PCN Clinical PharmacistNHS
Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a part-time (24 hours) Clinical Pharmacist to be part of our existing team of healthcare professionals supporting the Cramlington & Seaton Valley Primary Care Network (PCN).
Main duties of the job
The post holder is a Clinical Pharmacist who acts within their professional boundaries, working alongside a team of Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians in general practice and within the Primary Care Network (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, working in each practice and across the PCN, as well as part of a wider pharmacist network and multidisciplinary team. This includes being a conduit of patient medicines 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.
As part of their employment, the post holder will achieve qualifications from an accredited training pathway, including independent prescribing, equipping the clinical pharmacist to be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting.
Job description
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
Be a prescriber, or completing training to become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team
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 the Stop Over Medication Programme)
Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients at the PCNs practice(s) and to help in tackling inequalities
Provide leadership on person-centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the organisation conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, whilst contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services
Through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care
Have a leadership role in supporting further integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including community and hospital pharmacy) to help improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage general practice workload
Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across PCNs and the wider health and social care system
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
Be part of a professional clinical network and have access to appropriate clinical supervision. Appropriate clinical supervision means:
Each clinical pharmacist must receive a minimum of one supervision session per month by a senior clinical pharmacist
The senior clinical pharmacist must receive a minimum of one supervision session every three months by a GP clinical supervisor
Each clinical pharmacist will have access to an assigned GP clinical supervisor for support and development
A ratio of one senior clinical pharmacist to no more than five junior clinical pharmacists, with appropriate peer support and supervision in place.
To act as the PCN point of contact for all medicine related matters, establishing positive working relationships
To liaise with the practices and, where practicable, to standardise the medicines management process across the PCN
To consult patients within defined levels of competence and independently prescribe acute and repeat medication
To receive referrals and directed patients from triage services and other clinicians
To receive and resolve medicines queries from patients and other staff
To provide medication review services for patients in the practice and during domiciliary visits to the local nursing home
To manage a caseload of complex patients
To manage a therapeutic drug monitoring system and the recall of patients taking high risk drugs, i.e., anticoagulants, anticonvulsants and DMARDs etc.
To deliver long term conditions clinics and home visits particularly for patients with complicated medication regimes and prescribe accordingly
To provide pharmaceutical consultations to patients with long term conditions as an integral part of the multi-disciplinary team
To review medications for newly registered patients
To improve patient and carer understanding of confidence in and compliance with their medication
To encourage cost-effective prescribing throughout the PCN
To liaise with practices and implement and embed a robust repeat prescribing system for use across all practices
To provide advice and answer medication related queries from patients and staff
To organise and oversee the PCNs medicines optimisation systems including the repeat prescribing and medication review systems
To improve the quality and effectiveness of prescribing through clinical audit and education to improve performance against NICE standards and clinical and prescribing guidance
To develop yourself and the role through participation in clinical supervision, training and service redesign activities
To ensure appropriate supervision of safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs. To apply infection-control measures within the practice according to local and national guidelines
To provide subject matter expertise on medication monitoring, implementing and embedding a system
To support clinicians with the management of patients suffering from drug and alcohol dependencies
To actively signpost patients to the correct healthcare professional
To 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
To review the latest guidance ensuring the organisation conforms to NICE, CQC etc.
To provide targeted support and proactive reviews for vulnerable, complex patients and those at risk of admission and re-admission to secondary care
To handle prescription queries and requests directly
To provide proactive leadership on medicines and prescribing systems to the PCN multidisciplinary team, patients and their carers
To support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements on behalf of the PCN
To 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
To undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes
To contribute to and embrace the spectrum of clinical governance
To 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
To contribute to public health campaigns (e.g., COVID-19 or flu clinics) through advice or direct care
To maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times.
In addition to the primary responsibilities, the Clinical Pharmacist may be requested to:
Support delivery of QOF, incentive schemes, QIPP and other quality or cost effectiveness initiatives
Agree and review prescribing formularies and protocols and monitor compliance levels
Improve the data quality of medicines records and linking to conditions
Deliver training, mentoring and guidance to other clinicians and staff on medicine issues
Working in partnership with pharmacists and clinicians in hospital(s), improve the safety and quality of prescribing after discharge from hospital admissions and attendance
Provide leadership and support to prescription administrative/dispensary staff
Produce pharmacy/prescribing newsletters or bulletins on a quarterly basis
Develop a specialist area of interest
Work with community pharmacists, hospital pharmacists and other stakeholders in the medicines supply chain to improve patient experience and manage incidents
Support virtual and remote models of consultation and support including e-consultations, remote medication review and telehealth and telemedicine
Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role, ensuring that work is delivered in a timely and effective manner
Duties may vary from time to time without changing the general character of the post or the level of responsibility
About us
Our PCN comprises of 4 GP practices who work together to deliver services that improve outcomes for our combined population of around 32,000 registered patients. You will be at the forefront of driving this valuable expansion and collaboration of the primary care services across the four practices in the Network.