Senior Clinical Pharmacist in London

GRADE: Band 8a

LOCATION: Hurley Group based NEL

WORKING HOURS: 10

ACCOUNTABLE TO: Hurley Group Clinical Pharmacy Lead Partner

RESPONSIBLE TO: Lead Clinical Pharmacist

This role will be to support the medicines management aspects of this initiative through working within the general practice setting and involves working with eConsult (an online remote consultation tool) to process patient queries as well as face-to-face appointments.

Main duties of the job

• This role will be part of the general practice team to provide specialist advice to patients, undertake full patient-centred medication reviews, and proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, particularly the elderly and those with multiple conditions by delivering long-term condition reviews.
• Work in general practice will include service design, medicines reconciliation, management of prescribing queries and acute medication issues following hospital discharges, disseminating and acting on medication and patient safety alerts, and the development and implementation of safe systems for medication ordering and prescribing in the context of improving safety and reducing waste.
• It will also involve leading and partaking in audits and prescribing initiatives, including but not limited to QOF, MOS, and PQES.

About us

The Hurley Group is an NHS organisation that runs a number of practices and urgent care centres across London. We have been providing patient-centred care since 1969, working within some of the UK's most deprived communities. Applications are welcomed from applicants with a disability. We can make reasonable adjustments and offer support and advice in a variety of ways throughout the application process. Equality of opportunity is our policy.

Job responsibilities

• POLICY/SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
• Develop virtual and remote models of consultation and support including e-consultations, remote medication review, and telehealth and telemedicine.
• Work in a virtual/remote setting with general practice staff to promote and embed the role of a GP practice pharmacist, and raise awareness of services available to patients.
• Provide general practice staff across multiple GP practice sites with recommendations and plan action to proactively improve the quality of systems and processes to improve medicines optimisation within the general practice setting.
• Provide training regarding medication-related issues and policies/guidelines to general practice staff in order to promote medicines optimisation, repeat dispensing, and high-quality cost-effective prescribing as appropriate.
• Provide operational and clinical support to medicines optimisation developments and prescribing initiatives as dictated by GP practice, CCG, and hospital Trust and service objectives.
• Collate and feedback on electronic discharge related information to ensure continuing improvement of the hospital computerised discharge letter and process of communication.
• Assist with the implementation of policies and guidelines to improve medicines optimisation across primary/secondary care interface and into the general practice setting.
• Provide training to general practice staff to promote medicines optimisation in practice.
• Develop and deliver patient-facing services and clinics which improve patient outcomes, reflect the needs of the practice population, and shift workload from other disciplines.
• Deliver high-quality medication reviews and develop bespoke medicines treatment plans for patients (particularly the elderly, complex patients, and those at high risk of admission) to reduce risk and unplanned hospital admissions.
• Contribute to the achievement of KPIs and objectives of the programme.
• Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards, leading improvement initiatives where medicines are involved.
• Work within the eHub to process medication eConsults, reconcile medications, and process medication workflow across the Hurley Group primary care sites.
• PATIENT/CLIENT CARE
• Act as a specialist practitioner in General Practice.
• Promote and deliver pharmaceutical care in general practice and promote safe pharmaceutical management across the interface.
• Provide pro-active leadership on medicines and prescribing systems to the practice multidisciplinary team, patients, and their carers.
• Provide highly specialised evidence-based clinical advice and information to nursing and medical staff on the care and treatment of patients.
• Liaise with other pharmacists to ensure efficient transfer of clinical and medicines management issues.
• Contribute to patient safety culture through Significant Event Reporting and investigation of medicines-related incidents and through pro-active measures.
• Ensure that patients are referred to the most appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time.
• FINANCIAL/RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
• Identify areas of potential cost-savings and implement systems to realise savings and contain prescribing costs.
• Develop and implement policies and guidelines to control drug expenditure and ensure cost-effective prescribing.
• Educate other healthcare professionals on the costs associated with drug therapy and promote the use of evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing within the division.
• Attend financial meetings.
• STAFF MANAGEMENT & TRAINING
• Supervise and direct the Band 7 Clinical Pharmacists in their rotational roles within the Hurley group and Kings Health Partners.
• Actively participate in the national training scheme for clinical pharmacists.
• Participate in the recruitment and selection of pharmacy students, pre-registration pharmacists, and junior pharmacists as needed.
• Assist in the training, supervision, and assessment of junior pharmacy staff providing a clinical pharmacy service.
• Plan activities for, supervise, and train pre-registration pharmacists and pharmacy students where appropriate.
• Supervise and support the day-to-day activities and progress through the national training scheme of senior GP practice pharmacists.
• Participate in the in-service clinical pharmacy training of all pharmacy staff.
• Undertake CPD to ensure that knowledge is continually updated.
• Participate in the training and development of medical, nursing, and other healthcare staff, as appropriate.
• Actively develop an Advanced Practice Portfolio mapped to the RPS Advanced Practice Framework with a view to RPS Faculty recognition.
• Act as a role model for pharmacists developing advanced practice skills.
• RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
• Regularly initiate or contribute to relevant practice research or audit projects and publish the results of such work, as appropriate.
• Participate in other research and audit programmes in the department as required.
• Maintain and further develop specialist information on the use of drugs in clinical conditions relevant to the specialty.
• Publish and present the results and outcomes of own research and audits locally, nationally, or internationally as appropriate.

Person Specification

• Qualifications
• Registered Pharmacist MRPharmS.
• Registered Independent Prescriber.
• Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy or Pharmacy Practice or equivalent.
• A member of or working towards Faculty Membership with the RPS.
• Knowledge
• In-depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding and ability to apply the principles of evidence-based healthcare.
• Specialist clinical knowledge and skills relevant to area of practice.
• Experience
• 5 years qualified with appropriate post-registration experience in hospital Pharmacy or equivalent area of practice with assessed competencies.
• Experience of supervising others.
• Experience of practice research or audit.
• Experience of protocol/guideline development.
• Experience of delivering training.
• Experience of directorate work.
• Demonstration of advanced practice using evidence mapped to the RPS Advanced Practice Framework.
• Communication Skills
• Be able to provide complex information on medicines use, clinical pharmacy, and financial issues to senior consultants and managers.
• Be able to impart knowledge on medicines use to other healthcare professionals.
• Be able to communicate effectively in both written and verbal formats with staff and patients.
• Be able to influence junior and senior medical staff.
• Be able to use presentation aids.
• Track record of successful team working.
• Able to motivate self and others.
• Analytical and Judgement Skills
• Able to obtain, analyse, and interpret complex clinical information.
• Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies intentional and unintentional deviations, and is able to refer when appropriate.
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision.
• Be able to use available evidence to make sound judgments in relation to patient- or drug-specific issues.
• Critical appraisal skills.
• Other Skills
• To have basic keyboard and computer skills (word processing, spreadsheet, report generation, and presentation).
• Previous use of healthcare-related IT systems e.g. EMIS.
• Be able to concentrate on highly complex matters despite interruptions.
• Be methodical in approach.
• Ability to work well under pressure by prioritising and managing time effectively.
• Ability to support pharmacy and general practice team to deliver high-quality service.
• Be able to work in busy office conditions.
• Be able to cope with unpleasant conditions and emotionally difficult situations in clinic.
• Be able to work in a busy demand-led service.
• Planning & Organising Skills
• Ability to plan the day-to-day activities of self and others.
• Ability to respond appropriately to the demands of the service and the service users.
• Work effectively independently and in a team.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.