Clinical Pharmacist- Wallington PCN

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be responsible for supporting the Sutton Primary Care Networks to provide expert medicine management and optimisation, vaccinating and drawing up vaccines, whilst working within their area of clinical competence and as part of a multi-disciplinary team. They will be supported by a Senior Clinical Pharmacist and others who will develop, manage and mentor them. The role will be patient-facing and pharmacists will be involved in structured medication reviews, including poly-pharmacy reviews, managing chronic long term conditions and managing medications after transfer of care. They will also have access to appropriate clinical supervision.

The post holder will provide support and deliver patient services as determined by the Network Policy as well as local and national guidance. They will also provide leadership on quality improvement and clinical audit, manage some aspects of the Quality and Outcomes Framework and maximise cost-effective prescribing to improve the quality of patient care.

[The post holder will be enrolled on to the 18-month Primary care pharmacy education pathway with the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE). They will also be supported to develop their role to become a non-medical prescriber, if that qualification is not already held]

Clinical Responsibilities

Long-term condition clinics

• Undertake reviews for patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required or an annual review is due (e.g. Respiratory, Cardiovascular or Diabetes).
• Review and advise on the need to continue each medication, review any monitoring requirements and support the patient to ensure they are getting the best use out of their medications.
• Manage own case load of patients, running own long-term condition clinics where appropriate
• See patients in multimorbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines, including de-prescribing.
• Manage own case load, run own long-term condition clinics where responsible for prescribing as an independent prescriber for conditions where medicines have a large component (e.g. medicine optimisation for hypertension, asthma, diabetes and COPD) and where trained to do so.
• Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking.

Clinical Medication Review

• Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients (either patient facing or over the telephone).
• Reduce inappropriate poly-pharmacy and wasteful prescribing.
• Make appropriate recommendations on prescribing and monitoring of medications. Management of medicines post hospital discharge
• Reconcile medications following hospital discharge and outpatient clinics.
• Identify any discrepancies and unexplained medication changes and work with the patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medications they need post discharge.
• Ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients is maintained (e.g. those with compliance aids or those in care homes).

Risk stratification

• Use pre-prepared emis searches to identify cohorts of patients who are on high risk medications (e.g. immunosuppressants, anticonvulsants etc).
• Recall patients who are overdue their routine monitoring tests and inform them to have these tests done as soon as possible.

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.

Implement drug withdrawals and alerts

• Liaise with the GP surgeries to implement MHRA drug withdrawals and medication alerts to improve medicines safety.

Implement local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

• Monitor practice prescribing against local, national and formulary guidelines and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed only by the hospital or subject to shared care agreements.
• Work with GPs and patients to implement NICE and other evidence based guidelines to improve the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of prescribing.

Medicine information to practice staff and patients

• Answer relevant medicine-related queries from GPs, other network staff, healthcare teams (e.g. Community pharmacy) and patients.
• Suggest and recommend solutions and/or possible alternatives e.g. around out of stock medications.

Signposting

Ensure patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional if you are not the correct person to deal with their query/condition.

Medicines quality improvement

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

Education and Training

• Provide education and training to the broader primary healthcare team on medicines optimisation.

Care Quality Commission

• Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

Public Health

• Support public health campaigns and provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.

Other Responsibilities:

• Participate in PCN MDT where appropriate.
• Liaise with CCG colleagues including CCG pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and to benefit from peer support.
• Maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks.
• Explore the potential for collaborative working and take opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.

Liaise 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
• Other members of the medicines management (MM) team including pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians and Dietitians
• GP prescribing leads
• PCN Clinical Directors and other PCN staff
• Practice managers
• Community nurses and other allied health professionals
• Hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation

Responsibility for administration

• Provide regular support and feedback to practices on prescribing action plans
• Update and maintain accurate patient medication records on the practices clinical computer systems, including advice given and action taken.
• Advise the primary health care team on the safe and secure handling of controlled drugs and other medicines, ensuring compliance with medicines legislation.
• Support practices to update and implement their prescribing policies eg repeat prescribing, safe prescribing, polypharmacy, over the counter medications, etc.

This role may evolve to include

• Managing a caseload of patients with common, minor or self-limiting conditions
• Signposting to community pharmacy and referring GPs to other healthcare professionals
• Working on additional pharmacist projects as the PCN scheme matures eg anticoagulation services, diabetes management in the community

National Service Specifications

To assist PCNs in meeting these and any that are added at a later date

• Structured medication review and optimisation
• Enhanced health in care homes and implementation of the Vanguard model
• Anticipatory care for high need patients typically experiencing long term conditions, joined up with community services
• Supporting early cancer diagnosis
• Personalised care, implementation of the NHS comprehensive model
• Tackling neighbourhood inequalities

Communication

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

• Communicate effectively with other team members
• Communicate effectively with patients and carers
• Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.
• Link with other Pharmacists within the PCN, to discuss CPD, service development and effective medicine management for the PCN, while sharing best practice proposals and learning.

Experience

Essential

• -Minimum 2 years post-qualification experience in a hospital, community or general practice setting.
• -Knowledge of the breadth of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• -Experience of collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations
• -Able to undertake medication or medicine use reviews, and offer patient counselling
• -Experience of facilitating change to improve clinical practice
• -Experience in undertaking clinical audit

Desirable

• -Working knowledge of NHS IT.
• -Experience of IT applications in primary care including Emis

Skills & Abilities

Essential

• - Ability to cope with stress
• - In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
• - An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improvement
• - Ability to prioritise and work to deadlines, often with frequent interruptions and urgent requests
• - 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 (e.g. patients)
• - Ability to plan, manage, monitor, advice and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions.
• - Good IT skills
• - Ability 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 seniors or GPs when appropriate
• - Produce timely and informative reports
• - Work effectively, independently and as a team member
• - Build credibility and rapport (personal and organisational) quickly and easily
• - Able to engage rapidly and consistently with
• existing stakeholders and networks

Qualifications

Essential

• -Professional knowledge acquired through vocational masters degree in pharmacy degree
• -Postgraduate diploma (or working towards) or equivalent evidence of clinical knowledge, competence and achievements in practice.
• -Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• -Evidence of commitment to and able to demonstrate CPD including Management qualification /professional development
• -Independent Pharmacist Prescriber accreditation - or willing to work towards.

Desirable

• -Proven post graduate experience as a clinical pharmacist
• -Membership with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
• -Training in safe guarding vulnerable adults and children

Aptitudes

Essential

• - Sympathetic approach to patients & staff.
• - Ability to work well within PCN wider team, supporting and energising staff.
• - Good organisational and planning skills.
• - Ability to resist pressure with confidence
• - Sensitive and supportive
• - Flexible working attitude
• - Well-motivated, conscientious and reliable
• - Can identify own limitations.

Desirable

• - Able to provide support and cross cover at all levels
• - Able to develop local networks

Personal Qualities

Essential

• - Professional and positive.
• - Leading by example
• - Adhering to Sutton PCN Core Values
• - Meet DBS reference standards and have a clear criminal record (not subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974)

Competency Skills

Essential

• - Interpersonal skills self assessment
• - Effective communication skills
• - Pharmacotherapy knowledge
• - Patient and pharmaceutical care
• - Systems-based care and population health
• - Information analysis
• - Patient engagement
• - Continuing professional development
• - Teamwork
• - PCN core values

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).