Clinical PharmacistNHS

Job summary

The post-holder is a Clinical Pharmacist.

The Clinical Pharmacist acts within their professional boundaries, working alongside a team of pharmacists in general practice within the PCN.

They will improve patients health outcomes and the efficiency of the primary care team by providing direct, accessible and timely medicines and expertise including face to face contact with patients.

The post-holder will be an integral part of the general practice team, as well as part of a wider pharmacist network and multi-disciplinary team. This includes being a conduit of patients medicine information into and out of hospitals. They will work to optimise medication issues to improve patient care and safety, and support clinical staff in the management of patients.

Main duties of the job

Main duties of the job: Key responsibilities of the role include:

undertaking face to face medication reviews and management of patients with chronic diseases and those with complex polypharmacy;

managing medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing;

clinical assessment and treatment of patients using expert knowledge of medicines in specific disease areas;

working with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks through medicines optimisation;

providing specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address public health and social care needs and tackling inequalities across the Primary Care Network

developing relationships and working closely with other pharmacy professionals across the wider health and social care economy;

providing leadership on person centred medicines optimisation and quality improvement.

Job description

The following are the core responsibilities of the Clinical Pharmacist delivering health services.

a. Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using their expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas

b. Be a prescriber

c. Be responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially the elderly, people in care homes, those with multiple co-morbidities (in particular frailty, COPD and asthma) and people with learning disabilities or autism (through STOMP Stop Over Medication Programme)

d. Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients at the organisation and to help in tackling inequalities

e. Provide leadership on person-centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the practice conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, whilst contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services

f. Through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care

g. Have a leadership role in supporting further integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including community and hospital pharmacy) to help to improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help to manage general practice workload

h. Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across the wider health and social care system

i. Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists, and anticoagulation

i. Each Clinical Pharmacist will have access to an assigned GP clinical supervisor for support and development

j. Act as the point of contact for all medicine related matters, establishing positive working relationships

k. Consult patients within defined levels of competence and independently prescribe acute and repeat medication

l. Receive referrals and directed patients from triage services and other clinicians

m. Receive and resolve medicines queries from patients and other staff

n. Provide medication review services for patients in the practice and during domiciliary visits to the local nursing home

o. Manage a caseload of complex patients

p. Manage a therapeutic drug monitoring system and the recall of patients taking high risk drugs, i.e., anticoagulants, anticonvulsants and DMARDs, etc.

q. Deliver long term condition clinics and home visits, particularly for patients with complicated medication regimes, and prescribe accordingly

r. Provide pharmaceutical consultations to patients with long term conditions as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team

s. Review medications for newly registered patients

t. Improve patient and carer understanding of confidence in and compliance with their medication

u. Maintain accurate clinical records in conjunction with extant legislation

1. Encourage cost-effective prescribing throughout the organisation

2. Implement and embed a robust repeat prescribing system

3. Provide advice and answer medication related queries from patients and staff

4. Organise and oversee the organisations medicines optimisation systems, including the repeat prescribing and medication review systems

5. Improve the quality and effectiveness of prescribing through clinical audit and education, to improve performance against NICE standards and clinical and prescribing guidance.

6. Develop yourself and the role through participation in clinical supervision, training and service redesign activities

7. Provide subject matter expertise on medication monitoring, implementing and embedding a system

8. Ensure appropriate supervision of safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs. Apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines

9. Actively signpost patients to the correct healthcare professional

10. Manage a caseload of complex patients and potential care institutions and to provide advice for the GP management of more complex patients or areas such as addictive behaviours, severe mental illness or end of life care

11. Review the latest guidance, ensuring the organisation conforms to NICE, CQC etc.

12. Be aware of duties and responsibilities regarding current legislation and adhere to practice policies and procedures for safeguarding adults and safeguarding children

13. Provide targeted support and proactive reviews for vulnerable, complex patients and those at risk of admission and re-admission to secondary care

14. Handle prescription queries and requests directly

15. Provide proactive leadership on medicines and prescribing systems to the organisation, patients and their carers

16. Support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the organisation

17. Participate in the management of patient complaints when requested to do so, and participate in the identification of any necessary learning brought about through clinical incidents and near-miss events

18. Undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes

19. Contribute to and embrace the spectrum of clinical governance

20. Attend a formal appraisal with your manager at least every 12 months. Once a performance/training objective has been set, progress will be reviewed on a regular basis so that new objectives can be agreed

21. Contribute to public health campaigns (e.g., COVID-19 or flu clinics) through advice or direct care

22. Maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times

There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks, this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels

About us

We are a large, friendly, well organised, and forward thinking GMS training practice located in the heart of the beautiful City of Durham. With a list size of over 33,300 patients, half of which are students from the University, we are looking to recruit a clinical pharmacist.

The post-holder is a Clinical Pharmacist and is an integral part of the general practice team, working within their professional boundaries.

If you are friendly and enthusiastic with excellent communication skills, as well as the ability to work confidently and effectively in a diverse and sometimes challenging environment, you could be just the person we are looking for!

Our fantastic team includes:

GP Partners, Salaried GPs, Nurse Practitioners, Practice Nurses, HCAs, GP Assistants, CPNs, Physios, SPLWs and an experienced and proactive administrative and management team.