Specialist Clinical Pharmacist - Haematology

Job responsibilities

KEY JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

To partake in specialised clinical pharmacy duties ensuring core clinical pharmacy activities are undertaken

Specialised clinical pharmacy activities

To lead and develop the pharmacy service to the Haematology Department, in liaison with other Specialist Clinical Pharmacists

To provide clinical input (at specialist level) to the Haematology Department, with specific higher level clinical responsibilities for one or more defined sub-specialties

Once qualified, validated & approved by NUH: To work as an independent prescriber within a defined specialist area, contributing to medicines optimisation, writing discharge, inpatient, homecare and/or outpatient prescriptions as clinically appropriate and dictated by the needs of the service

Provide highly complex advice and guidance requiring analysis, interpretation and comparison of options on all issues relating to prescribing and therapeutics within Oncology, where possible in line with national and local guidelines.

Maintain a working knowledge relating to prescribing and therapeutics for all services in the Cancer cluster

To form a key component of the multidisciplinary team in the Haematology Department.

Core clinical pharmacy activities

To work in accordance with relevant pharmacy and Trust policies and procedures relating to medicines management.

To ensure safe rational and effective prescribing by undertaking medication reconciliation, assessing suitability of prescribed medication, counselling (to optimise medicines use), and ensuring continuity of patient care into the community.

Providing medicines including SACT for individual patients during their stay in hospital, at discharge and also for out-patient visits.

Interpreting and requesting clinical tests to monitor and make recommendations to improve effectiveness of drug therapy.

Pro-actively liaising with other members of the multidisciplinary team (medical staff, nurses, microbiologists, physiotherapists, dieticians) in order to ensure safe use of medicines.

Making recommendations about medicines to improve patient outcomes and to encourage adherence to hospital formulary and national guidelines.

Providing advice and guidance in relation to unlicensed medicines use and clinical trial medicines under the direction of the senior pharmacist for clinical trials.

Other

To contribute to, facilitate or conduct clinical audits which are part of the Pharmacy audit plan.

To participate in research, communicate results and if suitable, register for a further degree.

To undertake and document continuing professional development.

To contribute to the teaching and training of undergraduate, postgraduate students and other healthcare professionals.

To undertake research relevant to pharmacy practice within oncology.

To develop the clinical pharmacy service provided to the oncology specialty as dictated by the needs of the service.

To undertake any other duties that may reasonably be required as agreed by senior staff.

If appropriately qualified, the post holder may undertake some prescribing for outpatient, inpatients and Daycase patients

Leadership , management and directorate/service support roles

Lead,in conjunction with other specialist clinical pharmacists the delivery of clinical pharmacy and medicines management services to the oncology service, under the auspices of the advanced pharmacy practitioner/team leader for oncology.

Provide support for the SACT e-prescribing system (ChemoCare), under the auspices of the advanced pharmacy practitioner acting as clinical lead for the SACT e-prescribing system.

Liaise and work alongside relevant pharmacy colleagues and directorate staff and managers in ensuring continuity and development of clinical pharmacy services within the specialty.

Maintain contact with and actively participate in regional and national specialty groups, advising these groups as appropriate, and in also identifying best practice and incorporating it into NUH practice.

Support the Assistant clinical services lead

to deliver the 'best possible clinical pharmacy service'

by developing KPIs that clearly demonstrate the contribution rotational pharmacists, other support staff and the post holder make to the care of patients within the specialty.

by reporting KPIs (delivered by the clinical pharmacy service) at regular intervals, as directed by the Assistant Head of Pharmacy clinical services lead e.g. activity data, contributions, service development contributions etc.

by deputising for them in relation to issues linked to the cluster

Leading on the submission of business cases to secure funding for service developments/new pharmacy posts within the specialty.

Attending relevant specialty meetings including governance meetings as appropriate this will require effective communication of messages to and from such forums and ensuring necessary actions are enacted.

Developing, implementing and auditing prescribing guidelines and drug protocols for oncology at NUH. This includes risk assessments for new drug therapies and related protocols and supporting clinicians in the preparation of new product evaluations for the Drugs and Therapeutics Committee.

