Practice Based Clinical PharmacistNHS

Job summary

The post holder will be a pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries in general practice. The post holder will form a part of our pharmacist team and work closely together with our clinical team.

The post holder will have indemnity cover in place, provided by an appropriate body e.g.

PDA (Pharmacy Defence Association) Insurance or equivalent, arrangements to be agreed prior to commencement of role.

The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role.

The post holder will be involved in service delivery within the primary care setting.

The post holder will provide primary support to general practice staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. They will help support the repeat prescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice whilst addressing both public and social care need of the patient in the GP practice.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.

The post holder will ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcome, 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 the practice.

The post holder will have the opportunity to engage in development opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills with the aim to benefit patient care and increase the skill mix within the wider surgery team. Ongoing review of professional development will be completed with your Clinical Manager and Practice Manager to support you through your career at Consett Medical Centre.

Job description

Patient facing Long-term condition Clinics - See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g., COPD, Asthma)To include:Review the on-going need for each medicine,a review of monitoring needs, an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines

Patient facing Clinical Medication Review - Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and action appropriate changes/ produce recommendations for nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring

Patient facing care home medication reviews - Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and their carers, action appropriate changes/produce recommendations for community matron, nurses and GPs.Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration whilst also taking the opportunity to reduce waste.

Patient facing domiciliary clinical medication review - Undertake clinical medication reviews with housebound patients and their carers, action appropriate changes/produce recommendations for nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring.

Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments - Advising a cohort of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments whilst working within a scope of practice and limits of competence. Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professional where appropriate.

Telephone Medicines Support (Telephone Consultations) - Provide telephone consultations for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines. Referring to GP colleagues or other healthcare professional where appropriate. Seeking support from colleagues where appropriate

Medicine information to practice staff and patients - Answer relevant medicine related enquiries from GPs, practice staff (other healthcare professionals), other healthcare teams (e.g., community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines.

Suggesting and recommending solutions - Providing follow-up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes

Unplanned hospital admissions - Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital - To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and in 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)

Repeat Prescribing - Review Practice Repeat Prescribing Policy and make appropriate recommendations and facilitate implementation. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring in place and are engaging.

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.

Service Development - Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g., advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).

Information Management - Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making.

Medicines quality improvement - Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team

Medicines safety - Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance

Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations - Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys 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) Formulary - Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages

Education and Training - Participate in practice clinical meetings where appropriate, providing education and training to the primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Also, to provide professional leadership to other members of the pharmacy team and wider MDT.

Care Quality Commission - Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

Public Health -To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public

Collaborative Working Relationships

Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role in 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., ICBs)

Demonstrates ability to work as part of a team

Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary

Actively work toward developing and maintaining effective working relationships both within and outside of the practice and locality

Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the locality

Explore the potential for collaborative working and take opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships

Demonstrate ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams

Liaise with ICB colleagues including ICB pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit

Liaise with ICB pharmacists and Heads of Medicines Optimisation to benefit from peer support

Liaise with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to Patients GP, nurses and other practice staff, other healthcare professionals including ICB pharmacists, pharmacy technicians , optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians etc. Locality/GP Prescribing Lead, locality managers, community nurses and other allied health professionals, community and hospital pharmacy teams, hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation.

Completion of degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council

Minimum of 2 years experience as a pharmacist, demonstrated with a practice portfolio is desirable

Have experience and an awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice

To have Independent Prescribing qualification desirable or willing to obtain IP qualification

Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate

Able to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct

Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines

NB: it is anticipated level of qualification held may vary according to the level of position and the components of the role being carried out, see person specification for details

Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace

Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision

Engages with Patient participation Group (PPG) and involves PPG in development of role and practices where appropriate

Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service

Reviews yearly progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others

Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals

Promotes diversity and equality in people management techniques and leads by example

Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and or service

Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation

Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice

Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management

Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team

Critically appraise current processes where appropriate and working with the pharmacy team and the wider practice team, assist with the development of new processes.

Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process

Demonstrates ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan

Demonstrates self-development through continuous profession development activity

Participates in the delivery of informal/formal education programmes

Demonstrates an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keeps up to date with relevant clinical practice

Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development

Enrolled into review and appraisal systems within the practice

About us

Consett Medical Centre is a busy, forward-thinking GP practice serving approximately 16,000 patients in County Durham. We are committed to providing high-quality, patient-centred care through a supportive, multidisciplinary team that includes GPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Practice Nurses, Clinical Pharmacists, Healthcare Assistants, and a dedicated administrative team. We embrace innovation, collaborative working, and continuous service improvement to ensure our patients receive timely and effective care. As a training and teaching practice, we are passionate about developing our workforce and creating a positive, inclusive environment where staff are valued, supported, and encouraged to grow.