Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

Lead Pharmacist Clinical Pathways & Formulary

This job is now closed

Job summary

Lead Pharmacist - Clinical Pathways & Formulary 8abased at Queen Elizabeth Hospital

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly motivated and dynamic pharmacist at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust. This is a cross-site role, based at the Queen Elizabeth site in Woolwich.

The successful candidate will join our Pharmacy team and will lead on all aspects of Formulary across the Trust, managing the introduction of new drugs and associated medicines management pathways, guidelines and protocols.

Main duties of the job

Key roles will be contribution to the South East London Formulary, being an integral member and secretary of the Trust Medicines Management Committee and membership of the South East London Integrated Medicines Committee and Joint Formulary Committee. You will work closely with colleagues within and outside of the Pharmacy Department and primary care and secondary care colleagues in South East London.

You will have excellent communication skills and interpersonal skills; you must be able to manage your own workload, motivate and manage others, work as part of a team, and engage at a high level with key stakeholders within the Trust. You should have considerable clinical experience and ideally have previous experience of governance work.

About us

The postholder will contribute to the weekend clinical service provided by the Pharmacy department and provide operational and clinical support.

We encourage candidates who are interested in flexible or agile working to contact us to discuss this.

Interview date - W/c June 5th 2023

Date posted

05 May 2023

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£50,952 to £57,349 a year per annum plus HCA

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working, Compressed hours

Reference number

197-UT3734

Job locations

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Stadium Road

London

SE18 4QH

Job description

Job responsibilities

Post Title: Lead Pharmacist Clinical Pathways & Formulary

Department: Pharmacy

Responsible to: Principal Pharmacist Medication Safety & Governance

Responsible for: STEP Pharmacist. Trainee Pharmacist

Accountable to: Director of Pharmacy

Grade: 8a

Hours: 37.5 per week (plus rotational weekends)

Job Summary:

To be responsible for the review, update and maintenance of prescribing guidance and the trust formulary.
To be responsible for the co-ordination, preparation and management of independent reviews of drugs for discussion at relevant trust committees, South East London Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (SEL IMOC) and Joint Formulary Committee (JFC). This includes being an active voting member and trust representative at these meetings.
To act as a pharmacy contact for medicines management issues across the primary and secondary care interface.
To support the review of patient pathways in conjunction with clinical leads across South East London
To promote effective prescribing in the trust following formulary and National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance.
To assist the relevant trust committees in assessing and evaluating the implementation and impact of NICE guidance within the trust.

Key Result Areas & Performance:

Leadership & Service Development

To lead on all aspects of formulary review, update and maintenance in the trust.
To ensure that independent reviews are undertaken on requests for drugs to be added to the trust formulary.
To present independent drug reviews at the relevant trust committees and South East London Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (SEL IMOC) as necessary.
To provide a strategic development plan for trust formulary and associated medicines management issues in line with NHS priorities.
To provide the Principal Pharmacist for Medication Safety & Governance with details of output, performance and activity at specified time intervals in a format agreed with the Director of Pharmacy.
To promote good prescribing practice throughout the Trust in accordance with agreed formulary locally and ensure that prescribing across the interface is streamlined to optimise patient care.
To proactively identify new drugs entering clinical practice that will impact on service delivery and drug expenditure ensuring the appropriate dissemination of such information to the relevant parties.
To be the nominated lead for the co-ordination and maintenance of prescribing guidelines of the pharmacy bookshelf of the trust intranet.
To review medication related policies and procedures and assist in the development of these.
To support the use of Patient Group Directions (PGDs) in the trust by ensuring legal and clinical content of such documents are appropriate for use.
To assist the relevant trust committee in assessing and evaluating the implementation and impact of NICE guidance in the trust.
To act as the secretary to the trust Medicines Management Committee (MMC).
To co-ordinate and support the application and review of Individual Funding Requests (IFR), non-formulary requests, unlicensed requests and requests for compassionate use schemes where appropriate.
To liaise with pharmaceutical advisors and GPs in local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in assessing the impact of any changes in trust prescribing practice on the wider health economy. This will include sitting on local Medicines and Pathways Implementation Groups. .
To ensure any medicines management or pharmaceutical care issues are appropriately raised with the relevant clinical division/ specialities.
To represent pharmacy and the trust and act as a contact at relevant meetings and conferences locally and nationally.
To contribute to regional, national & international meetings to develop best practice and to have input into a regional, national & international strategy where applicable.

