Practice Based Clinical Pharmacist

Job description

Job responsibilities

JOB DESCRIPTION - Practice Based Clinical Pharmacist

Harbourside Family, Clevedon Medical and Heywood Family Practices

REPORTS TO: Practice Manager/Practice Partners as necessary

HOURS: 37.5 per week, permanent position

LOCATION: 2 days a week at Harbourside Family Practice, 2 days a week at Clevedon Medical Centre and 1 day a week at Heywood Family Practice

Job Summary:

The post holder will work with three local practices to provide clinical pharmacist services. The services delivered and their format will be based on a needs assessment and may vary between practices. In this role, they will supported by a Senior Clinical Pharmacist who will develop, manage and mentor them.

The role will be working 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; undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy; and work towards running minor illness clinics.

Main duties

Practices will not require all duties and there will be a strategic plan agreed for each practice.

Medicine information to patients and practice staff:

• Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions and queries about their medications
• Answer medicine-related enquiries from GPs and practice staff

Repeat prescribing:

• Review and propose and action any necessary change to the practices repeat prescribing and medication management policies

• Working with the Prescribing Clerks, manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates; make necessary changes as an Independent Prescriber, and ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required
• Undertake clinical medication reviews as part of regular cycles and opportunistically, including prescribing changes (as an Independent Prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests
• Hold clinics for patients requiring face to face clinical medication reviews i.e. a review of the on-going need for each medicine, a review on monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking
• Perform medication reviews by telephone where appropriate

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital:

• Work within existing practice systems to reconcile medicines following discharge from hospital, intermediate care and into care homes; identify and rectify unplanned changes; manage these changes without referral to the GP; perform a clinical medication review; produce a post-discharge medicines care plan including dose titration and booking of follow-up tests, and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge

Chronic Disease Management

• Provide support to nurses running chronic disease management clinics to answer prescribing and medicines management / review related queries.
• If time available see patients in Chronic Disease management clinics and carry out a review of their condition using national Quality and Outcome Framework templates and guidance

Minor Illness:

• Provide face to face clinics for patients with Minor Illnesses, working within limits of competency, prescribing appropriate medication or referring onto GP where appropriate

CQC

• Work with the practices to ensure they are fully compliant with CQC requirements relating to medication management including identifying and auctioning appropriate patient safety updates etc.

Key working relationships

• Patients
• Senior Pharmacist
• GPs, nurses and other practice staff
• GP prescribing lead
• Prescribing Clerks
• Community pharmacists and support staff
• CCG Practice based pharmacists
• CCG Senior Commissioning Manager for Medicines Management

Responsibilities underpinning the role

• To plan and organise the post holders own workload
• To record, in line with Information Governance Policies and Legislation, personally generated information and use the practice clinical system to record any interaction with patients
• Personally generated information includes records relating to audit, practice procedures and staff training to be stored on the GP practice IT system.
• The clinical system will be used to maintain up to date, detailed records of all work carried out in the practice that involves a patient
• Maintain registration as a Pharmacist and comply with appropriate professional codes
• Maintain and develop professional competence and expertise, keep up to date with medical/ therapeutic evidence and opinion, and local and national service, legislation and policy developments relating to respiratory conditions.
• The post holder will abide by the GP practices operational policies and procedures including Health & Safety, Infection Control, Quality Assurance, Safeguarding Adults & Children, Complaints, Consent and Incident Reporting.

Code of conduct

Pharmacists must comply with the Code of Professional Conduct set by the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Indemnity will be provided by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice

Confidentiality:

• In the course of seeking treatment, patients entrust us with, or allow us to gather, sensitive information in relation to their health and other matters. They do so in confidence and have the right to expect that staff will respect their privacy and act appropriately
• In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the practices as business organisations. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
• Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the GP Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data

Health & Safety:

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the GP Practice Health & Safety Policy, to include:

• Using personal security systems within the workplace according to the GP Practice guidelines
• Identifying the risks involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks
• Making effective use of training to update knowledge and skills
• Using appropriate infection control procedures, maintaining work areas in a tidy and safe way and free from hazards
• Reporting potential risks identified to the GP Practice Manager

Equality and Diversity:

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues, to include:

Acting in a way that recognizes the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with the GP Practice procedures and policies, and current legislation

Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues

Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgmental and respects their circumstances, feelings priorities and rights.

Safeguarding

• The GP Practices are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, adults and young people. We expect all staff to be trained in adult and child safeguarding. This training will equip the post holder with the knowledge of what to do if they have concerns about the welfare of a child or adult

Personal/Professional Development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the Practices as part of this employment, such training to include:

Participation in individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development

Statutory and Mandatory training

Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the GP Practices, and will:

• Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk
• Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision
• Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance
• Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs
• Effectively manage own time, workload and resources

Communication:

The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognize peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly
• Communicate with other NHS Bodies

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Registration with GPhC
• Clinical diploma [or equivalent]
• Independent prescriber

Desirable

• Membership of Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• A member of or working towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Masters degree in pharmacy

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years post qualification experience
• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence based healthcare
• An understanding of the core activities of GPs and general practices
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences
• Is able to plan, manage, monitor advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions.
• Good IT skills
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to the GP when appropriate
• Able to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• Produce timely and informative reports
• 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
• Work effectively independently and as a team member
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision

Other Requirements

Essential

• Self motivation
• Adaptable
• Full driving licence

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

Harbourside Family Practice

Address

2 Haven View

Portishead

Bristol

BS20 7QA

Employer's website

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