Clinical Pharmacist United Kingdom
Job description
The Practice-based Clinical Pharmacist will improve the quality and safety of care offered to patients of the PCN. They will have regular contact with patients and will reduce the workload of GP prescribers in the practice. They will also support the management of patients with long-term conditions.
Specifically, the Practice-based Clinical Pharmacist will develop and manage medicines optimisation services within primary care. They will work as part of a multidisciplinary team to manage medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing. They will perform face-to-face medication reviews of patients with polypharmacy; especially for those with frailty and/or with multiple co-morbidities. They will undertake face-to-face reviews of patients with specific long-term conditions that fall within their competency (such as asthma, COPD, diabetes, cardio reviews).
They will provide leadership on quality improvement and clinical audit, as well as managing aspects of medicines safety and antibiotic stewardship. They will contribute to practice financial stability through optimisation of medicines related targets in QOF, IIF and locality ECF specification delivery.
The key aims for the Clinical Pharmacist are
· Increase safety and quality of prescribed medicines
· Provide support on medicines related issues to the whole practice team
· Be a point of contact for patients regarding medicines queries
· To act as a link between pharmacists (hospital and community) and the practice
· To reduce the medicines related workload on doctors
· Work alongside the nursing team and GPs to provide holistic care
The should support the following clinical work:
The post holder will work as part of the Medicines Management and Prescribing Clinical team to improve value and outcomes from medicines and consult with and treat patients directly.This includes providing extra help to manage long-term conditions, advice for those on multiple medicines, better access to health checks and treating patients with more complex conditions.
· Chronic Disease Management (for example, managing hypertension/Type 2 Diabetes/Asthma/COPD patients, polypharmacy review)
· Medicines reconciliation on transfer between care providers
They should also support the following practice development work:
· Focusing on QoF Domains, improving disease registers
· Prescribing Safety, Clinical audit, Local Enhanced Services support
· Lead on prescription management (systems and processes, ensuring monitoring is being done, support clerical staff)
The post holder will work as part of the Medicines Management and Prescribing Clinical team to improve value and outcomes from medicines and consult with and treat patients directly. This includes providing extra help to manage long-term conditions, advice for those on multiple medicines, better access to health checks and treating patients with more complex conditions.
The post holder will provide expertise in clinical medicines review and address public health and social needs of patients in care homes and housebound whilst reducing inappropriate and wasteful prescribing through clinical medication reviews. This includes reconciling medicines following hospital discharge and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge.
Contributing to reductions in medicine related hospital admissions and readmissions by supporting patients to get the best outcomes from their medicines and identifying and addressing medicines related issues. Create an interface with community and hospital pharmacy colleagues and develop referral processes between primary care professionals.
The post holder will manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing requests for repeat prescriptions and medicines reaching review dates. They will support and train the pharmacy technician, prescription clerks and reception team.
Management of medicines at discharge from hospital.
To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into 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).
Risk Stratification
Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through practice computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both.
Repeat Prescribing
To take the lead role in the practice with regard to repeat prescribing.
Produce 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 make necessary changes within your remit as a non-prescriber and flagging to a GP where necessary.
Audit prescription clerks to ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.
Telephone and patient facing medicines support
Triage
Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
See patients requiring face-to-face medicines use reviews (MURs) — i.e. advise about medicines and adherence support & clinical medication reviews (CMRs) — i.e. a review of the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking.
Medication Review
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy and implement prescribing changes (within your remit as a non-prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests as well as producing recommendations for the GP on prescribing and monitoring.
Care Home Medication Reviews
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients in the care home with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy and implement own prescribing changes (within your remit as a non-prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests as well as producing recommendations for the GP on prescribing and monitoring.
Work with care hom staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration
Domiciliary clinical medication review
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients in their home.
Manage vulnerable housebound patients under the guidance of the lead GP for patients at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of medicines. Implement prescribing changes and ordering of monitoring tests. Produce recommendations for the GP on prescribing and monitoring.
Long Term Conditions
See patients alone in face to face clinics, with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma). To do chronic disease reviews. Adjust, stop and start initiate medications as and when appropriate. To adjust other medication as and when needed as an independent prescriber.
See patients in multi-morbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patient’s medicines, including deprescribing.
Service Development
Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advise on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).
CQC (Care Quality Commission)
Work with the practice manager and GPs to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
Undertake risk assessment and management and ensure compliance with medicines legislation
Public Health
To contribute to public health campaigns, including immunisation programmes, stop smoking and sexual health. To devise and manage public health campaigns to run at the practice. To provide specialist knowledge on Immunisations.
Cost Saving Programmes
Undertake changes to medicines (switches) 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
Answers all medicine related enquiries from GPs, receptionists and other practice staff and patients with queries about medicines.
Information Management
Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.
Medicine quality Improvements
Undertake simple audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team.
Training
Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation and repeat prescribing.
Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations
Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economy’s RAG list and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs) or subject to shared care (amber drugs).
Assist practices in setting and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practice’s computer system.