Clinical Services & Patient Care

To participate in the front-line provision of Pharmacy Services as appropriate and when required.
To act as a clinical pharmacist in an appropriate area and participate in consultant ward rounds as required.
To act as a clinical role model for other pharmacists within the team and demonstrate the ability to provide a service that ensures the safe, clinically effective and cost efficient use of drugs and the ability to check clinically screened dispensed prescriptions.
To liaise with other senior pharmacy staff to ensure the effective provision of Pharmacy Services.
To demonstrate an intuitive grasp of situations based on deep tacit understanding.
To demonstrate advanced level of clinical reasoning and judgement.

Staff Management & Training

To take overall responsibility for the management of the formulary and any staff who work in that area.
To be line manager for Pharmacy training and development staff and take responsibility (directly for senior staff and delegated to senior staff for more junior staff) for all the following, according to Trust procedures:
- Appraisals and objective setting
- Sickness absence
- Disciplinary and grievance matters
- Recruitment and selection
- Personal development
- Departmental workload allocations
To facilitate the training and development of all pharmacy staff in line with service needs and personal development plans.
To deliver education and training to other healthcare staff as required.
To assess clinical competencies of junior pharmacists.
To undertake CPD to ensure that knowledge is continually updated in the field of Pharmacy training and development.
To arrange relevant departmental meetings that will enable staff to be brought up to date on current issues and to address staff development needs in relation to Trust formulary issues.
To be a postgraduate tutor (pre-registration, diploma or MSc) for pharmacy staff as appropriate and required.

Research & Development

To undertake and publish practice research in formulary and medicines management work where appropriate.
To demonstrate a critical appraisal approach towards pharmacy research and practice.
To integrate research evidence into practice.
To disseminate relevant information on changes to practice to appropriate Trust staff as necessary.
To identify gaps in evidence base, and where possible, research these.

Workforce

To act as a specialist practitioner/role model in the field of formulary and medicines management on a national level.
To teach on national study days or network meetings.
To participate in teaching and supervising students at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
To act as postgraduate tutor for the Diploma in General Pharmacy Practice.
To participate in teaching for nurses, medical and theatre staff.
To participate in the recruitment and selection of pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and junior pharmacists as needed.
To participate in the in-service clinical pharmacy training of all pharmacy staff.

Financial

To support the trust in monitoring drug expenditure in order to provide accurate expenditure information, with appropriate analysis, to the clinical divisions/ specialities.
To identify areas of potential cost savings and to support the development and implementation of systems to realise savings and contain prescribing costs.
To support the development and implementation of policies/ guidance to control drug expenditure and ensure cost-effective prescribing across the trust.
To educate other healthcare professionals on the costs associated with drug therapy and promote evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing across the trust.
To identify changes in prescribing practice that may impact on drug usage (either financial or otherwise) and disseminate associated information to the relevant parties for management.
To horizon scan and identify future drug developments that may impact on services locally and within South East London Integrated Care System ensuring the dissemination of such information to the relevant parties for management.
To develop appropriate business cases for Pharmacy training and development as necessary. This will involve the liaison with relevant clinicians and general managers in the trust.
To attend financial meetings when required.

Communications and Relationships

To communicate with the multidisciplinary healthcare team (doctors, nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, ward managers, and site practitioners), to intermediate care, general practice support and community pharmacists in the provision of medicine related information and assessment of patients treatment.
To work with appropriate staff to support development of services and facilitate the implementation of strategies for education and training of staff throughout the Trust.
To demonstrate good communication skills as the role liaises with a wide variety of people within the Trust. This will include service and general managers across all directorates, trust risk managers, directorate governance leads, multidisciplinary team members and all Pharmacy staff.
To liaise with external bodies including local ICBs, JFC, SEL IMOC and regional pharmacy services, and necessary pharmacy networks.
The post-holder will be required to communicate clearly and sensitively about patient medication issues both internally and externally.
To provide training on medication related issues, policies, guidelines and service developments to pharmacy colleagues, nursing and medical staff, ranging from one on one communication to more formal presentations.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Post Title: Lead Pharmacist Clinical Pathways & Formulary

Department: Pharmacy

Responsible to: Principal Pharmacist Medication Safety & Governance

Responsible for: STEP Pharmacist. Trainee Pharmacist

Accountable to: Director of Pharmacy

Grade: 8a

Hours: 37.5 per week (plus rotational weekends)

Job Summary:

To be responsible for the review, update and maintenance of prescribing guidance and the trust formulary.
To be responsible for the co-ordination, preparation and management of independent reviews of drugs for discussion at relevant trust committees, South East London Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (SEL IMOC) and Joint Formulary Committee (JFC). This includes being an active voting member and trust representative at these meetings.
To act as a pharmacy contact for medicines management issues across the primary and secondary care interface.
To support the review of patient pathways in conjunction with clinical leads across South East London
To promote effective prescribing in the trust following formulary and National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance.
To assist the relevant trust committees in assessing and evaluating the implementation and impact of NICE guidance within the trust.

