Clinical Pharmacist

Job responsibilities

Post -Clinical Pharmacist

Salary Grade -Dependant on experience

Reporting to -GP Partner Lead for Pharmacy

Accountable to -Partners

THE PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

General Practice is at the heart of the Health and Social Care system and it is critical to have thriving, sustainable general practices that meet local peoples health needs. The Clinical Pharmacist is instrumental in supporting the practice clinically. This is a key role, intended to support the delivery and development of the pharmacist role in primary care and ensure that we continue to provide high quality, accessible and responsive services to both practices and patients.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

-Acts within professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in general practice.

- Works as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role.

- Takes responsibility for areas of chronic disease management within the practice and undertakes clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.

- Provides primary support to practice staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. (helps 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 practice)

- Provides clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manages some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.

- Ensures that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage workload.

- 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.

- Demonstrates understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision.

- Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service.

Areas of responsibility for all clinical pharmacists

Working with stakeholders

Recognise the relevant key multi-professional stakeholders across the ICS to include, and not limited to, the wider health and social care system.

Identify and develop relationships with the practice team, private providers, the local primary care team, neighbouring PCNs and other key partners to enable good working relationships and promote and share best practice.

Develop networks with local, regional, and national clinical specialist pharmacy interest groups where possible.

Clinical Practice

Provide telephone, domiciliary and face to face medication reviews, and where competent long-term condition reviews and common/ minor/ self-limiting condition management. Priority areas being complex polypharmacy, frailty, asthma, COPD and people with learning disabilities.

Provide face to face and telephone medication expertise.

Be a prescriber or be looking to complete relevant training to become a prescriber.

Through holistic structured medication reviews, support patients with their medication to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care.

Support with medicines reconciliation of hospital discharges and clinic letters

Support the provision of patient care that helps tackle local health inequalities.

Critically appraise complex medicines information and then communicate this to patients, carers, and health care professionals. This includes supporting with medicines information queries.

Review and support the repeat prescribing process to ensure patients are receiving their medication safely.

Maintain comprehensive documentation and records according to legal and local requirements. This includes recording all relevant pharmaceutical information in the patients record and communicating in writing with other health care professionals.

Education and training

Provide training / teaching / education sessions to practice healthcare professionals and administration staff including GPs, Nurses, Pharmacy Technicians and Pharmacists.

Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development activity; working alongside senior clinical pharmacist to identifying areas to develop

Gives support to relevant clinical placements.

Research

Looks for opportunities to contribute to relevant research in collaboration with a range of stakeholders to innovate and improve patient-centred care.

Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and review literature

Demonstrates ability to identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice

Demonstrates ability to generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level eg through clinical audit

Demonstrates ability to apply research evidence base into working place

Leadership and management

Support the medicines optimisation agenda across the PCN to ensure:

Safe and effective prescribing including that related to shared-care.

Implementation of shared decision making

Prompt identification and addressing of medicines related issues

Compliance with relevant medicines legislation

Delivery of antimicrobial stewardship

Quality improvement including medicines-related digital and operational transformation.

Contribute to the delivery of Network Contract DES, quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.

Develop own knowledge and skills with a particular focus on primary care through continuous professional development activity.

Be an active member of the practice team by the attendance and presentation at staff meetings, training sessions, external courses, reflective practice, and clinical supervision.

Clinical governance

Develop and co-ordinate the implementation of relevant clinical audits within the PCN to support improvements in care.

Participate in and promote the recording and discussion of significant learning events.

Support with the cascade of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) to the MHRA and ensure that any drug recalls / alerts are actioned within the PCN.

Equality and diversity

Support a culture that promotes equality and values diversity.

Support the creation of services that meets the needs of all people and communities avoiding unlawful discriminatory behaviour and actions.

Care Quality Commission

To work with general practice team to ensure that practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

Professional autonomy

To be professionally and legally responsible and accountable for all aspects of own work (including non-medical prescribing); maintaining own continuous personal development and professional accreditation as required by the General Pharmaceutical Council.

To work unsupervised and to use own initiative within professional boundaries, for example to initiate, manage and record own meetings as necessary.

Plan and prioritise own workload to ensure an equitable service across all practices and delivery of workplans within the PCN.

Confidentiality

To respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.

Special Working Conditions

The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice sites (where applicable), and to attend meetings etc hosted by other agencies.

The post-holder may have contact with body fluids ie, wound exudates; urine etc while in clinical practice.

Health and Safety/Risk Management

The post-holder must comply at all times with the Practices Health and Safety policies, in particular by following agreed safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting System.

The post-holder will comply with the Data Protection Act (1984) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).

This role profile summarises the main responsibilities and requirements of the role only. The post holder will carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by their line manager in line with the grade / band of the post.

Job Description Agreement

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities only. There may be other duties required of the post-holder commensurate with the position. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the Practice. All members of staff should be prepared to take on additional duties or relinquish existing duties in order to maintain the efficient running of the Practice.

Additional responsibilities

To maintain the confidentiality of any information which comes into your possession regarding patients, employees, services or any other business relating to the organisation.

To undertake any additional duties commensurate with the post and grade, as may be required from time to time, as directed by your line manager.

Professional Registration

Essential

• Mandatory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

• Membership of the Primary Care Pharmacy Association
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Skills & Knowledge

Essential

• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
• An understanding of the role of the clinical pharmacist within a primary care network.
• 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 communicate and create plans and reports
• Able to plan, manage, monitor and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions
• 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
• Understand the principles of research governance

Desirable

• Knowledge and ability to use GP clinical systems

Experience

Essential

• Significant post qualifying experience as a pharmacist

Desirable

• Minimum 2 years' experience of working as a pharmacist within primary care (GP Practice)

Personal Qualities & Attributes

Essential

• Commitment to reducing health inequalities and proactively working to reach people from all communities
• Ability to communicate with a wide range of colleagues from the NHS and other organisations and with patients using appropriate media including good written, and oral communication skills
• Ability to identify and manage risk when working with individuals
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision
• Ability to provide leadership and 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
• Can work flexibly and enthusiastically within a team
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding lone working information governance, and health and safety

Other

Essential

• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
• Self-motivated
• Ongoing up to date safeguarding and other mandatory training
• Immunisation status
• Access to own transport or ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes
• Ability to work in different locations and help to provide cover for absent colleagues, and to take part in an extended working day in line with other general practice colleagues

Qualifications & Training

Essential

• Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy
• Demonstrates understanding of and conforms to, relevant standards of practice
• Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management

Desirable

• Holding an independent prescribing qualification
• Clinical Diploma or significant Clinical Experience

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).