Anexciting opportunity for an experienced clinical pharmacist and independentprescriber to lead and develop our pharmacy team while continuing to deliverhigh-quality, patient-centred clinical care.
You will combine expertclinical practice with operational leadership, supporting patients to get thebest outcomes from their medicines and helping our multidisciplinary teamsdeliver safe, consistent and evidence-based care. You will lead, mentor and developpharmacy colleagues of differing abilities, oversee key work programmes andhelp translate national and local priorities into effective practice.
Main duties of the job
This is an opportunity to make a visibledifference: to patients through expert clinical care, to colleagues throughsupportive leadership, and to our services through practical improvement. Youwill work with a broad multidisciplinary network and have scope to shape howclinical pharmacy is delivered across Merchiston.
Deliver structured medicationreviews and medicines optimisation for patients, including those with long-termconditions, high-risk medicines or complex needs.
Run patient-facing clinics andprovide care by telephone, video and face to face, including domiciliary orcare-home visits where required.
Lead and mentor the pharmacyteam, support clinical decision-making and contribute to competency assessment,supervision and professional development.
Provide operational leadershipfor medicines reconciliation, prescribing queries, electronic repeat dispensingand shared-care arrangements.
Lead audits, searches,quality-improvement work, policies and protocols, using data to monitor impactand report progress.
Promote medication safety,respond to medicines alerts and ensure appropriate monitoring for high-risktherapies.
Work closely with GPs, nurses,practice managers, community pharmacy, hospital teams, the ICB and otherpartners to improve pathways and patient outcomes.
Support PCN DES and IIFpriorities, CQC readiness, public-health initiatives, health equity andconsistent ways of working across the surgery.
About us
Merchiston Surgery was established around 1860 in the village of Stratton-St-Margaret. Until the 1950s, Stratton was a small farming community and it still retains its separate identity, despite now being a suburb of Swindon. The Partnership moved from the original Doctors house into new purpose-built premises in 1992.
Merchiston Surgery has a raw patient list of 13,500 (13,700 weighted list)
We are a teaching practice with 2 Education Supervisors, 2 Clinical Supervisor, supporting 3 Trainee GPs and 2 Foundation Year 2 Doctors. Rated excellent by the Swindon GP QA Panel for our trainee placement.
Job responsibilities
Clinical
Provide advanced clinical pharmacy input including:
Structured Medication Reviews for complex patients, in line with the PCN DES targets
Long-term condition management (e.g. hypertension, asthma, diabetes)
Antimicrobial stewardship and prescribing safety.
Provide expert clinical advice to GPs and other healthcare professionals on safe, evidence-based and cost-effective prescribing
In collaboration with colleagues such as GPs, Nurses and Healthcare Assistants, be aware of the holistic needs of the patient and adapt therapy where appropriate
Address the day-to-day issues raised by patients / staff in relation to medicines management and elevate / investigate / prevent recurrence as necessary
Competently manage and undertake patient clinics, organising workload and processes around this to ensure timely patient follow-ups and medicine optimisation.
Work collaboratively with MDTs to ensure seamless integration of pharmacy into patient pathways
Leadership & Management
Line Manage, mentor and support the pharmacy workforce, ensuring role clarity, supervision, appraisal and continuing continuous professional development (CPD).
Champion a culture of continuous improvement, mentoring and shared learning.
In conjunction with the Practice Manager lead on the planning and implementation of PCN DES service specifications related to medicines use, including Enhanced Access, Tackling Neighbourhood Health Inequalities and Prevention strategies
Drive the development and integration of innovative medicines management services within the PCN
Engage in the recruitment, conduct or performance management of Pharmacy Team members, with the support of the Practice Manager
Governance and Quality Improvement
In conjunction with other members of the team, lead and oversee the implementation of robust medicines governance frameworks within the Practice
Ensure compliance with local and national policies, NICE guidelines and CQC standards.
Monitor and manage clinical risk related to medicine use, including incident reporting, investigation and learning dissemination
Maintain clinical audit cycles related to prescribing safety, SMRs and therapeutic outcomes
Represent the pharmacy team for the Practice at neighbourhood and ICB governance forums and contribute to the development of clinical governance policies.
Support data-driven quality improvement initiatives using prescribing data, patient feedback and population health insights.
Strategic Development
Drive the design and expansion of pharmacy-led services aligned with PCN DES objectives
Identify and deliver on important outcomes and track progress towards these contributing to any spreadsheets or dashboards that demonstrate the work of the pharmacy team
Build effective working relationships with partner organisations, including community pharmacy, secondary care and social care.
Help ensure that evidence is available to facilitate regulatory oversight such as Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections and audits
Work with colleagues in promoting public health schemes and promoting health equity across the Surgery. Lead on aspects of this as required by the senior team.
Training and Development
Deliver training for other staff such as doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals on medicine related themes. Invite feedback to improve training in the Practice and disseminate good practice in all the surgeries.
Collaborate with colleagues to develop and deliver training to non-clinical staff and patients.
Complete all statutory and mandatory training as required when it is due.
Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development.
Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.
Personal
To plan own work schedule, prioritising items as they arise and seeking support as required.
Engage in clinical and managerial supervision.
Ensure that requirements for continuing registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council are met on an annual basis.
To be aware of and adhere to the policies and procedures of the Surgery.
Personal transport access will be required as the postholder may need to carry out domiciliary visits, deliver the covid vaccination programme or attend meetings at other sites.
To carry out any reasonable requests from the employer that have not been identified beforehand. An example would be the need to deploy staff to covid vaccination clinics run at a centre offsite, in collaboration with other surgeries.
The post may be subject to change or review as the needs of the population or the service change. Changes will be made in consultation with the individual before any changes are made.
Person Specification
Personal
- Ability to lead and manage clinical and operation aspects of pharmacy services
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills; able to influence and collaborate effectively
- Patient-centred approach with a commitment to reducing health inequalities.
- Pro-active, self-motivated and committed to CPD
- Excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues
- Flexible and adaptable to changing priorities and service needs
- Competent in using required clinical systems (e.g. SystmOne, Cinapsis)
Qualifications
- Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)
- Specialist knowledge acquired through postgraduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience.
- Completion of PCPEP -CPPE (or equivalent)
- Leadership and Management training / qualification (e.g. ILM, MHS Leadership Academy)
Experience
- Minimum 3 years post-registration experience as a pharmacist
- Significant experience in a clinical pharmacist role in primary care, community or secondary care
- Experience managing or supervising pharmacy staff / multidisciplinary teams
- Knowledge of PCN DES, NHS Long Term Plan and national prescribing guidance (e.g. NICE, NHSE)
- In-depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare, medicine optimisation, polypharmacy and therapeutics
- Experience of delivering structured medication reviews (SMRs) and managing long-term conditions
- Experience in developing and implementing clinical governance frameworks
- Proven involvement in service development or quality improvement initiatives
- Understanding of clinical governance, audit, risk management and incident reporting
- Involvement in achieving PCN DES, QOF or IIF targets
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.
£56,550 to £59,000 a yearfinal salary is dependent on experience
