Clinical Pharmacist

Job overview

We have an exciting opportunity for a clinical pharmacist to join Staunton and Corse Surgery, which forms part of the well-established TWNS PCN award winning pharmacy team. The 5 practices are already experienced in working with clinical pharmacists and this role provides a great opportunity to join an experienced team as well as have access to national training through the NHSE Clinical training pathway. You will work closely with the clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, GPs, Community Pharmacists, Dispensary Team, Reception Team and other health professionals to promote the safe, effective and high quality, cost effective use of medicines.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, highly motivated individual with good clinical pharmacy knowledge eager for a new challenge. We welcome applicants from hospital, community or primary care background. Newly qualified pharmacists will also be considered. Please note that this post is for between 15 - 20 hours per week.

Job description

The post holder will:

Work within clinical competencies as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide expertise in Medicines Management

Provide Face to Face structured medication reviews, review of patients with polypharmacy and those with multiple co-morbidities

Manage long term conditions, medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, repeat re-authorisation and acute prescription requests

Provide leadership of quality improvement and clinical audit as well as managing some aspects of QOF in delivery of the PCN specifications

Job responsibilities

Job Summary:

To ensure that medicines management processes within the practice are optimised to achieve highly effective, safe and patient centred prescribing.

To undertake patient consultations with a focus on groups of patients with potential medication issues.

To engage in shared learning with other clinical practice pharmacists working in associated local practices to support the development of this role within the practice.

Job Responsibilities:

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital.

To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes; identify and rectify unexplained changes; manage these changes without referral to the GP; perform a clinical medication review; produce a post-discharge medicines care plan including dose titration and booking of follow-up tests, 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). 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.

Risk stratification

Design, development and implementation of computer searches to identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines. Work with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks through medicines optimisation.

Unplanned hospital admissions

Work with case managers, multidisciplinary (health and social care) review teams, hospital colleagues and virtual ward teams to manage medicines-related risk for readmission and patient harm. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.

Repeat prescribing

Reviewing, updating and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy. Assist the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates; make necessary changes and ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.

Telephone and patient facing medicines support

Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines. Hold clinics for patients requiring face-to-face structured medication reviews (SMRs) 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 changes

Care home medication reviews

Manage own caseload of care home residents. Undertake structured medication reviews with patients with multi-morbidity and polypharmacy and implement changes and order relevant monitoring tests. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

Long term condition clinics

See patients in multi-morbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines, including de-prescribing. Run own long term condition clinics for conditions where medicines have a large component (e.g. medicine optimisation for stable angina symptom control, warfarin monitoring and dose adjustment for patients requiring long term anticoagulants).

Cost saving programmes

Make recommendations and implement changes to medicines 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

Answer medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff and patients with queries about medicines. Suggesting and recommending solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

Medicines quality improvement

Identify areas of prescribing requiring improvement. Either conduct own audits and improvement projects or work with colleagues such as GP registrars. Contribute to national and local research initiatives.

Training & Shared Learning

Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Provide training to visiting medical students.

Facilitate shared learning across clinicians within the practice on medication related issues.

To engage in share learning with other clinical pharmacists and technicians working in associated local practices, to support the development of this role within the practice.

Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys Red/Amber/Green/Grey lists for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors or subject to shared care. Liaise directly with hospital colleagues where prescribing needs to be returned to specialists. Based on consideration of the contents of the Gloucestershire Joint Formulary, assist the practice in setting and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system. Suggest and develop computer decision support tools to help remind prescribers about the agreed formulary choice and local recommendations. Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Proactively provide internal communications on important prescribing messages to improve prescribers knowledge and work with the team to develop and implement other techniques known to influence implementation of evidence - such as audit and feedback.

Medicines safety

Horizon scan to identify national and local policy and guidance that affects patient safety through the use of medicines, including MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and emerging evidence form clinical trials.

About the organisation

TWNS PCN has 5 practices based in Staunton, Newent, West Cheltenham and 2 in Tewkesbury. We are led by proactive and forward thinking GPs and Business Managers who have recognised the benefit the pharmacy team can have to general practice and have worked to grow and develop the team since it was established in 2016, being early adopters through the National Pilot of Clinical Pharmacists in GP practice. The Pharmacy team were proud Clinical Pharmacy Congress 2018 winners of the Excellence in GP Practice award and "Pharmacy Team of the year" finalists in the General Practice Awards 2022. We try to place our pharmacists predominantly in one practice for continuity, and so that they successfully integrate into the practice teams, but we meet regularly to ensure that processes are similar between surgeries and support each other. This post is based in Corse. Unless already completed, the post involves enrolment onto the CPPE and NHS England led national Primary Care Pharmacy Education Pathway, which will help further develop the skills and knowledge required to fulfil day to day activities and advance the pharmacy teams role in primary care.

If you would like further information and/or to arrange an informal discussion about the role, please email our GP Partner: brenton.fisher1@nhs.net

Person specification

Experience

Desirable

• Experience of working in a GP practice or primary care

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent) registration with General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

• Clinical Pharmacy Diploma or equivalent training Independent Prescriber completed or enrolled onto CPPE/NHSE pathway