Advanced Clinical Pharmacist -General Surgery & Pre Admission Clinics

Job summary

Working Full Time - 37.5 hours per week

We are looking for dynamic, enthusiastic and self-motivated pharmacists to join our team and provide an advanced clinical pharmacy service to surgical inpatients and those preparing for admission in preadmission clinics and theatre assessment areas.

Applicants should hold a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy, must be registered as a pharmacist with the GPHC and have relevant experience (see person specification).

Applicants should ideally have or be prepared to work towards an independent prescribing qualification in order to manage medication throughout the patient journey.

Our friendly department provides an environment that supports innovation, learning and team working and encourages individuals to develop in their role. As a department we continually aim to improve patient care and to promote professional development. We are a forward-thinking department using robotic dispensing, electronic prescribing and electronic pharmaceutical care planning. To meet the needs of our patients we provide ward-based clinical pharmacy, pharmacist led clinics and have an extensive team of independent prescribers.

Main duties of the job

• Provides an advanced clinical pharmacy role in the provision and development of pharmaceutical services to elective and emergency surgical inpatients.
• Reviews patients in the Theatre admissions unit and surgical pre-assessment clinic, preparing patients for admission to hospital with regard to their drug therapy.
• Assesses patients in line with treatment pathways and prescribes medication as appropriate, both on admission and on discharge from hospital.
• Works with the surgical teams to identify, plan, and develop new opportunities for improving the quality and efficiency of services that involve medicines.
• Ensures treatment guidelines, protocols and local patient pathways are in line with best practice and national guidance in terms of drug therapy.
• Provides specialist advice on medicines, particularly those used in the perioperative period.
• Supports the division in managing their drugs budget and contributes to and implements cost containment strategies.
• Provides education on medicines for other staff disciplines (e.g. nurses, junior doctors, PAM's) within their speciality.
• Monitors compliance with NICE guidance and TAs, and other locally agreed guidelines and pathways relating to medicines use in surgical specialities.

About us

The Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides services to West Cheshire and to Welsh patients covered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. The Trust works collaboratively within the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. Its services are provided from three locations:

• The Countess of Chester Hospital: providing 438 general and acute beds
• Ellesmere Port Hospital: providing 56 beds as a rehabilitation, intermediate and outpatient facility
• Tarporley War Memorial Hospital: a base for community services which serve the local rural population.

The Trust employs over 6258 staff (headcount) which includes temporary bank staff and provides acute emergency and elective services, primary care direct access services and obstetric services to a population of approximately 407,000. This includes 357,000 residents in Chester and West Cheshire which includes Ellesmere Port and Neston as well as the Deeside area of Flintshire which has a population of approximately 50,000.

The Trust is a busy district general hospital and in 2022/2023, there were more than 503,342 patient attendances (inpatient, outpatient and diagnostic) ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to major cancer surgery. This is an increase of nearly 10,000 compared to the previous year when there were 494,387 patient attendances.