Formulary Pharmacist in Rhyl

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE WILL ONLY ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FROM STAFF CURRENTLY EMPLOYED BY BETSI CADWALADR UNIVERSITY HEALTH BOARD. THIS POST IS FIXED TERM/SECONDMENT FOR 10 MONTHS DUE TO MATERNITY COVER. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN APPLYING FOR THE SECONDMENT POSITION, YOU MUST OBTAIN PERMISSION FROM YOUR CURRENT LINE MANAGER PRIOR TO APPLYING FOR THIS POST.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Pharmacy team for a dynamic and motivated person to join us to support the challenging work of the BCUHB Drug & Therapeutic Group in coordinating the safe managed introduction of new and effective drugs into the BCUHB Formulary and health economy across North Wales. As the Formulary Lead Pharmacist, you will be expected to support the process of implementing any NICE and AWMSG approved drug in BCU from the initial horizon scanning stage, through the identification of its true place in the treatment pathway to assessing its impact to the local economy and then finally the ongoing drug use monitoring in BCUHB going forward. This process would also be undertaken for any request for formulary inclusion of a drug not being considered for appraisal by NICE or AWMSG. The role will also support the further development of treatment guidelines and evidence based supporting documents to ensure robust governance is in place in relation to formulary drug prescribing in BCUHB.

The post holder is expected to have a good level of interpersonal skills to communicate effectively and work independently to prioritise a multitude of conflicting tasks effectively. The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.

Main duties of the job

• Responsible for delivering, managing and developing the Health Community’s formulary development plan and management of the introduction of new drugs, including horizon scanning for new developments and the functioning of the Drug & Therapeutic Group (DTG).
• To be responsible for organisation of the DTG including providing the secretariat and being an executive member.
• Develop strategies to support improvements in medicines management, with the aim of reducing risk, improving quality and promoting cost effective prescribing across the whole health community.
• Provide highly complex and specialist pharmaceutical advice relating to professional, legal, prescribing and clinical issues to health care professionals.
• Responsible for driving the implementation of relevant NICE and AWMSG guidance relating to medicines across the Health Board.
• Provide highly complex expert advice on pharmaceutical matters through the development of prescribing guidance across both primary and secondary care, to include shared care protocols where appropriate.
• To support and facilitate the development of professional networks across primary and secondary care and with neighbouring health boards, in order to resolve prescribing issues.

Working for our organisation

Enjoy being part of working with engaged leadership at all levels, and be assured we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and are proud to welcome applicants under the “Disability Confident Employer” scheme.

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

• Use highly specialist pharmaceutical expertise, underpinned by theoretical knowledge, to undertake critical appraisal of drug information and literature from various sources and effectively communicate this to decision makers.
• Provide specialised advice to all levels of clinical staff on all aspects of drug treatment (doses, monitoring, interactions, side-effects etc.) and prescribing issues for individuals or groups of patients.
• Liaise with key stakeholders, such as hospital consultants and GPs, about the local impact of new drug.
• Assess the need and where necessary liaise with other departments with regard to the impact of new drugs on the local health economy, including health economists, medicines information departments, the public health network, and the specialist commissioning team.
• Promote safe, evidence based clinical and cost-effective prescribing in primary care in accordance with national and locally agreed standards and priorities, e.g. implementation of NICE guidelines, National Service Frameworks, All Wales Medicines Strategy Group recommendations and National Patient Safety Agency alerts and warnings.
• Responsible for developing, managing, and reviewing any prescribing guidelines between primary and secondary care in line with care pathways. This will involve consultation across both primary and secondary care and requires highly developed clinical knowledge, understanding and the ability to compromise and influence change with individuals or groups.
• Manage individual patient prescribing problems identified by primary or secondary care with the requirement to deal with occasional distressing or emotional circumstances or conflict situations with patients and their family and carer.
• Establish evidence based guidelines, appropriate treatment protocols and care pathways for use across the organisation.
• Lead the agenda of the Drug & Therapeutic Group and ensure appropriate communication of any decisions made in this group.
• Work with all professional bodies including Community Pharmacy Wales, Local Medical Council and individual professionals to support implementation of changes to clinical pathways across all interfaces to improve patient care.
• Represent Betsi Cadwaladr Pharmacy & Medicines Management on behalf of the Medicines Governance Lead Pharmacist and the organisation on both local and national advisory boards and specialist working group.
• Facilitate and undertake change management across the Health Board involving other professions including those across a wide range of specialist areas of work.
• Participate in internal and external research projects and audits, as part of local and national strategies.
• Responsible for the ongoing development and upkeep of the BCUHB formulary.
• Communicate decisions from prescribing committees (DTG, and its subgroups i.e. Medicines Management Groups, NICE, AWMSG, AWPAG etc.) to all staff across the health professions. This may involve explaining contentious decisions and will require a high level of communication skills to overcome potential conflict.
• Promote formulary and prescribing aspects of National Service Frameworks/NICE guidelines through practice meetings, locality meetings and hospital educational sessions.
• Ensure that prescribing issues linked to National Service Frameworks are appropriately addressed, focusing on the actions required to be taken forward in partnership between primary and secondary care.
• Provide pharmaceutical expertise into local implementation of NICE clinical guidelines where appropriate in collaboration with the locality teams.
• Work as an independent prescriber within their competency level, if required according to Health Boards need.
• Work flexibly and support other areas of medicines management in response to Health Board needs as required.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered pharmacist with GPhC
• Masters Degree or equivalent in pharmacy
• Post-graduate diploma/MSc in relevant pharmacy area or equivalent documented experience in the relevant area.
• Practicing member of RPS
• Management qualification or equivalent experience.
• Teaching/assessing qualification.
• Independent/supplementary prescriber.
• ECDL Certificates.
• GPhC registration.
• A substantive level of post qualification experience in primary care/secondary care.
• Able to demonstrate a suitable level of experience in providing specialist pharmacy services.
• Responsibility for performance management within pharmacy.
• Experience of success in service development.
• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Experience of writing and implementing business plans.
• Internal and multidisciplinary audit.
• Tutoring/mentoring experience.
• Experience of oral presentations.

• Practicing member of RPS
• Management qualification or equivalent experience.
• Teaching/assessing qualification.
• Independent/supplementary prescriber.
• ECDL.
• A substantive level of post qualification experience in primary care/secondary care.
• Able to demonstrate a suitable level of experience in providing specialist pharmacy services.
• Responsibility for performance management within pharmacy.
• Experience of success in service development.
• Experience of working effectively in a multi-disciplinary environment.
• Experience of writing and implementing business plans.
• Internal and multidisciplinary audit.
• Tutoring/mentoring experience.
• Experience of oral presentations.
• Knowledge of pharmacy services to mental health and community services.
• Experience with IT systems.
• Experience of pharmacy management within the NHS including responsibility for staff and budgetary control.
• Experience of managing prescribing databases.
• Development of services across the primary secondary care interface.
• Demonstrable experience of managing conflicting priorities within tight budgets and/or time constraints.

Skills

• Skills including those physical skills necessary for the post.
• Project management.
• Operational management experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to influence and negotiate.
• Capacity to think strategically and have ability to analyse and solve complex problems.
• Ability to demonstrate effective partnership working.
• Ability to motivate and manage staff effectively.
• Ability to identify and analyse data.
• Ability to dispense and manipulate (e.g. prepare injections) medicines accurately.