Job summary
Join Our Team: Specialist Palliative Care Pharmacist
This is band 7 to 8A progression post
Are you a dedicated pharmacist looking to make a meaningful impact on patients' lives? Thames Hospice and Wexham Park Hospital Pharmacy Department have an exciting opportunity for a Specialist Palliative Care Pharmacist to join our compassionate and collaborative team. The post holder will work closely with colleagues in palliative care team in Thames Hospice and visit Wexham Park Hospital once a week for ward rounds and to work with the pharmacy team.
As a Specialist Palliative Care Pharmacist, the post holder will be a vital part of our multidisciplinary team. Responsibilities will include:
- Tailoring medication regimens for patients with complex needs
- Ensuring pain management and symptom control for palliative care patients
- Collaborating with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to optimise patient care
- Providing education and support to pharmacy trainees, as well as other multidisciplinary team members.
- Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of palliative care medications and best practices
While this post is advertised as a band 7 to 8 progression, applicants with sufficient experience and skills can apply directly as band 8.
Main duties of the job
- To be responsible for leading, delivering and evaluating clinical pharmacy services to patients in Thames Hospice and Wexham Park Hospital, working with the Macmillan principal pharmacist in the handover period and then working independently as part of the multi professional team based in Thames Hospice. .
- To undertake the process aimed at developing into an 8A role and undertaking the role independently.
- To support the development of the clinical pharmacy service to patients within Palliative Care in Thames Hospice and Wexham Park Hospital.
- The provision of a clinical pharmacy service to patients within the specialist areas
- To act as a role model in the field of clinical pharmacy practice and provide a consistently high standard of clinical service in line with the pharmacy objectives.
- The recruitment, management and development of staff under the postholder.
About us
There's never been a more exciting time to build your career at Frimley Health, one of the country's largest and most respected trusts
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) has an outstanding reputation and a proud record of achievement. We have an ongoing commitment to improving the health and care services for the 900,000 people we serve across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.
We continue to invest in our services and facilities, including a £10 million upgrade to the hospital maternity unit as well as £49m major new Emergency Assessment Centre on our Wexham Park site. The opening of a brand new £100m state of the art hospital which replaced the existing hospital facility at Heatherwood and are planning to invest further in diagnostics and inpatient capacity at Frimley Park.
We have also made significant investment in our quality improvement and digital programmes to support our vision and we will ensure that we achieve our aim of providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Our new EPR - Epic - went live in June and we are already beginning to reap the benefits of this ambitious investment.
Our threecore values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other.
If you have a passion for clinical excellence, patient care and your own career development, you'll feel at home at Frimley Health.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To work closely with the Macmillan Pharmacist, clinicians, nursing staff and other senior managers to provide and develop pharmaceutical services to patients of Thames Hospice and to Wexham Park Hospital Palliative Care Team. This role undertaken independently after the retirement of the Macmillan Pharmacist
- Provide a clinical pharmacy service to Palliative Care in Wexham Park and Thames Hospice and a clinical pharmacy service to cover other areas when ward cover is needed. The service includes:
- assessing pharmaceutical care needs
- initiating and carrying out care plans
- medicines reconciliation and optimisation
- review for need of drug therapies, selection of appropriate drug therapies / doses / modification of existing therapies
- advice to doctors / other health care staff, including the Thames Hospice Palliative Care Response Team and Virtual ward Team who support patients in a community setting.
- discharge planning
- counselling patients
- attending ward rounds and Multidisciplinary team Meetings (as per hospice requirements) which may involve flexibility of start / finish time
- Prescribing for patients during admission and on discharge.
- Support and advice to pharmacy colleagues in FHFT on palliative care.
The service is according to Thames Hospice procedures and meets the minimum
Standards agreed with the Chief of Service and Chief Nurse at Thames Hospice. Duties within FHFT as per the service provided will take current legislation into account.
- To work with clinicians and nurses to develop, implement and monitor the use of protocols within the specialist area to ensure the safe use and supply of medicines. This includes the development of protocols and advice to nursing staff concerning the safe and appropriate use and storage of medication.
- To lead on provision and review of specialist guidelines and protocols in medicines use in Palliative Care including Frimley ICS Adult Symptom Control Guidelines.
