Job responsibilities
1. Clinical Medication Review
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for Practice nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring.
2. Care Home Medication Reviews
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the GPs on prescribing and monitoring. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.
3. Domiciliary Clinical Medication Reviews
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
4. Risk stratification
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.
5. Unplanned hospital admissions
Review the use of medicines most 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.
6. Medicines support for patients.
Provide clinics for those with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
7. 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).
8. Medicine information to practice staff and patients
Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network 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.
9. Signposting
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.
10. Repeat prescribing
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.
11. Service development
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).
12. 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.
13. Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations Support Practice / ICS Pharmacists (where required) to monitor practice prescribing against the local health economies 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).
14. Education and Training
Support the provision of identified education and training needs to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
15. Care Quality Commission
Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
16. Collaborative working arrangements
Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks.
Liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to:
1. Patients and their representatives
2. GP, nurses, and other practice staff
3. Social prescribers, first contact physiotherapists, paramedics and any other ARRS role employed by the PCN.
4. Community pharmacists and support staff
5. Other members of the medicines management (MM) team including pharmacists & pharmacy Technicians and Dieticians
6. Community nurses and other allied health professionals
7. Hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation
Professional development
Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the role and responsibilities.
Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance, and health and safety.
Work with your line manager to access regular clinical supervision, to enable you to deal effectively with the difficult issues that people present.
Review yearly progress and develop clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.
Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes.
Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keep up to date with relevant clinical practice.
Health and Safety/Risk Management
Must always comply with the Health and Safety policies, following safe working procedures and reporting incidents using the organisations Incident Reporting Systems
Comply with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the Access to Health Records Act (1990).
The post holder is required to travel independently between work sites and to attend meetings etc hosted by other agencies.
The post-holder may have contact with body fluids, i.e. wound exudates, urine etc while in clinical practice so all mandatory vaccinations will need to be evidenced / arranged.
Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.
Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner.
Duties may vary from time to time, without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility
