Clinical Pharmacist - Moatfield Surgery

Job responsibilities

Primary Duties and Areas of Responsibility

From Start of Post:

Patient facing long-term condition clinics

See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma).

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 medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation).

Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.

Patient facing Long Term Condition Reviews

Undertake long term condition reviews with patients and produce recommendations for clinical staff on prescribing and monitoring.

Patient facing care medicines support

Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.

Telephone medicines support

Provide telephone support for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Act as a source of medicines information for all of the practice team and patients, (such as around doses, side effects, adverse events, possible alternatives (i.e. around out of stocks) Suggesting and recommending solutions.

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 high risk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Signposting

Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the right care. Ensuring that the addition of the pharmacist to the clinical team results in a reduction in workload for other clinicians.

Repeat prescribing

Produce and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy in line with the recommendations set by the Medicines Management Team. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required

Frailty

Support the contractual requirements to support frail patients with their medication including medication review and some patient identification (i.e. patients with problematic polypharmacy).

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 team.

Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

Work with MMT to support the implementation of local and national guidelines including NICE, Surrey PAD etc. Liaise with hospital colleagues where prescribing needs to be returned to specialists.

Education and Training

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

Care Quality Commission

Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

Public Health

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

Medicines Safety

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

Role May Evolve to Include:

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.

Managing of common/minor/self-limiting ailments

Managing caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments, signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Please see the job description for further information.

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years experience post-qualification
• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based medicine and healthcare
• Good knowledge of service developments in medicines, prescribing, NHS policy and other relevant policy directives
• A good understanding of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Ability to solve problems effectively and timely and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and when to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate
• Excellent understanding and implementation of legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct
• Good understanding of patient centred care and impact on care quality and outcomes
• Good understanding of patients role in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidance
• 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, prioritise, manage, monitor, advise and review clinical and general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions
• Good IT skills
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
• Able to work under pressure and challenging situations to meet deadlines
• Produce timely and informative reports
• Experience of multi-disciplinary team working
• Experience of committees/ working groups
• Drug information experience
• Experience in writing complex and high quality reports
• Experience in audit, research and analysis of highly complex information related to improving clinical quality

Desirable

• Experience in supervising staff
• Experience of independent patient consultation, review recommendations/prescribing

Qualifications

Essential

• Undergraduate degree in pharmacy (MPharm)
• Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

• Clinical diploma
• Postgraduate Certificate in Pharmacy Practice
• Independent prescriber
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• A member of or working towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Other requirements

Essential

• Self-motivation
• Adaptable
• Full driving licence

Research & Evaluation

Essential

• 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 presentation at local level
• Demonstrates ability to apply the research evidence base into working practice
• Demonstrates understanding of the principles of research governance
• Demonstrates ability to work as a member of the research team

Leadership

Essential

• Demonstrates understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace
• Demonstrates understanding of, and contributes to organisational vision
• Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service
• Reviews progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others
• Demonstrates ability to motivate self to achieve goals

Management

Essential

• Demonstrates understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or service.
• Demonstrates understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation.
• Demonstrates understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice

Desirable

• Demonstrates ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol

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).