GP Clinical Pharmacist - Primary Care Network

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main duties and responsibilities:

Job Summary:

To ensure that medicines management processes within the practice are optimised to achieve highly effective, safe and patient centred prescribing.

To undertake patient consultations with a focus on groups of patients with potential medication issues.

To engage in shared learning with other clinical practice pharmacists working in associated local practices to support the development of this role within the practice.

Job Responsibilities:

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital.

To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes; identify and rectify unexplained 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. 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). Work in partnership with hospital colleagues (e.g. care of the elderly doctors and clinical pharmacists) to proactively manage patients at high risk of medicine-related problems before they are discharged to ensure continuity of care.

Risk stratification

Design, development and implementation of computer searches to identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines. Work with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks through medicines optimisation.

Unplanned hospital admissions

Work with case managers, multidisciplinary (health and social care) review teams, hospital colleagues and virtual ward teams to manage medicines-related risk for readmission and patient harm. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.

Repeat prescribing

Assist the Senior Clinical Pharmacist in reviewing, updating and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy. Assist the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates; make necessary changes and ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.

Telephone and patient facing medicines support

Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines. Hold clinics for patients requiring face-toface structured medication reviews (SMRs) i.e. a review of the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking.

Medication review

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy and implement changes

Care home medication reviews

Manage own caseload of care home residents. Undertake structured medication reviews with patients with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy and implement changes and order relevant monitoring tests. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

See patients in multi-morbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines, including de-prescribing. Run own longterm condition clinics for conditions where medicines have a large component (e.g. medicine optimisation for stable angina symptom control, warfarin monitoring and dose adjustment for patients requiring longterm anticoagulants).

Cost saving programmes

Assist the Senior Clinical Pharmacist in making recommendations and implement changes to medicines designed to save on medicine costs where a medicine or product with lower acquisition cost is now available.

Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff and patients with queries about medicines. Suggesting and recommending solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

Medicines quality improvement

Assist the Senior Clinical Pharmacist in identifying areas of prescribing requiring improvement. Either conduct own audits and improvement projects or work with colleagues such as GP registrars. Contribute to national and local research initiatives.

Training & Shared Learning

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

Facilitate shared learning across clinicians within the practice on medication related issues.

To engage in share learning with other clinical pharmacists and technicians working in associated local practices, to support the development of this role within the practice.

Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys Red/Amber/Green/Grey lists for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors or subject to shared care. Liaise directly with hospital colleagues where prescribing needs to be returned to specialists. Based on consideration of the contents of the Gloucestershire Joint Formulary, assist the practice in setting and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system. Suggest and develop computer decision support tools to help remind prescribers about the agreed formulary choice and local recommendations. Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Proactively provide internal communications on important prescribing messages to improve prescribers knowledge and work with the team to develop and implement other techniques known to influence implementation of evidence - such as audit and feedback.

Medicines safety

Horizon scan to identify national and local policy and guidance that affects patient safety through the use of medicines, including MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and emerging evidence form clinical trials.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)
• registration with General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

• Clinical Pharmacy Diploma or equivalent training
• Independent Prescriber
• completed or enrolled onto CPPE/NHSE pathway

Experience

Desirable

• Experience of working in a GP practice or primary care

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

TWNS PCN

Address

Holts Health Centre

Watery Lane

Newent

Gloucestershire

GL18 1BA

Employer's website

https://www.mythemedical.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)