live healthier, happier and more fulfilling lives so that they can start well, live well and age well.
You will be based within Mansfield North PCN which is made up of 6 GP Practices;
- Oakwood Surgery
- Orchard Medical Practice
- Pleasley Surgery
- Sandy Lane Surgery
- Meden Medical Services
- St. Peters Medical Practice
JOB PURPOSE:
To work alongside our existing Senior Clinical Pharmacist working on PCN needs and helping to develop the current Pharmacist Team, to work on PCN Contracts, and to further develop working practices to maximise patient health while reducing the workload of GPs.
The post holder is a Senior Clinical Pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of Clinical Pharmacists in General Practice to develop, manage and mentor them.
The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role. The post holder will take responsibility for areas of chronic disease management within the practices and undertake clinical medication reviews, including structured medication reviews (SMR), monitor electronic repeat dispensing (eRD) prescribing, evaluate prescribing in line with local and national guidelines, review emerging evidence/research and liaise with community pharmacy representatives to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.
The post holder will provide primary support to General Practice Staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. They will help support the repeat prescriptions system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both public and social care needs of patients in the GP practice(s).
The post holder will provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework (QOF) and enhanced services, including the National Contract DES requirements.
The post holder will ensure that the practice(s) integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage workload, which may involve optimising the use of digital technologies. The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice.
The post holder may be working towards or already be a non-medical prescriber but will be supported to develop their scope of practice in line with the needs of the PCN/practice(s) but also their own training needs analysis discussed with their line manager.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:
Patient facing/telephone/video Long-term condition clinics
- See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma). Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to GPs/other clinical colleagues or prescribe autonomously where appropriate for medicine improvement.
Patient facing/telephone/video Clinical Medication Review (including SMR)
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and make appropriate recommendations to GPs/other clinical colleagues or prescribe autonomously where appropriate for medicine improvement. SMRs will be conducted against the PCN plan and in accordance with each practice(s) specific local implementation of that plan.
Patient facing/telephone/video care home medication reviews (including SMR)
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations to GPs/other clinical colleagues on prescribing and monitoring or prescribe autonomously where appropriate. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration. SMRs will be conducted against the PCN plan and in accordance with each practice(s) specific local implementation of that plan.
Patient facing/telephone/video domiciliary clinical medication review (including SMR)
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and make appropriate recommendations to GPs/other clinical colleagues or prescribe autonomously where appropriate for medicine improvement. SMRs will be conducted against the PCN plan and in accordance with each practice(s) specific local implementation of that plan.
SMR
- Lead on the development of the PCN SMR plan working collaboratively with the Clinical Pharmacists, key PCN colleagues such as Care Home Matrons and Dieticians and the ICB Medicines Management Team. Lead on collating progress reports from each practice to feedback to the PCN.
Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments
- Managing caseload for patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence. Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs/other clinical colleagues where appropriate. Working with colleagues (including community pharmacies) to promote the use of the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS).
Patient facing/telephone/video medicines support
- Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
Medicine information to practice staff and patients
- Answer all medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other Practice Staff, other Healthcare Teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines. Suggesting and recommending solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes
Unplanned hospital admissions
- Lead on coordinating at PCN level (where appropriate) and contribute at practice level to review of the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.
Management of medicines at discharge from hospital
- To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge. Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).
Signposting
- Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate Healthcare Professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.
Repeat prescribing
- Produce and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required. Ensure, where appropriate, that electronic repeat dispensing (eRD) systems are used and policies are in place.
Risk stratification
- Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both. These patients will be prioritised for a SMR as per the PCN SMR plan and each practices local implementation of the plan.
Service development
- Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets). Also contribute to further development of and recruitment to the PCN Clinical Pharmacy team including liaison with the PCN Clinical Director and Business Manager and PICS Clinical Pharmacy Programme Lead and Lead Clinical Pharmacist.
Information management
- Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.
Medicines quality improvement
- Lead on coordinating at PCN level (where appropriate) and contribute at practice level to the undertaking of simple audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team.
Medicines safety
- Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance
Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations
- Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys red/amber/green (RAG) list and make recommendations to GPs/other clinical colleagues for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs) or subject to shared care or specialist recommendation/initiation (amber 1 and 2 drugs). Assist practices in seeing and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system. Auditing practices compliance against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.
For more information, please see the supporting documents
