LS25/26 PCN Clinical Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

Purpose of the role

To support the South & East Leeds General Practice Group Practices with all aspects of medicines optimisation.

The post holder will work within their clinical competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines optimisation across the PCN. This will include structured medication reviews with direct patient contact and may include contributing to:

Management of long-term conditions

Minor illness

Management of medicines on transfer of care

Reviewing systems for safer prescribing

Contributing to repeat prescription authorisations and reauthorisation

Actioning acute prescription requests

Addressing both the public health and social care needs of patients

Contributing to achievement of QOF and locally commissioned quality improvement schemes

Undertaking clinical audit

The specifics of the role in each PCN will be worked up between the post-holder, the PCN and SEL GP Group.

The post holder will be supported by existing practice employed pharmacists within the PCN (where these exist), a GP clinical mentor and the head of clinical pharmacy for SEL GP Group. They will also engage with pharmacy colleagues across Leeds for peer support.

The post holder will be supported to develop their role to become a non-medical prescriber, if that qualification is not already held, and will be required to enrol on the General Practice Pharmacist Training Pathway from CPPE unless an equivalent qualification is already held or exemption is agreed by CPPE.

Key duties and responsibilities

(Please note this is a list of options, it is not exhaustive, which options are deployed will be decided by the individual PCN, in conjunction with the clinical pharmacist and SEL GP Group). It is however mandated by NHS England that this role is patient-facing in nature.

1. Patient facing Clinical Medication Review

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring. These reviews could be cohort based, in care homes, polypharmacy or any other area required by the PCN, within the pharmacists competence. Home visits may be required.

2. Medicines quality improvement

Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the PCN, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the relevant practice team.

Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups

3. Medicines safety

Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

4. Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments

Managing caseload of 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 or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

5. Patient facing medicines support

Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their

medicines in the practice.

6. Telephone medicines support

Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their

medicines.

7. Management of medicines at change of care setting

Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospital or admission to intermediate care or 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).

8. Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines. Suggest and recommend solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

9. Drug monitoring

Ensure robust systems are in place for drug monitoring at each practice across the PCN, streamlining these where possible. Understand and apply the traffic light classifications for prescribing in the Leeds Health Economy.

10. 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.

11. Repeat prescribing

Ensure each practice in the PCN has a robust repeat prescribing policy, and streamline these across the PCN where possible. You may be asked to contribute to the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring in place when required.

12. 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).

13. Information management

Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.

14. Education and Training

Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines

optimisation.

15. Care Quality Commission

Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

16. Public health

Support public health campaigns. Provide specialist knowledge on all public health

programmes available to the general public.

17. Collaborative working arrangements

Work collaboratively with their PCN Clinical Director.

Participate in the PCN MDT.

Liaise with the Leeds GP Confederation Clinical Pharmacy team to benefit from peer support.

Liaise with CCG Medicines Commissioning colleagues on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit

Engage with the Leeds Practice Pharmacist and Technician Network and with the other SEL GP-employed pharmacists for peer support.

Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks.

Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and

sustain such relationships.

Liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients,including but not limited to :

Patients and their representatives

GP, nurses and other practice staff

Social prescribers, first contact physiotherapists, physicians associates and paramedics.

Community pharmacists and support staff

Locality / GP prescribing lead

Locality managers

Community nurses and other allied health professionals

Hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation

18. Professional development

Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the role and responsibilities.

Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety.

Work with your line manager to access regular clinical supervision, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.

Review yearly progress and develop clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others. Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes.

Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keep up to date with relevant clinical practice.

19. Research and Evaluation

Critically evaluate and review literature.

Identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice.

Generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.

Apply research evidence base into the workplace.

20. Health and Safety/Risk Management

Must comply at all times with the Health and Safety policies, in particular following safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting Systems

Comply with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

21. Special working conditions

The post holder is required to travel independently between work sites and to attend meetings etc hosted by other agencies.

The post-holder will have contact with body fluids, i.e. wound exudates, urine etc while in clinical practice.

22.Miscellaneous

Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.

Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner.

Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility.

The post-holder is likely to need to visit patients in their own home.

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable experience as an established foundation-level pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice portfolio
• Experience and an awareness of the breadth of common acute and long-terms conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• Demonstrates ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams and community groups
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations

Qualifications

Essential

• Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Demonstrates and understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice.
• Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management

Desirable

• Holds or working towards an independent prescribing qualification
• Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy
• Successful completion of the CPPE General Practice Pharmacist Training Pathway

Other requirements

Essential

• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
• Adaptable
• Evidence of being a great team-player
• Self Motivation
• Safeguarding and other mandatory training
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes

Desirable

• Immunisation status

Personal qualities and attributes

Essential

• Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from all communities
• Demonstrates use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues, and other professionals, other NHS/private organisations, e.g. CCGs)
• Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals
• Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Able to provide leadership and to finish work tasks
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships and to promote collaborative practice with all colleagues
• Demonstrates personal accountability, emotional resilience and works well under pressure
• Ability to organise, plan and prioritise on own initiative, including when under pressure and meeting deadlines
• High level of written and oral communication skills
• Ability to work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team or on own initiative
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety

Desirable

• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision

Professional registration

Essential

• Mandatory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

• Membership Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA)
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Skills and knowledge

Essential

• Demonstrable experience as an established foundation-level pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice portfolio
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information.
• Able to gain acceptance for recommendations and influence/motivate/persuade the audience to comply with the recommendations/agreed course of action where there may be significant barriers
• Able to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol.
• Understand the principles of research governance

Desirable

• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
• Able to plan, manage, monitor and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions

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).