Job responsibilities
Divisional lead pharmacist Role:
*To manage and organise the clinical pharmacy service provided to the division.
*To be responsible for the implementation and monitoring of the clinical pharmacy service to all areas of the division in line with the Trust's clinical pharmacy standards.
*To lead on medicines safety for the division and to work with other professions on improving medicines safety in liaison with the Medication Safety Officer.
*To monitor compliance with the division's medicines management KPIs.
*To ensure that the divisional medicines management team receive appropriate clinical supervision.
*To be responsible for ensuring that policies, procedures and standards are adhered to in collaboration with other healthcare professionals, for the safe, effective and economic use of medicines.
*To work closely with the deputy Chief and Chief Pharmacist to support new ways of working in clinical areas with a review to improving the responsiveness and quality of pharmacy services.
*To monitor the supply of drugs to wards and departments within the division and act on any concerns raised.
*To co-ordinate a programme of medicines related audit and quality improvement specific tools and work with the division to ensure regular assessment of service quality.
*To contribute to the delivery of financial targets for the division and the Trust.
*To implement quality and efficiency measures with regards to medicines use within the division with all relevant clinical and managerial staff.
*To be proactive in risk management ensuring that all medicine related patient safety incidents are reported and appropriate actions taken.
*To liaise with the other divisional lead pharmacists to have a standardised approach trust-wide.
*To monitor and audit the use of controlled drugs by wards within the division
*To liaise with primary care and secondary care providers to improve the management of medicines at the interface
*To contribute to serious incident reviews and complaints where necessary
*To be a member of relevant divisional and Trust committees (in agreement with the Chief Pharmacist)
*To collaborate with other divisional lead pharmacists & Lead Pharmacy Technician to ensure continuity of clinical pharmacy services across the Trust, especially during staff shortages.
Clinical Practice
*Provide clinical pharmacy input at ward level.
*To ensure the safe and appropriate use of medicines in order to maximise benefit and minimise risk to patients. This includes regular review of prescriptions, identification of significant drug interactions, advice for clinical monitoring, compliance with legal aspects (Medicines Act, Mental Health Act) of medicine supply and compliance with the Trust formulary.
*To be responsible for the provision of a safe, effective, quality clinical pharmacy service to the division.
*To undertake medicines reconciliation and to support Medicines Management (MM) technicians in medicines reconciliation
*To work with the MDT to ensure timely and safe discharges
*To provide ad hoc support to the multidisciplinary team caring for outpatients (e.g. as part of the Community Mental Health Teams
*To provide ward cover for other clinical pharmacists and dispensary cover as needed.
*To ensure pharmacy staff providing a service to SHFT have adequate competencies to deliver the clinical pharmacy service.
*To work as part of a fully integrated multidisciplinary team.
*To reduce risk associated with medicines use by contributing to the safe medication practice agenda. This will include identification and reporting of medicines related incidents.
*To be able to critically appraise the literature and give accurate interpretation in order to improve the use of medicines.
*To provide clinical pharmacy advice to other healthcare professionals and managers including unlicensed medicines and areas where evidence is lacking.
*To demonstrate expert clinical knowledge in the specialism of mental health pharmacy services.
*To act as a clinical role model and demonstrate the ability to provide safe, clinically effective and cost efficient use of medicines.
*To demonstrate innovation and extend the boundaries of the profession.
*The post holder and staff under the management of the post holder will continually update their skills and knowledge as part of continuing professional development.
*To undertake duties as a non-medical, independent prescriber within competencies and as agreed within the division.
Communication:
*Identify and respond to the specialist pharmaceutical information needs of patients, carers, doctors, nurses, and other members of the healthcare team. Information will be required to be presented on an individual case basis or as part of structured medication education groups.
*Ensure information is provided in a timely manner, to the appropriate individual (in accordance with the degree of urgency of the request or issue identified).
*Be able to present information in a suitable format (e.g. written and/or verbal) and style for the target audience.
*Communicate relevant SHfT Trust decisions and policy relating to medicines to local clinical areas.
Training:
*To assist the Principal Pharmacist training lead in the preparation and delivery of training for clinical staff (e.g. nurses, junior doctors) working within the Trust.
*To participate in training of undergraduate students.
*To provide education and training to pharmacy staff.
*To be responsible for own continuing professional development in order to continue to update clinical knowledge and skills.
*To participate and contribute to the SHfT Pharmacy Continuing Professional Development/Continuing Education Programme.
Policy and/or Service Development:
*To provide input on Trust Medicine related policies and decisions and attend the Trust Medicines Management Committee as required.
*To have input into the writing and updating of Trust wide medicine related policies, guidelines, procedures, Patient Group Directions (PGDs) and standards as delegated by the deputy and Chief Pharmacist. To manage local implementation of these within the division.
*To assist the deputy Chief and Chief Pharmacist with the modernisation agenda for pharmacy services in partnership with acute trusts.
*To assist the deputy Chief and Chief Pharmacist in identifying and implementing local service developments and service improvements
*To identify, implement and undertake project work within the division in order to improve and maintain standards of medicines use.
*To develop the clinical pharmacy service proactively in line with local and national objectives.
*Be responsible for ensuring medicines are handled safe and securely
Management of Resources:
*To be responsible for planning and organising own workload.
*To be responsible for the day-to-day operational management of pharmacy service to their division this includes managing, planning and organising workload allocation.
*To be responsible for overseeing medicines storage and security.
*To be responsible for medicines supply (e.g. stock lists) ensuring appropriate quantities are stored in accordance with the changing clinical needs of each clinical environment to minimise waste and reduce risk.
Research, Development and Quality improvement:
*To work towards the Trust's priorities and to improve quality using quality improvement methodology.
*To participate in the SHFT Trust wide Medicines Audit programme. This includes assisting with the identification of audit topics, and supporting collection and analysis of data and completing the audit cycle.
*To integrate research into practice and to implement changes required as a result of the audit cycle.
*To promote and facilitate pharmacy practice related research.
Leadership and Management
*To manage and supervise clinical pharmacists and/or pharmacy technicians, undertake staff appraisals, individual performance review/supervision and manage sickness absence.
*To identify the learning needs of their reports and work with the training lead pharmacist to plan and implement appropriate training strategies.
*To provide effective leadership and management to staff and to promote high performance standards both individually and as a team, in the achievement of the Trust's objectives and priorities.
Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.
We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.
