PCN Pharmacist @ Plas Ffynnon Medical Centre

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Title:PCN Pharmacist

Employer: North Shropshire Primary Care Network

Base: [Plas Ffynnon Medical Centre]

Salary: £47,220 £59,814 (dependent on experience, prescribing status and completion of CPPE Primary Care Pathway)

Hours: Full time preferred; part time considered

Accountable to: PCN Clinical Director

Responsible to: PCN Service Implementation Manager and Practice Manager

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The Role

You'll be the medicines expert at Plas Ffynnon Medical Centre,embedded in the practice team, known to your GPs and your patients, and taking genuine clinical ownership of the medicines work that keeps a busy general practice running safely and well.

This is not a peripheral role. You'll be positioned as the clinical lead on prescribing and medicines optimisation within your practice, working in close partnership with GPs and the wider practice team to deliver better, safer outcomes for patients. Your clinical knowledge and judgement will be used every day, and expected every day.

You'll be employed by North Shropshire PCN and supported by a leadership team that includes a pharmacist clinical director and a service implementation manager with nine years of GP pharmacy experience. You'll also be part of a wider PCN pharmacy team of six pharmacists and five pharmacy technicians.

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Core Clinical Responsibilities

Repeat Prescribing and Medicines Optimisation You'll take clinical ownership of the repeat prescribing process at your practice, reviewing prescription requests with a clinical eye, identifying opportunities to optimise, deprescribe, or intervene, and ensuring that the repeat prescribing pipeline is a driver of patient safety rather than an administrative function. Where you hold an independent prescribing qualification, you'll authorise prescriptions directly.

Medicines Reconciliation You'll lead on medicines reconciliation following hospital discharge, outpatient appointments and transfers of care, identifying and resolving discrepancies, reducing the risk of medicines-related harm at points of transition, and ensuring patients receive the medicines they need when they need them.

Structured Medication Reviews You'll conduct structured medication reviews with patients who have complex polypharmacy and multi-morbidity, reviewing the ongoing need for each medicine, identifying monitoring gaps, and implementing prescribing changes where you are qualified to do so. The goal is better outcomes for patients, not completed templates.

Long-Term Condition Management You'll run clinics and manage your own caseload for patients with long-term conditions where medicines play a central role, including conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, COPD, heart failure and anticoagulation. You'll work proactively to keep patients well managed, reducing avoidable GP appointments and unplanned hospital admissions.

Medicines Safety You'll take the lead on medicines safety work within your practice, including MHRA safety alerts, ECLIPSE monitoring, high-risk drug audits, and risk stratification searches to identify patients at elevated risk of medicines-related harm. This is owned work, not reactive work.

Patient-Facing Medicines Support You'll provide direct support to patients with questions, concerns or queries about their medicines, by telephone and face to face, reducing the burden on GPs and reception teams while improving patients' understanding of and engagement with their treatment.

Care Home Medicines Support You'll support care home patients within your practice population, conducting medication reviews, supporting proxy ordering arrangements, advising care home staff on medicines-related matters, and working proactively with care home teams to reduce medicines-related risk.

QOF and Enhanced Services You'll play an active role in QOF delivery, not as an end-of-year task, but as an embedded, year-round function of your clinical work. Through repeat prescribing, medication reviews and proactive patient management, you'll help ensure the practice consistently meets its quality indicators.

Education and Clinical Leadership You'll act as the medicines expert for the practice team, providing advice, guidance and informal education to GPs, nurses, and other clinical and administrative staff on medicines-related matters. You'll contribute to antimicrobial stewardship, support the implementation of local and national prescribing guidelines, and help build a culture where medicines are managed to the highest standard.

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Independent Prescribing

If you hold an independent prescribing qualification, you'll use it fully in this role. You'll have the clinical autonomy and system access to prescribe directly, reducing unnecessary GP involvement in routine medicines decisions and freeing GP time for the complex clinical work that requires it.

If you are working towards your independent prescribing qualification, we will actively support you to complete it, including access to a Designated Prescribing Practitioner where possible.

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Person Specification

Essential

• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• MPharm degree or equivalent
• Excellent clinical knowledge across common acute and long-term conditions seen in general practice
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, able to work confidently with patients, GPs and the wider practice team
• Ability to manage own caseload, prioritise effectively and work under pressure
• Commitment to working at the top of your clinical capability and developing your practice
• Full driving licence and own transport

Desirable

• Independent prescribing qualification (or actively working towards)
• Completion of CPPE Primary Care Education Pathway (or willingness to undertake)
• Experience in a primary care or general practice setting

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What We Offer

• Salary of £47,220 £59,814 dependent on experience, prescribing status and CPPE pathway completion
• Direct employment by North Shropshire PCN with a stable, supportive employment framework
• A named practice base, consistent colleagues, consistent patients, genuine continuity
• Clinical leadership and support from a pharmacist clinical director and an experienced service implementation manager
• Active support towards independent prescribing qualification where not already held
• Membership of a wider PCN pharmacy team of six pharmacists and five technicians
• Annual leave and NHS pension scheme
• A role where your clinical expertise is expected, valued and put to use every day

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About North Shropshire PCN

North Shropshire PCN brings together six GP practices serving approximately 90,000 patients across North Shropshire. We are a close-knit, collaborative network with high standards and a genuine commitment to the quality of care our patients receive.

We believe pharmacists are medicines experts, and we employ, support and position them as such.

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For an informal conversation about any of these roles, please contact Dan Read, Service Implementation Manager: dan.read@nhs.net

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• Pharmacist Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

• Independent prescribing qualification (or actively working towards)
• Completion of CPPE Primary Care Education Pathway (or willingness to undertake)

Experience

Desirable

• Experience in a primary care or general practice setting

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

North Shropshire Primary Care Network

Address

North Shropshire Primary Care Network

Drumcarrig

Bridgewater Street

Whitchurch, Shropshire

SY13 1QH