Clinical Pharmacist - Part-Time - Maternity CoverNHS

Job summary

As a Clinical Pharmacist, you will be an integral part of the PCN and practice teams. Working closely with the clinical teams and other primary care colleagues in the practice and within the primary care network (PCN) to support patient care, develop best practice and provide mutual support.

Our pharmacy team spend part of their time in one of our member practices (Rush Hill Surgery) and the remaining time at the Pharmacy Team Hub, which is based in our Beehive site.

Applications from candidates that have completed a Primary Care Pathway/CPPE are particularly welcome.

We are looking for a colleague to work 2-3 days per week (15/16 hours pw) for a maternity cover role that is expected to last apprx 12 months.

For informal enquiries, please contact our Senior Clinical Pharmacist [email protected]

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work as part of a practice multi-disciplinary team, primarily in a patient-facing role and support the team with:

• Medicines optimization in the practice/PCN
• Clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy, especially for older people, people in residential care homes and those with multiple co-morbidities.
• Provide primary support to general practice staff across the PCN regards to prescription and medication queries.
• Support the repeat prescriptions system through dealing with acute prescription requests, medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing.
• Provide expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both public and social care needs of patients in the GP practice/s.
• The post holder will provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement.
• The postholder will be working towards or utilising their non-medical prescribing qualification.
• The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice.

Job description

Patient facing long-term condition clinics

Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role to clinically assess and review patients with single or multiple long-term conditions where medicines optimisation is required.

Responsibility for prescribing, or completing training to become a prescriber, for conditions where medicines have a large component.

Review the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines.

Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicines optimization.

Patient facing clinical medication review

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy and implement own prescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests. Patient facing care home/residential clinical medication reviews

Be part of the MDT managing the caseload of care home residents. Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy and implement own prescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests.

Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments

Be part of the MDT managing the caseload and signposting where appropriate for patients presenting with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence.

Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Patient facing medicines support

Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice. Telephone medicines support

Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology test results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.

Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer all medicine related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other Healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients. Suggest and recommend solutions.

Provide follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

Unplanned hospital admissions

Work with practice teams to devise and implement practice searches to identify cohorts of patients most likely to be at risk of an unplanned admission, readmissions and harm from medicines.

Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes, and manage these changes without referral to a GP.

Perform clinical medication reviews, produce post discharge medicines care plans including dose titration and booking of follow up tests, and 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 (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Where necessary, work in partnership with hospital colleagues (e.g. 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.

Repeat prescribing

Manage the repeat prescribing re-authorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates; make necessary changes as an independent prescriber, and ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.

Risk stratification

Design, develop and implement computer searches to identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines.

Utilising Ardens and where necessary identifying appropriate of risk stratification tools on behalf of the practice.

Working with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks through medicines.

About us

Minerva Primary Care Network (PCN) is a group of 4 GP practices located in Bath consisting of Combe Down Surgery, Newbridge Surgery, Rush Hill & Weston Surgery and St Michaels Surgery. We have a combined list size of 40,000 patients and we continue to grow.

We have a strong, happy and successful history of working collaboratively and have a number of staff successfully working across all our practices. Collectively we have a strong focus on high quality patient care.

We currently have a team of 7 Clinical Pharmacists (3.8 WTE) and 3 Pharmacy Technicians (2.76 WTE) and we are looking for a team member to cover a period of maternity leave.