Job responsibilities
JOB PURPOSE
The post holder will work within their clinical competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines optimisation across the PCN. This will include structured medication reviews with direct patient contact and may include contributing to:
Enhancing Health in Care Homes
Management of long-term conditions
Minor illness
Management of medicines on transfer of care
Reviewing systems for safer prescribing
Contributing to repeat prescription authorisations and reauthorisation
Actioning acute prescription requests
Addressing both the public health and social care needs of patients
Contributing to achievement of QOF, PCN contracts and quality improvement schemes
Undertaking clinical audit
The post-holder will provide support to any clinical pharmacists employed in the PCN in the future.
The specifics of the role in each PCN will be worked up between the post-holder and the PCN.
The post holder will be supported by a GP clinical mentor and the Lead Pharmacist at Wye Valley NHS Trust. They will also engage with pharmacy colleagues across Herefordshire for peer support.
The Pharmacist will ensure that PCN Practices integrate with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare, and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice.
The post holder will be supported to develop their role to become a non-medical prescriber, if that qualification is not already held, and will be required to enroll on the General Practice Pharmacist Training Pathway from CPPE, unless an equivalent qualification is already held or exemption is agreed by CPPE.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
Please note this is a list of options, it is not exhaustive and which options are deployed will be decided by the individual PCN, in conjunction with the clinical pharmacist. It is however mandated by NHS England that this role is patient- facing in nature.
1. Patient facing Clinical Medication Review
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and work within your scope of practice as an independent prescriber (where trained) to implement any necessary changes (or produce recommendations for/refer to other prescribing pharmacists, nurses and/or GPs to implement if outside your scope). These reviews could be cohort based, in care homes, polypharmacy or any other area required by the PCN, within the pharmacists competence. Home visits may be required.
2. Medicines quality improvement
Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas identified by yourself and agreed by the PCN or as directed by the PCN, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the relevant practice team.
Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through computer searches.
This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.
3. Medicines safety
Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
4. Leadership and management
You will be expected to contribute to the leadership of medicines-related issues for the PCN and:
Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and implement this appropriately within the workplace.
Demonstrate understanding of, and contribute to, the workplace vision
Demonstrate ability to improve quality within limitations of service
Review progress yearly and develop clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.
Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals
Demonstrate ability to lead a team and provide support to other clinical pharmacists
Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or service and manage the team through these changes
Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation
Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice
Demonstrate ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol
Follow professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management
Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team
Lead and mentor a team of differing abilities
5. Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments
Managing caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence. Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.
6. Patient facing medicines support
Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
7. Telephone medicines support
Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
8. Management of medicines at change of care setting
Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospital or admission to intermediate care or care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge. Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in Care Homes).
9. Medicine information to practice staff and patients
Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network staff, other healthcare
teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines. Suggest and recommend solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.
10. Drug monitoring
Ensure robust systems are in place for drug monitoring at each practice across the PCN, streamlining these where possible. Understand and apply the traffic light classifications for prescribing in the Herefordshire Health Economy.
11. Signposting
Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.
12. Repeat prescribing
Ensure each practice in the PCN has a robust repeat prescribing policy, and streamline these across the PCN where possible. You may be asked to contribute to the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring in place when required.
13. Service development
Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the implementation and delivery of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).
14. Information management
Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.
15. Education and Training
Understand and demonstrate the characteristics of a role model to members in the team and/or service
Demonstrate understanding of the mentorship process
Demonstrate ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan with supervision from more experience colleague
Demonstrate self-development through continuous professional development activity
Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes
Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keeps up to date with relevant clinical practice
16. Care Quality Commission
Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
17. Public health
Support public health campaigns. Provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.
18. Special working conditions
The post holder is required to travel independently between work sites and to attend meetings etc hosted by other agencies.
The post-holder will have contact with body fluids, i.e. wound exudates, urine etc while in clinical practice.
The post-holder may need to visit patients in their own home.
COMMUNICATION AND WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
Work collaboratively with their PCN Clinical Director.
Participate in the PCN MDT.
Liaise with the Lead Pharmacist to access professional support and access training and development opportunities
Liaise with ICB colleagues on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit
Engage with other GP-employed pharmacists for peer support.
Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks.
Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.
Liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients, including but not limited to:
oPatients and their representatives
oGP, nurses and other practice staff
oSocial prescribers, first contact physiotherapists, physicians associates and paramedics.
oCommunity pharmacists and support staff
oLocality / GP prescribing lead
oLocality managers
oCommunity nurses and other allied health professionals
oHospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation
oCare home staff
This job description may be amended by management through consultation with the post holder in order to reflect changes in, or to, the job.