- To provide expert advice on pharmaceutical matters, undertaking risk management and ensuring compliance with medicines legislation and local policy
- To take an active role in committees relating to specialist area e.g. End of Life Clinical Governance Committee (FHFT), Frimley ICS EoLC Steering Group, Frimley ICS EOLC Clinical Oversight Group, Frimley ICS Medicines Safety Group, Thames Hospice Medicines Management Committee
- To evaluate, plan and implement service developments to improve the quality of the pharmacy service to the specialist area across the ICS, working collaboratively with Medicines Optimisation team in Frimley ICS.
- To ensure that drugs utilised within Thames Hospice reflect the recommendations, the policies and formulary of Frimley Health ICS and those of tertiary centres. To support increase economic awareness within the area through directorate financial reports and to advise on cost effective prescribing.
- To support the production of drug evaluations for the Frimley Health Medicines Optimisation Board as requested by the Prescribing Manager. To make recommendations to Hospice and Hospital Palliative Care Teams concerning the introduction and use of new drugs.
- Produce financial reports and facilitate and support the efficient and cost-effective use of medicines.
- To actively participate in the Frimley Health ICS End of life Steering Group, and provide support and advice to ICS Medicines Optimisation Team on matters relating to Palliative Care
- Train and educate pharmacy staff/trainee staff in the specialist areas to ensure consistency of service.
- To train and educate other MDT staff including consultants and junior medical staff, nurses, student nurses, patients and carers
- Network with pharmacists specialising in similar areas to ensure leading edge practice
- To support the Macmillan Pharmacist in the recruitment and management of pharmacists or ward technicians under the post holder, including appraisal, review and development.
- To participate in pharmacy practice research and clinical audit activities.
- To be an active independent pharmacist prescriber, in line with Trust guidelines and current legislation.
Staff Training & Development
- To deliver education and training to doctors and nurses and other staff as necessary. This will include doctors, nurses, medical students and AHPs. This training may be ward based, tutorials or through presentations and may include staff form across all care settings in Frimley ICS.
- Contribute to the departmental Continual Professional Development (CPD) program and to undertake CPD as required by the GPhC
- To participate in the clinical training of junior pharmacists, pre-registration pharmacists and other pharmacy staff acting as an Educational Supervisor or Practice Supervisor.
- To participate in training and development activities as are considered appropriate by the Chief Pharmacist to keep up to date with advances in the service.
Other Duties
- Support to medicines management in the hospice including stock list management, ordering of TTAs and non-stock medication, quarterly CD checks and liaison with Pharmacy Department Wexham Park
- To participate in late duty / Weekend rotas & Bank Holiday rotas as required by the Chief Pharmacist.
- To participate in oncall rotas as required by the Chief Pharmacist.
Job description
Job responsibilities
- To work closely with the Macmillan Pharmacist, clinicians, nursing staff and other senior managers to provide and develop pharmaceutical services to patients of Thames Hospice and to Wexham Park Hospital Palliative Care Team. This role undertaken independently after the retirement of the Macmillan Pharmacist
- Provide a clinical pharmacy service to Palliative Care in Wexham Park and Thames Hospice and a clinical pharmacy service to cover other areas when ward cover is needed. The service includes:
- assessing pharmaceutical care needs
- initiating and carrying out care plans
- medicines reconciliation and optimisation
- review for need of drug therapies, selection of appropriate drug therapies / doses / modification of existing therapies
- advice to doctors / other health care staff, including the Thames Hospice Palliative Care Response Team and Virtual ward Team who support patients in a community setting.
- discharge planning
- counselling patients
- attending ward rounds and Multidisciplinary team Meetings (as per hospice requirements) which may involve flexibility of start / finish time
- Prescribing for patients during admission and on discharge.
- Support and advice to pharmacy colleagues in FHFT on palliative care.
The service is according to Thames Hospice procedures and meets the minimum
Standards agreed with the Chief of Service and Chief Nurse at Thames Hospice. Duties within FHFT as per the service provided will take current legislation into account.
- To work with clinicians and nurses to develop, implement and monitor the use of protocols within the specialist area to ensure the safe use and supply of medicines. This includes the development of protocols and advice to nursing staff concerning the safe and appropriate use and storage of medication.
