Pharmacist (Primary Care) - Quays Medical Practice in Neath

Practice Based Clinical Pharmacist

LOCATION: Briton Ferry Health Centre

ACCOUNTABLE TO: Partners (Clinically/Professionally), Practice Manager (Managerially)

POST STATUS: Permanent

JOB PURPOSE: To improve the quality and effectiveness of medicines management within the practice. To provide patient focused, prudent healthcare. To promote medicines safety and review polypharmacy. To develop the practice pharmacist role, becoming a core member of the practice team, working effectively with other health and social care professionals delivering services to patients.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Responsibility for leading and delivering a specialised medicines management service within the practice.
• For independent prescribers: To work as an independent prescriber within own scope of practice. As a registered independent non-medical prescriber to prescribe medicines for patients working within practice guidelines/procedures.
• To ensure prescribing activities comply with legal requirements and GPhCs guidance for non-medical prescribers.
• To monitor own prescribing activities and participate in the evaluation of this service development.
• Responsible for developing and managing systematic medication and polypharmacy reviews, which will take into account social and practical issues for the patient as well as clinical elements.
• To provide medicines optimisation in chronic disease management e.g. heart failure, chronic pain management, AF, respiratory etc.
• To develop pharmaceutical care plans for individual patients as appropriate e.g. targeting those with frequent admissions/exacerbations/frail elderly etc.
• To undertake medicines reconciliation following admission or discharge and patient moving into/out of care homes and those newly registered with the practice, following up medication related issues with the patient or other professionals.
• Review and action appropriate recommendations from Medicines Use Reviews/Discharge Medication reviews identified by community pharmacists.
• To work autonomously in a variety of settings including practice based clinics, care homes and patients own homes as appropriate to meet the needs of the patient.
• To support public health and health promotion activities, including smoking cessation, administration of flu vaccinations and antibiotic campaigns.
• To act as the liaison with Community Pharmacy and Secondary Care Pharmacists to resolve relevant medication issues.
• To resolve and action medication queries from practice staff and patients relating to prescription requests or problems identified through the repeat prescribing service.
• To have direct patient contact which may include dealing with occasionally distressing or emotional circumstances, including contact with terminally ill patients and their relatives or carers.
• To be accountable for own professional actions, in line with local and national guidelines and medicines legislation.

Improving Medicines Management and Safety:

• Responsibility for leading and delivering a specialised pharmacy service.
• To review clinical correspondence from secondary care to ensure recommendations to initiate new medicines adhere to the formulary and local guidance and take necessary action where appropriate.
• To deal with highly complex drug or medication related information including challenging prescribing behaviour not in line with health board or national recommendations.
• To review existing and develop new repeat prescribing policies including employing mechanisms to reduce medicines waste.
• To lead, develop and undertake clinical audit relating to medicines.
• To ensure appropriate management of controlled drugs within the practice and to advise the team on the safe and secure handling of controlled drugs and other medicines, ensuring compliance with medicines legislation.
• To lead on yellow card reporting.
• To undertake medicines re-authorisations as part of the repeat prescribing system.
• To ensure safe, evidence based and cost-effective prescribing in accordance with national and locally agreed standards and priorities, e.g. implementation of NICE guidelines, All Wales Medicines Strategy Group recommendations and Safety Agency alerts and warnings.
• To target review of medicines known to cause a high number of adverse drug events and admissions e.g. hypnotics, anticoagulants, NSAIDs.
• To develop and implement policies to improve medicines management services e.g. establish clear recall systems to meet monitoring requirements for drugs.
• To investigate medicines related incidents to learn and improve practice within a culture of continuous improvement.
• To contribute to delivery of GMS Quality and Outcomes Framework.
• To contribute to/manage relevant enhanced services e.g. shared care drugs, anticoagulation.
• To make recommendations on prescribing choices, budget expenditure and risk management where appropriate, without detriment to patient care.

Education and Communication:

• To provide professional and expert advice to GPs, nurses, practice staff and patients on all aspects of drug treatment (doses, monitoring, interactions, side-effects etc.).
• To develop and provide expert clinical advice to clinical meetings including educational sessions for the practice team.
• To explore and implement ways to effectively educate and involve patients regarding their medicines.
• To co-ordinate and develop appropriate and educational material including producing patient information leaflets and posters and run medicine awareness projects.
• To convey complex therapeutic and clinical information to GPs, practice staff, care providers, community pharmacists, unqualified healthcare workers and patients in a suitable manner and format.

Partnership Working:

• To develop excellent professional links with relevant health and social care colleagues including community pharmacists, community resource and domiciliary care teams, care homes, carers, acute care colleagues etc.
• To network with other practice based pharmacists to share best practice.
• To work closely with health board medicines management teams to ensure awareness of local and national priorities and initiatives.
• To contribute to the delivery of Neighbourhood Care Network (NCN) and practice delivery plans.