Clinical Pharmacist

To provide a comprehensive pharmacy service to patients of the CLICK Primary Care Network. The post holder will work within their competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines management, provide face to face structured medication reviews, manage long term conditions, management of medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, manage repeat prescription authorisations and reauthorisation, acute prescription requests, while addressing both the public health and social care needs of patients in the GP practices that make up the Primary Care Network. The post holder will undertake medication reviews of patients with polypharmacy especially for older people, people in residential care homes and those with multiple co-morbidities. The post holder will provide leadership on quality improvement and clinical audit as well as managing some aspects of the Quality and Outcomes Framework and the Primary Care Network Direct Enhanced Service Specifications.

Main duties of the job:

• Patient Facing Clinical Medication Reviews
• Patient Facing Care Home Medication Reviews
• Patient Facing Domiciliary Clinical Medication Reviews
• Unplanned hospital admissions
• Management of common, minor and self-limiting ailments
• Patient facing medicines support
• Telephone medicines support
• Management of medicines at discharge from hospital
• Medicine information to practice staff and patients
• Signposting
• Repeat prescribing
• Information management
• Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations
• Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation
• Ensure practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved
• Support public health campaigns
• Collaborative working arrangements

Key relationships:

• The patients, doctors, prescribers and practice teams within the Primary Care Network
• Somerset ICB Practice Support Pharmacists and Medicines Management Team
• Local Community Pharmacists
• Other professionals, other NHS/private organisations e.g. ICB and the general public

Job responsibilities:

• See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. Respiratory, Cardiovascular and Diabetes).
• Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation).
• Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.
• Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
• Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.
• Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.
• Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches.
• Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews.
• Manage a caseload of patients with common, minor or self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence.
• Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
• Provide telephone support for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.
• Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospital, intermediate care and into care homes.
• Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines.
• Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time.
• Produce and implement a repeat prescribing policy within each PCN practice.
• Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.
• Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economy's RAG list and make recommendations for GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors or subject to shared care.
• Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
• Work with general practice teams to ensure practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
• Provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.
• Participate in the Primary Care Network multi-disciplinary team.
• Liaise with colleagues including ICB, STP/ICS Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians on prescribing related matters.
• Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks.

Professional Development:

• Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development.
• Adhere to organisational policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance and health and safety.
• Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes.
• Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keep up to date with relevant clinical practice.

Research and Evaluation:

• Critically evaluate and review literature.
• Identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice.
• Generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.
• Apply research evidence base into the workplace.

Health and Safety / Risk Management:

• Must comply at all times with the Health and Safety policies.
• Comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Access to Health Records Act 1990.

Special Working Conditions:

• The post holder is required to travel independently between work sites and to attend meetings etc., hosted by other agencies.
• The post holder may have contact with body fluids while in clinical practice.
• Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to business planning.

Person Specification:

• Meet DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with law on spent conviction.
• Adaptable and self-motivated.
• Safeguarding Level 3 and other mandatory training.
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis.
• Participate in the provision of Extended Hours outside of core practice hours.

Qualifications:

• Mandatory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Completion of an Undergraduate degree in pharmacy - MPharm - or equivalent.
• Independent prescriber or working towards gaining independent prescribing qualification.
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
• Membership of the Primary Care Pharmacy Association - PCPA.
• Clinical Diploma.

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years experience as a pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice portfolio.
• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare.
• Familiarity with EMIS Clinical System.
• Familiarity with Somerset ICB prescribing formularies.

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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.