Job responsibilities
The post holder will work within their clinical competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines optimisation. 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
- Achievement of QOF and locally commissioned quality improvement schemes
- Clinical audit
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 Primary Care Pharmacy Education 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 Practice/PCN). 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 work within your scope of practice as a non-medical prescriber to implement any necessary changes (or produce recommendations for/refer to other prescribing pharmacists, nurses and/or GPs to implement if outside your scope). 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 Practice/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 the practice, streamlining these where possible.
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 the practice has a robust repeat prescribing policy. 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.
Support pharmacist and pharmacy technician colleagues in their development.
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 the PCN & Practice Senior Clinical Pharmacists.
Participate in the PCN MDT.
Liaise with the other local PCN and Practice Clinical Pharmacy teams to benefit from peer support.
Liaise with 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 GP clinical mentor 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.
The post-holder is likely to need to visit patients in their own home.
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.
23.Equality and Diversity
The post-holder must co-operate with all policies and procedures designed to ensure equality of employment. Co-workers, patients and visitors must be treated equally irrespective of gender, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion etc
24.Respect for Patient Confidentiality
The post-holder should respect patient confidentiality at all times and not divulge patient information unless sanctioned by the requirements of the role.