Auditing practice’s compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance.
Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.
Medicines Safety
Distribute alerts and implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
QoF Area Leads - working with the Lead GP
Working to ensure that we reach our QoF targets and achieve target payments.
Medicine Management Leads - working with the lead GP
Implementing the advice and ensuring that the practice reaches its prescribing targets and achieves the target payments.
Prescribing Process Leads
To take a lead on the processes used in the practice to prescribe and issue medication. To ensure that processes (including Emis) are safe and efficient.
OTHER
· To undertake such other duties as the organisation may reasonably require and work across MMP sites as required.
· In light of national policy / operational needs of the business, it may be necessary for the Partnership to alter the opening hours and weekend working which may effect when you are required to work. The post holder is expected to be flexible and accommodating, following consultation, in terms of any changes to future operating times.
KEY STRENGTHS
· Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role to patient care.
· Demonstrates use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues, and other professionals, other NHS/private organisations e.g. CCGs)
· Demonstrates ability to work as a member of a team; ability recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when required.
· Actively work toward developing and maintaining effective working relationships both within and outside the practice and locality.
· Foster and maintain strong links with all services across locality.
· Explores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.
· Demonstrates ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams.
· To develop and facilitate a good working relationship with community pharmacists and other local providers of healthcare.
· Liaises with CCG colleagues including CCG Pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit.
· Liaises with CCG pharmacists and Heads of Medicines Management/ Optimisation to benefit from peer support.
KEY COLLABORATIVE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
· Liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to: Patient’s GP, nurses, other practice staff, CCG pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, optometrists, dentists, health & social care teams, dieticians, Locality / GP prescribing lead, CLCH Locality managers, community nurses and other allied health professionals, community and hospital pharmacy teams, hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation. Care Home staff and the voluntary sector e.g. AgeUK when working with the frail. Receiving referrals from Locality or Practice based Social Prescribers.
ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
· To plan and organise own workload, including audit and project work, and training sessions for members of the practice team, patients, and carers.
· To record personally generated information and maintain a database of information relating to the work done in the practice(s). Personally generated information includes information and records relating to audit and clinical work undertaken by the post holder, reference notes relating to clinical/technical information. The database includes maintaining up-to-date, detailed records of all work done in the practices for which the post holder is accountable (done by the post holder or others)
· To maintain registration as a pharmacist and comply with appropriate professional codes.
· As appropriate to the post, to maintain and develop professional competence and expertise, keep up to date with medical/therapeutic evidence and opinion, and local and national service, legislation and policy developments, agree objectives and a personal development plan and participate in the appraisal process.
· To attend local, regional and national meetings of relevance as agreed with the post holder’s line manager.
· To undertake any other duties commensurate with the post holder’s grade as agreed with the post holder’s line manager.
· All employees should understand that it is their personal responsibility to comply with all organisational and statutory requirements (e.g. health and safety, equal treatment and diversity, confidentiality and clinical governance).
This job profile is intended to provide an outline of the duties and responsibilities of this post and may change from time to time by agreement within the PCN and the post holder. Following consultation post holders may be required to do other duties commensurate with their grade and experience for short periods of time.
SECURITY
It is the responsibility of all employees to work within the security policies and procedures of the practices they work at to protect the patients, staff and visitors. This duty applies to the specific work area of the individual and the practice in general. You are expected to wear ID and to sign in and out of practices you are working at.
DATA PROTECTION
This post has a confidential aspect. If you are required to obtain, process and/or use information held on a computer or word processor you should do 'it in a fair and lawful way’. You should hold data only for the specific registered purpose and not use or disclose it in any way incompatible with such a purpose and ought to disclose data only to authorised persons or organisations as instructed. Breaches of confidence in relation to data will result in disciplinary action which may involve dismissal.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
It is our aim to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less than favourable treatment on grounds of sex, marital status, race, colour, creed, religion, physical disability, mental health, learning difficulty, age or sexual orientation and is not placed at a disadvantage by conditions or requirements that cannot be shown to be justifiable. To this end all practices have an equal opportunities policy and it is for each employee to contribute to its success.
CONFIDENTIALITY
You are required to maintain confidentiality of any information concerning patients which you have access to or may be given during your work, in accordance with current policy on confidentiality at the GP Practice sites you work at.
Person Specification – Clinical Pharmacist
Qualifications
Essential
Master’s degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (Or equivalent)
Completion of, or willingness to work towards, NHS Pathway Training for Practice Pharmacists or a Clinical Pharmacy Diploma
Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
Minimum 2 years post qualification experience, demonstrated within a practice portfolio
Desirable
Independent prescriber
A member of or working towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Previous experience of providing prescribing advice or support General Practice
Experience of delivering patient clinics or services
Job Types: Full-time, Part-time, Fixed term contract
Contract length: 24 months
Part-time hours: 37.5 per week
Salary: £24.00 per hour
Benefits:
- On-site parking
Schedule:
- Monday to Friday
Work Location: One location
Application deadline: 11/03/2023