- To lead on provision and review of specialist guidelines and protocols in medicines use in Palliative Care including Frimley ICS Adult Symptom Control Guidelines.
- To provide expert advice on pharmaceutical matters, undertaking risk management and ensuring compliance with medicines legislation and local policy
- To take an active role in committees relating to specialist area e.g. End of Life Clinical Governance Committee (FHFT), Frimley ICS EoLC Steering Group, Frimley ICS EOLC Clinical Oversight Group, Frimley ICS Medicines Safety Group, Thames Hospice Medicines Management Committee
- To evaluate, plan and implement service developments to improve the quality of the pharmacy service to the specialist area across the ICS, working collaboratively with Medicines Optimisation team in Frimley ICS.
- To ensure that drugs utilised within Thames Hospice reflect the recommendations, the policies and formulary of Frimley Health ICS and those of tertiary centres. To support increase economic awareness within the area through directorate financial reports and to advise on cost effective prescribing.
- To support the production of drug evaluations for the Frimley Health Medicines Optimisation Board as requested by the Prescribing Manager. To make recommendations to Hospice and Hospital Palliative Care Teams concerning the introduction and use of new drugs.
- Produce financial reports and facilitate and support the efficient and cost-effective use of medicines.
- To actively participate in the Frimley Health ICS End of life Steering Group, and provide support and advice to ICS Medicines Optimisation Team on matters relating to Palliative Care
- Train and educate pharmacy staff/trainee staff in the specialist areas to ensure consistency of service.
- To train and educate other MDT staff including consultants and junior medical staff, nurses, student nurses, patients and carers
- Network with pharmacists specialising in similar areas to ensure leading edge practice
- To support the Macmillan Pharmacist in the recruitment and management of pharmacists or ward technicians under the post holder, including appraisal, review and development.
- To participate in pharmacy practice research and clinical audit activities.
- To be an active independent pharmacist prescriber, in line with Trust guidelines and current legislation.
Staff Training & Development
- To deliver education and training to doctors and nurses and other staff as necessary. This will include doctors, nurses, medical students and AHPs. This training may be ward based, tutorials or through presentations and may include staff form across all care settings in Frimley ICS.
- Contribute to the departmental Continual Professional Development (CPD) program and to undertake CPD as required by the GPhC
- To participate in the clinical training of junior pharmacists, pre-registration pharmacists and other pharmacy staff acting as an Educational Supervisor or Practice Supervisor.
- To participate in training and development activities as are considered appropriate by the Chief Pharmacist to keep up to date with advances in the service.
Other Duties
- Support to medicines management in the hospice including stock list management, ordering of TTAs and non-stock medication, quarterly CD checks and liaison with Pharmacy Department Wexham Park
- To participate in late duty / Weekend rotas & Bank Holiday rotas as required by the Chief Pharmacist.
- To participate in oncall rotas as required by the Chief Pharmacist.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Pharmacy degree (Master level 4 years)
- Registered with GPhC
- Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy / Pharmacy Practice or equivalent
- Independent Prescriber
Specific competencies for role
Essential
- Good verbal and written communication skills including listening skills
- Experience with wide range of MDT and patients
- Ability to work under pressure and cope with stressful situations
Desirable
Professional/Specialist experience
Essential
- Recent Hospital Clinical Pharmacy experience
- Post-registration provision of clinical pharmacy service to a broad range of clinical specialities
- Evidence of up-to-date CPD in clinical pharmacy
- Computer literate
Desirable
- Experience in palliative care
- Practical experience of audit
- Service development experience
- Experience writing protocols/guidelines
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Pharmacy degree (Master level 4 years)
- Registered with GPhC
- Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy / Pharmacy Practice or equivalent
- Independent Prescriber
Specific competencies for role
Essential
- Good verbal and written communication skills including listening skills
- Experience with wide range of MDT and patients
- Ability to work under pressure and cope with stressful situations
Desirable
Professional/Specialist experience
Essential
- Recent Hospital Clinical Pharmacy experience
- Post-registration provision of clinical pharmacy service to a broad range of clinical specialities
- Evidence of up-to-date CPD in clinical pharmacy
- Computer literate
Desirable
- Experience in palliative care
- Practical experience of audit
- Service development experience
- Experience writing protocols/guidelines
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
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.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
