Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Specialist Lead Pharmacist For IMC HICAF

This job is now closed

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Specialist Lead Pharmacist to join our Halton Intermediate Care and Frailty Service (HICaFS). The innovative multidisciplinary service was launched February 2020 and has developed an innovative integrated approach to health and social care for eligible adults by providing comprehensive, holistic assessments, designed to keep them independent both at home or in their community care setting for longer whilst maintaining their quality of life.

The pivotal and highly recognised role will lead and support the medicines optimisation aspects of the service, providing specialist advice to patients and other healthcare professionals; undertaking comprehensive patient centred structured medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex problematic polypharmacy, particularly the elderly and those with multiple conditions.

To join the team you will need to have a passion for patient care and be able to work as part of a diverse multidisciplinary team. You should be resilient, adaptable, caring and keen to contribute to service development. Ideally you will have experience working in primary and secondary care, and be confident in liaising with a wide range of health and social care providers to have a positive impact on patient care.

You must also be prepared to travel having access to your own transport (travel expenses reimbursed)

Main duties of the job

The Specialist Lead pharmacist will be responsible for working with the whole team to deliver safe and effective systems for medicines optimisation including appropriate prescribing, de-prescribing, and rationalisation in the context of improving medication safety and reducing waste. You will also be responsible for providing formal training / education for other healthcare professionals within the HICaFS and for patients within the service on medicines use, polypharmacy and deprescribing for frail elderly patients.

We are looking for someone to work three days per week (but additional hours may be possible), working across the interface with primary and secondary care building excellent relationships with community, practice based and hospital colleagues. You will be managed day to day by the HICaF Service lead, with professional supervision and support from our well-established Medicines Management team at the Trust.

If you are interested in this role and would like to find out more, please get in touch with us:

Jimmy Cheung, Head of Medicines Management, Bridgewater Community NHS Trust, jimmy.cheung@nhs.net

Lydia Vallance-Prentice, HiCAFS Clinical Manager, Bridgewater Community NHS Trust, lydia.vallance-prentice1@nhs.net

About us

Our organisation is driven by our strategic objectives and organisational values and we look for people who are strongly aligned with them.

Here at Bridgewater our shared values flow through the organisation.

P- Person-centred not only in respect to our patients but our leaders follow a person centred approach to staff members allowing empowerment and well-being throughout our service.

E- Encouraging innovation allows all our staff to be creative, you will be joining a team that can help you achieve your goals whilst providing high standards of individualised care

O- Open - We are part of an NHS organisation who wants to be open and honest with our patients and also our staff members.

P- Professionalism in nursing / Healthcare requires a Healthcare Worker to adopt a holistic and optimistic (yet still pragmatic) view on any situation, and always aim to help others above all else

L- Location - Our bases are in the heart of the community we serve allowing a greater understanding of the health inequalities our residents face

E- Efficient and tight knit our teams work well together we have a productive atmosphere which creates a positive working environment

Date posted

24 February 2023

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£48,526 to £54,619 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

C9835-HA22-209c

Job locations

Oaks Place Surgery

Caldwell Road

Widnes

Cheshire

WA8 7GD

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Specialist Lead Pharmacist will develop, maintain and manage a medicines optimisation service to frail, complex older people and, in collaboration with a wide range of clinical colleagues, will lead and facilitate a patient focused, co-ordinated case management approach across primary care for people who are most vulnerable to, and at high risk of, repeat admissions to hospital.

The Specialist Lead Pharmacist will participate in and influence effort across health and social services to shape multi-disciplinary pathways designed to support patient choice, improve quality of life, promote self-management and assure early intervention through the proactive provision of pharmaceutical support in or as close to the patient’s own home as possible.

Whilst directly providing advanced clinical pharmaceutical knowledge and skills, as a Frailty Practitioner, they will contribute to the management of acutely unwell housebound patients within the practice populations, liaising primarily with the GPs, Consultant Geriatrician, practice nurses and community nurses who will identify patients requiring “on the day” intervention.

The Specialist Lead Pharmacist will support the process for the identification and prioritisation of patients to have a medicines review, participate in these reviews and rationalise drug therapy for individual patients with complex medication regimens in conjunction with medical, nursing and social care staff.

The Specialist Lead Pharmacist will participate in the educational and training sessions; clinical supervision; research, audit as well as quality and service improvement, ensuring high quality, effective management of patients.

The post holder will abide by legal requirements and statutory rules relating to their practice maintaining standards of professional practice in accordance with the GPhC Standards.

Clinical Responsibilities:

To perform complex pharmaceutical reviews and Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) on identified patients to promote patients’ independence with medicines. Request, interpret and act upon relevant diagnostic tests and procedures.

Act as a pharmaceutical expert providing continuous support to the Specialist Frailty Practitioners and other multidisciplinary team (MDT) members within and outside the designated area of work.

Prescribe medication in accordance with current legislation and Trust policy.

Review ePACT data prescribing data for the service and help address any outlying drug expenditure to support budget setting.

Review stock medication and provide advice for safe and secure storage of medication in the patient’s own home or other settings.

Participate in the education and training of nursing staff, medical staff and other health and social care professionals, as appropriate.

Liaise with community pharmacists, other primary care professionals including social care, and patient carers on the continuing supply and management of discharge medication.

Provide advice and information on new drugs and new treatment strategies, policies and guidelines. To participate in the development and audit of drug related clinical guidelines, and to ensure that the principles of evidence-based medicine are applied to these.

Undertake projects that will improve the quality of patient care and/or contribute to effective drugs budget management in the service.

Undertake Continuing Professional Development in accordance with Trust & General Pharmaceutical Council guidelines.

Carry out any other reasonable duties as requested by the Trust’s Head of Medicines Management.

Operational Management of the Service:

Ensure that patients and carer’s comments, concerns and complaints are appropriately and proactively managed including investigation and feedback.

Attend regular multidisciplinary meetings to plan and contribute to clinical audit and make recommendations on drug therapy of patients in specialist area.

Professional Leadership and Managerial Responsibilities:

Ensuring the patient experience remains the focal point for service improvement within the Directorate. Demonstrate and promote effective communications and relationships within the Acute and Community services sharing good practice and innovation. Develop strategies for quality improvement in collaboration with Clinical Lead and Directorate Manager, setting and maintaining high clinical and pharmaceutical standards. Proactively participate in the development of care pathways. Provide pharmaceutical support to complaints and SIRI/SUI investigations.

Provide support for staff in relation to staff development and complaints. Participate in the recruitment and selection of staff. Lead/guide clinical staff in the appropriate and timely care of the patient.

Provide an effective leadership role in contributing to own departmental issue pertaining to clinical governance agendas and shared governance within the Trust e.g. maintaining standards, risk management, clinical audit and research, standard setting, benchmarking, evidence based practice, etc.

The post holder must be flexible in the duties performed and it is expected that similar duties, not specifically listed above, will be carried out as required and may be cross site.

This list of duties is not intended to be exhaustive, but indicates the main areas of work and may be subject to change after consultation with the post-holder to meet the changing needs of the organisation