Job summary
Job Summary
We are looking to expand our pharmacy team and would welcome a Clinical Pharmacist to join us, working alongside our existing team Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians The post holder will be employed by Willows Health and will work within our local city practices.
Main duties of the job
You will take responsibility for medicines management, clinical medication reviews, improving prescribing processes, audits and patient/drug safety alerts. The post holder will be the primary support to general practice staff with regards to chronic disease management, drugs monitoring, medication queries, acute requests and helping to support the wider team with medicines and prescription systems.
Main duties of the job
The post holder is a pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of pharmacists in general practice as part of an MDT. In this role they will be supported by senior clinical pharmacists who will develop, manage and mentor them.
The post holder will take responsibility for areas of chronic disease management within the practice and undertake holistic clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.
The post holder will provide primary support to general practice staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. They will help 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 GP practice(s).
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.
The post holder will ensure 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 post-holder will be expected to contribute to the seasonal vaccination programmes, of which the practice has served the community extremely well with in-house clinics.
About us
Willows Health is Leicester Citys largest primary healthcare provider continuously striving to deliver high quality care. Consisting of 11 sites covering across Leicestershire and caring for over 60,000 patients. The post-holder would be working within a practice that prides itself on supporting our patients and our staff. Willows Health take pride in providing a supportive and nurturing environment for its team in which personal and professional development are central to our ethos. Willows health are leaders in digital health, medical education and are also a recognised NIHR research site and we welcome all members of our team to take part in exciting and innovative projects. Willows Health are an ambitious and innovative organisation looking to develop services for our patients and provide opportunities for our staff to learn and grow.
We are looking for full time staff to join our team and can facilitate flexible working, to include Monday-Friday and accommodate some home working. If you are passionate about supporting people and developing your career in primary care then please consider joining our friendly team.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma). Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking, ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring.
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacists, nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.
- Managing caseload for 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.
- Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
- Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
- Answers all medicinerelated 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.
- 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.
- To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals or intermediate care and upon admission to 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).
- 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.
- Produce and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates; flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.
- 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.
- To have an overview of the Eclipse prescribing system to be able to support practices with completion of the Eclipse RADAR alerts that will improve and enhance the safety of patient care, improve education of healthcare professionals, and reduce emergency admissions.
- 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).
- Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making.
- Undertake simple audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team. Contribute to national and local research initiatives.
- Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
- 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). Assist practices in seeing and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system. Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.
- Provide education and training to primary healthcare teams on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
- Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
- To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to general public.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma). Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking, ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring.
- Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacists, nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.
- Managing caseload for 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.
- Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
- Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
- Answers all medicinerelated 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.
- 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.
- To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals or intermediate care and upon admission to 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).
- 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.
- Produce and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates; flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.
- 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.
- To have an overview of the Eclipse prescribing system to be able to support practices with completion of the Eclipse RADAR alerts that will improve and enhance the safety of patient care, improve education of healthcare professionals, and reduce emergency admissions.
- 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).
- Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making.
- Undertake simple audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team. Contribute to national and local research initiatives.
- Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
- 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). Assist practices in seeing and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system. Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.
- Provide education and training to primary healthcare teams on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
- Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
- To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to general public.
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- 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.
- Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills.
Desirable
- In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare.
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree in M-Pharm
- Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) which includes revalidation
Desirable
- Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
- A member of or working towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- 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.
- Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills.
Desirable
- In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare.
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree in M-Pharm
- Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) which includes revalidation
Desirable
- Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
- A member of or working towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
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.