Key Result Areas & Performance:

Leadership & Service Development

To lead on all aspects of formulary review, update and maintenance in the trust.
To ensure that independent reviews are undertaken on requests for drugs to be added to the trust formulary.
To present independent drug reviews at the relevant trust committees and South East London Integrated Medicines Optimisation Committee (SEL IMOC) as necessary.
To provide a strategic development plan for trust formulary and associated medicines management issues in line with NHS priorities.
To provide the Principal Pharmacist for Medication Safety & Governance with details of output, performance and activity at specified time intervals in a format agreed with the Director of Pharmacy.
To promote good prescribing practice throughout the Trust in accordance with agreed formulary locally and ensure that prescribing across the interface is streamlined to optimise patient care.
To proactively identify new drugs entering clinical practice that will impact on service delivery and drug expenditure ensuring the appropriate dissemination of such information to the relevant parties.
To be the nominated lead for the co-ordination and maintenance of prescribing guidelines of the pharmacy bookshelf of the trust intranet.
To review medication related policies and procedures and assist in the development of these.
To support the use of Patient Group Directions (PGDs) in the trust by ensuring legal and clinical content of such documents are appropriate for use.
To assist the relevant trust committee in assessing and evaluating the implementation and impact of NICE guidance in the trust.
To act as the secretary to the trust Medicines Management Committee (MMC).
To co-ordinate and support the application and review of Individual Funding Requests (IFR), non-formulary requests, unlicensed requests and requests for compassionate use schemes where appropriate.
To liaise with pharmaceutical advisors and GPs in local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in assessing the impact of any changes in trust prescribing practice on the wider health economy. This will include sitting on local Medicines and Pathways Implementation Groups. .
To ensure any medicines management or pharmaceutical care issues are appropriately raised with the relevant clinical division/ specialities.
To represent pharmacy and the trust and act as a contact at relevant meetings and conferences locally and nationally.
To contribute to regional, national & international meetings to develop best practice and to have input into a regional, national & international strategy where applicable.

Clinical Services & Patient Care

To participate in the front-line provision of Pharmacy Services as appropriate and when required.
To act as a clinical pharmacist in an appropriate area and participate in consultant ward rounds as required.
To act as a clinical role model for other pharmacists within the team and demonstrate the ability to provide a service that ensures the safe, clinically effective and cost efficient use of drugs and the ability to check clinically screened dispensed prescriptions.
To liaise with other senior pharmacy staff to ensure the effective provision of Pharmacy Services.
To demonstrate an intuitive grasp of situations based on deep tacit understanding.
To demonstrate advanced level of clinical reasoning and judgement.

Staff Management & Training

To take overall responsibility for the management of the formulary and any staff who work in that area.
To be line manager for Pharmacy training and development staff and take responsibility (directly for senior staff and delegated to senior staff for more junior staff) for all the following, according to Trust procedures:
- Appraisals and objective setting
- Sickness absence
- Disciplinary and grievance matters
- Recruitment and selection
- Personal development
- Departmental workload allocations
To facilitate the training and development of all pharmacy staff in line with service needs and personal development plans.
To deliver education and training to other healthcare staff as required.
To assess clinical competencies of junior pharmacists.
To undertake CPD to ensure that knowledge is continually updated in the field of Pharmacy training and development.
To arrange relevant departmental meetings that will enable staff to be brought up to date on current issues and to address staff development needs in relation to Trust formulary issues.
To be a postgraduate tutor (pre-registration, diploma or MSc) for pharmacy staff as appropriate and required.

Research & Development

To undertake and publish practice research in formulary and medicines management work where appropriate.
To demonstrate a critical appraisal approach towards pharmacy research and practice.
To integrate research evidence into practice.
To disseminate relevant information on changes to practice to appropriate Trust staff as necessary.
To identify gaps in evidence base, and where possible, research these.

Workforce

To act as a specialist practitioner/role model in the field of formulary and medicines management on a national level.
To teach on national study days or network meetings.
To participate in teaching and supervising students at undergraduate and postgraduate level.
To act as postgraduate tutor for the Diploma in General Pharmacy Practice.
To participate in teaching for nurses, medical and theatre staff.
To participate in the recruitment and selection of pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and junior pharmacists as needed.
To participate in the in-service clinical pharmacy training of all pharmacy staff.

