Job responsibilities
Primary roles and responsibilities of
PCN pharmacists
The PCN Clinical Pharmacist will:
work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a
patient facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using their expert
knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas;
be a prescriber, or completing training to
become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team;
be responsible for the care management of
patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to
proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially the elderly,
people in care homes, those with multiple co-morbidities (in particular
frailty, COPD and asthma) and people with learning disabilities or autism
(through STOMP Stop Over Medication Programme);
provide specialist expertise in the use of
medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care
needs of patients at the PCNs practice(s) and to help in tackling
inequalities;
provide leadership on person-centred medicines
optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the practice conserve
antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality
improvement, whilst contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and
enhanced services;
through structured medication reviews, support
patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and
promote selfcare;
have a leadership role in supporting further
integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including
community and hospital pharmacy) to help improve patient outcomes, ensure
better access to healthcare and help manage general practice workload;
develop relationships and work closely with
other pharmacy professionals across PCNs and the wider health and social care
system;
take a central role in the clinical aspects of
shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with
specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate
antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community
pharmacists and anticoagulation.
Key aspects of PCN
pharmacist role
Patient facing role undertaking face to face medications
reviews for:
patients on complex polypharmacy with long term
conditions
housebound patients
specific disease areas identified as a priority area
within the PCN
Review patients with single or multiple medical
problems where medicine optimisation is required.
Review on-going need for each medicine, assess monitoring
requirements and support patients to ensure treatment is safe, appropriate
and optimised for maximum clinical benefit.
Discuss recommendations and outcomes with relevant
members of the PCN team and provide appropriate and timely follow up.
Support patients to optimise medicines by providing additional
written patient information leaflets, and liaise with community pharmacists
about the need for special requirements to aid adherence.
Management of Common/Minor/Self-Limiting Ailments
Support practices in improving patient access for minor
ailments and acute presentations.
Promote the importance of self-care and signpost patients
to community pharmacies in line with national guidance on over the counter
medicines.
Medicines Information to Practice Staff and Patients
Support relevant medicine-related enquiries from the
practice team, PCN team, community pharmacists and patients.
Update practice teams at weekly meetings on current
medicines related information and issues with a view to educating and
improving prescribing within the practice.
Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to practice
staff regularly to highlight prescribing issues.
Communicate recommended
actions relating to medication and medical device safety alerts.
Medicines Reconciliation
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.
Commissioned improvements for QIPP and medicines
optimisation
Support
the practice and the PCN in delivering the outcomes as required in the medicines section of the Clinical
Commissioning Contract
Signposting
Ensure that patients are
referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for specialist referral,
monitoring and/or referred to the social prescriber for further support
services where required.
Repeat Prescribing
Review, implement and support adherence to the
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 patients needing a
review.
Ensure patients on repeat prescriptions have the required
monitoring and assessments undertaken as appropriate to their condition(s)
and medicines prescribed.
Clinical Governance
Communicate, action and support implementation of
MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and other local and national guidelines and
formulary recommendations.
Undertake clinical audits in priority areas
identified by the CCG medicines management team or within the PCN and
feedback results to practices and the PCN and support them in implementing
recommendations.
Support practices and PCNs in identifying and
reporting onto NRLS any incidents relating to medicines. Be involved in
investigating medicines incidents and identifying and implementing any
required system improvements.
Support implementation of shared care protocols in
practice, including processes to improve monitoring of high- risk drugs.
Review the use of medicines most commonly associated
with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and
individual patient reviews.
Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm
from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches e.g. using
PINCER and other tools.
Work with the general practice team to ensure the
practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
Education and Training
Contribute to the provision
of education and training on medicines optimisation and specific therapeutic
areas to healthcare professionals within the PCN and to the wider CCG/ICB
geography.
Public Health
To support public health campaigns.
To provide specialist advice on all public health
programmes available to the general public.
General
Undertake any other work supporting medicines
optimisation in GP practices and the PCN commensurate with the banding of the
post and which is agreed between the postholder and the manager