Monitoring drug usage, prescribing patterns and expenditure in order to support the service in achieving a balanced drug budget, and planning for new drug developments.

Act as a role model

Requirement to undertake and support relevant project work

Assist in the recruitment of new staff.

To line manage and support more junior pharmacists in the Cancer and Associated Specialties Services Divisional team

Act as a direct contact point to provide support to the more junior pharmacists and other members of the team in the cluster.

Ensure objectives for junior and senior rotational pharmacists who are assigned to this specialty are always up-to-date / current.

Ensure that these pharmacists are making progress with objectives that have been set clearing the path where there are barriers to achieving these.

Ensure effective performance management of pharmacy staff working in own specialty and other junior pharmacy staff, including 1:1s, diploma assessments and conducting appraisals using the Trust appraisal process

Ensure completion of all relevant documentation relating to performance management and objectives / PDPs of these pharmacists within the agreed time frames.

Education and training of staff (rotational and diploma pharmacists, technicians, pre-registration pharmacists, pharmacy students) that are linked to the specialty.

To take full part in the 7 day shifted rota and bank holidays duties

Training and Qualifications

Essential

• B.Pharm / BSc (Pharmacy) or MPharm
• GPhC registered
• To be qualified as a pharmacist independent prescriber or be working towards
• Clinical Diploma or equivalent
• Member of relevant national specialist pharmacist group

Desirable

• Plays an active role in a relevant national network / specialist pharmacist group
• Leadership and/or management qualifications
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS)

Experience

Essential

• Extensive previous hospital experience (post-registration)
• Experience in providing specialist pharmacist review of people with cancer
• Experience of delivering clinical pharmacy service and advice relating to the safe use of medicines.
• Broad knowledge base of a wide range of clinical areas
• Some experience of excellent leadership and management skills
• Some experience of line management including effective performance management, recruitment and allocation of tasks/staff
• Experience of using SACT e-prescribing system

Desirable

• Publication of audit/research/clinical work at national level
• Experience of working actively on national groups
• Experience in project management (including department-wide roles) and evidence of completed outcomes
• Effective liaison with relevant Trust level committees / groups
• Experience of leading and delivering a clinical pharmacy service to a clinical specialty
• Experience of multidisciplinary team working at Pharmacy, Trust and regional level
• Awareness of National initiatives with regards to development of chemotherapy services particularly SACT (systemic anti-cancer therapy) reporting
• Experience of protocol building validation with an e-prescribing system.
• Experience of assessing risk and developing plans to mitigate that risk

Communication and relationship skills

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills, both verbal and written - must be able to communicate highly complex drug or medicine related information to prescribers, clinicians, patients, relatives, relevant Trust committees and other stakeholders. Patients may have language difficulties, physical or mental disabilities; other professionals may challenge advice.
• Empathy with patients, relatives and pharmacy customers
• Confident and assertive; able to defend opinions in a constructive manner when challenged
• Proven ability to influence and negotiate with relevant senior colleagues

Desirable

• oExperience of writing compelling business cases or case of need for service development

Analytical and Judgement skills

Essential

• Experience of assessing and minimising risk associated with service provision and within medication processes
• Ability to work alone and make decisions within agreed parameters and appropriate referral / escalation as necessary
• Experience in making judgements involving highly complex facts, which require analysis, interpretation and options appraisal e.g. drug expenditure
• Ability to maintain and monitor database of medicines and activity related information e.g. medicines expenditure and usage; rotas etc
• Able to critically analyse information and evidence and to communicate the findings clearly in simple terms
• Evidence of incorporating innovative and 'best practice' into current practice

Planning and organisation skills

Essential

• Ability to plan and organise existing and new clinical pharmacy services to a specialty. This may include creation and adjustment of plans
• Ability to be flexible and manage change in a complex and changing healthcare environment
• Self-motivated with excellent organisational skills, able to motivate others, to manage time effectively and work to deadlines, even when under pressure
• Positive thinker, problem solver, ability to think laterally to develop new ideas

Physical skills

Essential

• Competent ICT skills
• Good level of computer literacy and word processing /keyboard skills
• Sound Word, Excel and Power-point skills and be able to retrieve information from the internet

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

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).