Job responsibilities
Main Duties and Responsibilities
To maintain registration as a pharmacist and comply with appropriate professional codes To plan and organise own workload including audit project work and provide training sessions for other members of the multidisciplinary team Maintain and develop professional competence and expertise keep up to date with medical and therapeutic evidence and opinion and local and national service legislation and policy developments To develop and facilitate good working relationships with community pharmacists and other stakeholders Attend local regional and national meetings of relevance Undertake any other duties commensurate with the post holders grade as agreed with the locality and practice lead GPs All employees should understand that it is their personal responsibility to comply with all organisational and statutory requirements such as health and safety equal treatment and diversity confidentiality and clinical governance
Clinical Responsibilities Management of medicines after discharge from hospital To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals intermediate care and into care homes Identify and rectify unexplained changes manage these changes without referral to the GP Perform a clinical medication review produce a post-discharge medicines care plan including dose titration and booking of follow-up tests Work 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 such as those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes Work in partnership with hospital colleagues such as care of the elderly doctors and clinical pharmacists to proactively manage patients at high risk of medicine-related problems before they are discharged to ensure continuity of care
Risk stratification Design develop and implement clinical system searches to identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines Work with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks through medicines optimisation Implement local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys red amber green grey lists for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors or subject to shared care Liaise directly with hospital colleagues where prescribing needs to be returned to specialists Suggest and develop computer decision support tools to help remind prescribers about the agreed formulary choice and local recommendations Audit practices compliance with NICE guidance Proactively provide practice communications on important prescribing messages to improve prescribers knowledge and work with the team to develop and implement other techniques known to influence implementation of evidence
Medicines safety Identify national and local policy and guidance that affects patient safety through the use of medicines including MHRA alerts product withdrawals and emerging evidence from clinical trials Coordinate the process of implementing changes to medicines and guidance for practitioners
Unplanned hospital admissions Devise and implement practice clinical system searches to identify cohorts of patients most likely to be at risk of an unplanned admission and readmissions from medicines Work with multiprofessional health and social care review teams to manage medicines-related risk for readmission and patient harm Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups Coordinate with practice MDTs to provide high level care to patients in care homes those with high risk of admission and identified frailty patients Attend care homes regularly to review any issues concerning medication and perform medication reviews with residents as appropriate
Repeat prescribing Review update and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates
Medication review Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy Assess suitability of drugs identify adverse effects encourage compliance and appropriate medication use Order relevant monitoring tests following NICE guidance local and national policies and practice based clinical procedures
Telephone and patient facing medicines support Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions queries and concerns about their medicines Hold clinics for patients requiring face to face clinical medication reviews such as a review of the ongoing need for each medicine a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking Identify people at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of medicines Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary team meetings as required
Clinical medication reviews Scope to provide pharmacist led clinics with the practice ideally as an independent prescriber For example hypertension or medication review clinics dependent on the needs of the practice
Care home medication reviews Manage own caseload of care home residents if required by the practice Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary team meetings as required
Domiciliary medication review Manage own caseload of vulnerable housebound patients Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity polypharmacy and at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of medicines Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary team meetings as required
Long term condition clinics See patients in multimorbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines including deprescribing
Service development After discussion and agreement with the Locality Lead Practice develop and manage new services following local and national recommendations This may include new medicines or NICE guidance where new medicine recommendations allow the development of a new care pathway such as new oral anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation
Care Quality Commission Provide leadership to the practice manager and GPs to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved
Cost saving programmes Make recommendations for support and supervise practice prescribing clerks Make changes to medicines designed to save on medicine costs where a medicine or product with lower acquisition cost is now available
Medicine information to practice staff and patients Answer all medicine related enquiries from GPs practice staff and patients whilst suggesting and recommending solutions Provide follow ups for patients to monitor the effect of any changes
Medicines quality improvement Identify and provide leadership on areas of prescribing requiring improvement Either conduct own audits and improvement projects or work with colleagues such as GP registrars Present results and provide leadership on suggested change Contribute to national and local research initiatives
Training and shared learning Provide education and training to primary healthcare teams on therapeutics and medicines optimisation Facilitate shared learning across the practices on medication related issues offering professional support and leadership
Administration and professional responsibilities To work within the professional code and other directives as defined by your relevant professional body Work autonomously and be accountable for his or her professional actions To develop and maintain an up to date personal development plan Be responsible for remaining uptodate with CPD requirements to maintain professional registration To ensure own mandatory and statutory training certificates are current and in line with the organisational policy Undertake any recertification and patient care training as required by West Locality Group Highlight any gaps in knowledge or training needs to the Locality Lead Practice to allow them the opportunity to offer support in order to fulfil the duties of this post To offer clinical leadership support and training to colleagues and students To participate in clinical supervision To demonstrate a clear understanding of the accountability and legal implications of the role To participate in relevant service evaluation and improvement processes To participate in a regular performance review using agreed competency framework appropriate to the individuals scope of practice Develop and apply the best available research evidence and evaluative and reflective thinking in all practices To maintain and maximise patient confidentiality dignity and privacy To comply with equal opportunities policies and procedures To comply with health and safety and infection control policies including use of personal protective equipment where supplied To maintain a professional attitude and public image at all times Participate in the administrative and professional responsibilities of the practice team Ensure accurate and legible notes of all consultations and treatments are recorded in the patients notes Ensure the clinical computer system is kept up to date with accurate details recorded and amended Ensure accurate completion of all necessary documentation associated with patient health care and registration with the practice Ensure collection and maintenance of statistical information required for regular and ad hoc reports and audit Attend and participate in practice and locality meetings as required Report any problems to the Operations Manager
Supplies and equipment Maintenance of equipment and stock relating to patient care
