PCN Pharmacist forWell Up North

Job responsibilities

The post holder is a pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside general practice teams.

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. This post will also include an accredited training pathway for pharmacists (the CPPE Clinical pharmacists in General Practice education programme) to enable the post holder to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting.

Primary Duties and Areas of Responsibility

Patient facing

Long-term condition Clinics

See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required. Review the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking, ensuring they get the best use of their medicine. Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.

Clinical Medication Reviews

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring to help support the repeat prescription systems for safer prescribing. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences when appropriate. The post holder will provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.

Unplanned hospital admissions

Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions, through audit and individual patient reviews. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high risk patient groups.

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

To 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. Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to highrisk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines.

Suggesting and recommending solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

Signposting

Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time.

Risk stratification

Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both.

Service development

Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components

Information management

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

Medicines quality improvement

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

Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys RAG list and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs) or subject to shared care (amber drugs).

Audit practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.

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

Education and Training

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

Care Quality Commission

Work with the general practice teams to ensure thepractices are compliant with CQC standards wheremedicines are involved.

Public health

To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.

Collaborative Working Relationships

Recognise the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role in patient care.

Demonstrate use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders.

Demonstrate ability to work as a member of a team.

Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary.

Actively work toward developing and maintaining effective working relationships both within and outside the practices and the PCN.

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

Liaise with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to: Patients; GPs, nurses and other practice staff; CCG pharmacists; community and hospital pharmacy teams; community nurses; optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience Required

Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the

General Pharmaceutical Council.

Minimum of 2 years experience as a pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice portfolio.

Have experience and an awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice.

May hold or be working towards an independent prescribing qualification.

Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate.

Able to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct.

Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines.

NB: it is anticipated level of qualification held may vary according to the level of position and the components of the role being carried out

Leadership

Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace.

Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision.

Engages with Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) and involves PPGs in development of the role and practices.

Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service.

Reviews yearly progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.

Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals.

Promotes diversity and equality in people management techniques and leads by example.

Management

Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or service.

Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation.

Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice.

Demonstrate ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol.

Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management.

Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.

Education, Training and Development

Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team and/or service.

Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process.

Demonstrates ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan with supervision from more experience colleague.

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

Participates in the delivery of formal education programmes.

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

Research and Evaluation

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.

Demonstrates ability to apply research evidence base into working place.

Demonstrates understanding of the principles of research governance.

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).

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.

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.

Special Working Conditions

The post-holder is required to travel independently between practice 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.

Job Description Agreement

This job description is intended to provide an outline of the key tasks and responsibilities only. This description will be open to regular review and may be amended to take into account development within the PCN.

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)

Desirable

• Specialist knowledge acquired through postgraduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience.
• Independent prescriber or
• working towards/intent of
• gaining independent
• prescribing qualification

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years post-qualification experience.
• An appreciation of the nature of GPs and general practices.
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing.

Desirable

• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidencebased healthcare.
• Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions.

Professional Registration

Essential

• Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical
• Council.

Desirable

• Membership of the Royal
• Pharmaceutical Society.
• A member of or working
• towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Skills and abilities

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating
• skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Good IT skills
• Produce timely and informative reports
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate oral and written specialist clinical information
• Able to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• Work effectively independently and as a team member
• Self-Motivation
• Adaptable
• Enthusiastic

Desirable

• Teaching skills

Other

Essential

• Full Driving Licence
• Safeguarding adult and children level three
• Information Governance toolkit completion

Desirable

• Immunisation status
• Basic life support training

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).