PCN Clinical Pharmacist

Drake Medical Alliance Primary Care Network is made up of 5 GP Practices across Plymouth, providing primary care services to over 58,000 patients.

Role Overview

We are seeking an innovative and enthusiastic Clinical Pharmacist to join our structured and supportive Pharmacy Team consisting of 6 pharmacists and 7 pharmacy technicians, including Senior and Lead positions.

Main duties of the job

• Clinical practice: See patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required. Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients.
• Medicines in the practice: Provide telephone assistance for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines. Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into Care Homes, identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure they receive the medicines they need post discharge. Answer relevant medicine‑related enquiries from GPs, other surgery staff, other healthcare teams (including community pharmacy) and patients, suggest and recommend solutions, and provide follow‑up to monitor the effect of changes. Ensure patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the required level of care within an appropriate period of time. Contribute pharmaceutical advice to repeat prescribing policy within each PCN practice, manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process, review medicines reaching review dates, and flag those needing review. Contribute pharmaceutical advice for development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components, such as treatment pathways and patient information leaflets.

Job responsibilities

The post holder will work across the DMA organisation within their clinical competencies as part of the multidisciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines management, structured medication reviews, long‑term condition management, medicines transfer of care and safer prescribing systems, repeat prescription authorisations and reauthorisations, acute prescription requests, while addressing public health and social care needs of patients in the GP surgeries that make up DMA. The post holder will perform medication reviews of patients with polypharmacy, especially older people, people in residential or nursing care homes, and those with multiple co‑morbidities. The role provides leadership on quality improvement and clinical audit as well as managing aspects of the quality and outcomes framework. The post holder will be supported to develop their role to become a non‑medical prescriber if they do not already hold this qualification.

Key responsibilities for Clinical Pharmacist role

• See patients where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. Respiratory, Cardiovascular and Diabetes). Review ongoing need for each medicine, monitoring needs and provide support to patients for medication adherence.
• Undertake clinical medication reviews and produce recommendations for prescribing and monitoring.
• Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.
• Undertake clinical medication reviews with care home patients and produce recommendations for the GP on prescribing and monitoring.
• Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients at home and produce recommendations for the GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
• Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.
• Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews.
• Provide patient‑facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Medicines in the practice:

• Provide telephone help for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
• Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into Care Homes, identify and rectify unexplained changes and work with patients and community pharmacists to ensure they receive the medicines they need post discharge.
• Answer relevant medicine‑related enquiries from GPs, other surgery staff, other healthcare teams and patients, suggest and recommend solutions, and provide follow‑up for patients to monitor the effect of changes.
• Ensure patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time.
• Contribute pharmaceutical advice to repeat prescribing policy within each PCN practice.
• Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging those needing review.
• Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.
• Contribute pharmaceutical advice for development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Skills:

• In‑depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and an understanding of the principles of evidence‑based healthcare.
• Understanding of the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities.
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports.
• Able to plan, manage, monitor and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long‑term conditions.
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information.
• Able to identify and resolve risk‑management issues according to policy/protocol.
• Communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Communication of difficult messages to patients and families.
• Negotiation and conflict management skills.
• Able to motivate and influence others.
• Proven ability to work in partnership with GPs and other agencies.
• Accountability of own role and responsibilities.

Other:

• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions.
• Highly motivated.
• Flexibility.
• Team player.
• Ability to work across boundaries.
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes.

Experience

• Experience and an awareness of the breadth of common acute and long‑term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice.
• Experience of partnership/collaborative working and of building relationships across a variety of organisations.
• Audit.
• Research.
• Project management.
• Home visits.

Qualifications

• Bachelor or Master of Pharmacy.
• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council and up to date.
• Demonstrates an understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice.
• Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management.
• May hold or be working towards an Independent Prescribing qualification.
• Clinical Certificate or Clinical Diploma (in Primary Care and Community).

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.