Financial

To support the trust in monitoring drug expenditure in order to provide accurate expenditure information, with appropriate analysis, to the clinical divisions/ specialities.
To identify areas of potential cost savings and to support the development and implementation of systems to realise savings and contain prescribing costs.
To support the development and implementation of policies/ guidance to control drug expenditure and ensure cost-effective prescribing across the trust.
To educate other healthcare professionals on the costs associated with drug therapy and promote evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing across the trust.
To identify changes in prescribing practice that may impact on drug usage (either financial or otherwise) and disseminate associated information to the relevant parties for management.
To horizon scan and identify future drug developments that may impact on services locally and within South East London Integrated Care System ensuring the dissemination of such information to the relevant parties for management.
To develop appropriate business cases for Pharmacy training and development as necessary. This will involve the liaison with relevant clinicians and general managers in the trust.
To attend financial meetings when required.

Communications and Relationships

To communicate with the multidisciplinary healthcare team (doctors, nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, ward managers, and site practitioners), to intermediate care, general practice support and community pharmacists in the provision of medicine related information and assessment of patients treatment.
To work with appropriate staff to support development of services and facilitate the implementation of strategies for education and training of staff throughout the Trust.
To demonstrate good communication skills as the role liaises with a wide variety of people within the Trust. This will include service and general managers across all directorates, trust risk managers, directorate governance leads, multidisciplinary team members and all Pharmacy staff.
To liaise with external bodies including local ICBs, JFC, SEL IMOC and regional pharmacy services, and necessary pharmacy networks.
The post-holder will be required to communicate clearly and sensitively about patient medication issues both internally and externally.
To provide training on medication related issues, policies, guidelines and service developments to pharmacy colleagues, nursing and medical staff, ranging from one on one communication to more formal presentations.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Training

Essential

B. Pharm / M. Pharm / BSc (Pharmacy) or equivalent
Professional registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
Postgraduate Diploma in either Clinical Pharmacy or General Pharmacy Practice (or equivalent)
Mandatory CPD to maintain fitness to practice.

Desirable

Other postgraduate qualifications relevant to pharmacy practice
Member of RPS Faculty
Supplementary/ Independent prescribing

Experience

Essential

Substantial post registration experience in hospital clinical pharmacy or equivalent relevant area of practice.
Demonstrable experience of undertaking formulary work or medicines review.
Demonstrable experience in guidelines/ policies development.
Demonstrable experience in supervising others.
Demonstrable experience of co-ordinating and leading on clinical audit.

Desirable

Experience in working across the primary and secondary care interface.
Experience in delivering formal education and training.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

Demonstrated ability and skills to critically evaluate evidence related to the clinical use of drugs and their application to patient populations.
Demonstrated ability to identify and prioritise developments in Formulary and medicines management.
Demonstrated ability to work on own initiative and effectively as part of a team both within pharmacy and a multidisciplinary environment.
Ability to analyse and interpret complex clinical information to make sound judgements where there is a range of facts and options to be considered.
Ability to prioritise and plan work effectively alone and for a team.
Demonstrated ability to communicate complex information effectively using clear written and spoken English and overcome barriers to understanding.
Ability to work positively and calmly under pressure.

Desirable

Knowledge of processes associated with drug funding in primary and secondary care.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Training

Essential

B. Pharm / M. Pharm / BSc (Pharmacy) or equivalent
Professional registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
Postgraduate Diploma in either Clinical Pharmacy or General Pharmacy Practice (or equivalent)
Mandatory CPD to maintain fitness to practice.

Desirable

Other postgraduate qualifications relevant to pharmacy practice
Member of RPS Faculty
Supplementary/ Independent prescribing

Experience

Essential

Substantial post registration experience in hospital clinical pharmacy or equivalent relevant area of practice.
Demonstrable experience of undertaking formulary work or medicines review.
Demonstrable experience in guidelines/ policies development.
Demonstrable experience in supervising others.
Demonstrable experience of co-ordinating and leading on clinical audit.

Desirable

Experience in working across the primary and secondary care interface.
Experience in delivering formal education and training.

Knowledge & Skills

Essential

Demonstrated ability and skills to critically evaluate evidence related to the clinical use of drugs and their application to patient populations.
Demonstrated ability to identify and prioritise developments in Formulary and medicines management.
Demonstrated ability to work on own initiative and effectively as part of a team both within pharmacy and a multidisciplinary environment.
Ability to analyse and interpret complex clinical information to make sound judgements where there is a range of facts and options to be considered.
Ability to prioritise and plan work effectively alone and for a team.
Demonstrated ability to communicate complex information effectively using clear written and spoken English and overcome barriers to understanding.
Ability to work positively and calmly under pressure.

Desirable

Knowledge of processes associated with drug funding in primary and secondary care.

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).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

Certificate of Sponsorship

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

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

Address

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Stadium Road

London

SE18 4QH

Employer's website

https://www.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

Address

Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Stadium Road

London

SE18 4QH

Employer's website

https://www.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)