Clinical Pharmacist/Senior Clinical Pharmacist

Are you a pharmacist eager to take on a new challenge that expands your clinical expertise and supports the delivery of outstanding patient care? We are looking for an enthusiastic, forward-thinking, motivated pharmacist committed to applying their pharmaceutical knowledge and skills to improve patient care in General Practice. This is a unique opportunity to join our expanding Pharmacy team to serve the population at South Hardwick Primary Care Network.

You will be part of a dynamic team, committed to developing the role of a clinical pharmacist in an expanding field of General Practice to its maximum potential to deliver person-centred, coordinated care across the health system. This post would require both working as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role, but also individual clinical decision making around your caseload of patients.

The objective of the Pharmacist is to contribute to high quality, person-centred care across South Hardwick Primary Care Network by delivering expert clinical pharmacy services within General Practice. The post holder will work within their clinical competencies, to strengthen multidisciplinary working through patient-facing clinical decision making, comprehensive medication reviews, and support for chronic disease management, polypharmacy, and PCN contractual priorities.

• The post holder will enhance medicines optimisation, respond to prescription and medication queries, and provide clinical leadership to improve systems, quality, and safety across practices.

South Hardwick PCN is a group of 8 forward-thinking and progressive practices (population 69,372) who have developed a friendly and effective working relationship with one another. We are committed to working collaboratively to improve outcomes for patients and sustaining General Practice. South Hardwick is a mix of former mining communities, suburbs, and rural communities to the south of Chesterfield. Your employer would be North Eastern Derbyshire Healthcare Ltd, and you would be entitled to NHS pension. We have a well-established Pharmacy team of six Clinical Pharmacists and seven Pharmacy Technicians.

• Review patients with single or multiple medical problems integrating into existing General practices teams long term conditions clinics (e.g. Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart disease, Asthma).
• Review medications for these patients assessing ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and to support patients ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation).
• Undertake clinical medication reviews of specific groups of patients identified as priority, such as, medications more likely to cause harm, severe frailty, potentially addictive medications, Atrial Fibrillation anticoagulation reviews, gastroprotection reviews and others identified by the practice as priority.
• Domiciliary medication reviews (housebound or care home residents).
• Undertake clinical medication reviews with these patients, liaising with the Community support teams if necessary.
• Patient-facing / telephone medicines support providing patients advice with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines in the practice.
• Medicine information to practice staff and patients answering relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy). Suggesting and recommending solutions. Providing follow-up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.
• Unplanned hospital admissions review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.
• Signposting ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.
• Clinical supervision and support to Pharmacy technicians and Foundation pharmacists within the team.
• Repeat prescribing support the repeat prescriptions system in practices, reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a blood test or a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.
• Risk stratification identification of practice and PCN priorities through data analysing and prioritise patients to review. To use medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making.
• Service development contribute with pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).
• Medicines Quality Improvement undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team. Support and help the technical team implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
• Education and Training provide education and training to peers and other primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
• Care Quality Commission work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
• Public Health to support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.

Skills and Knowledge:

• Understanding of local and national medicines guidelines.
• Demonstrates the delivery of chronic disease management, structured medication reviews that include proactively managing patients with complex polypharmacy.
• Thorough understanding of GDPR.
• Understands the wider determinants of health, including social, economic and environmental factors and their impact on communities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills which resonate with a range of different stakeholders.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences (e.g. patients, other clinicians).
• Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions.
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to senior clinicians when appropriate.
• Able to work under pressure and to meet deadlines.
• Patient-centred with care and compassion.
• Work effectively independently and as a team member.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and Clinical data systems.
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision.
• Demonstrate ability to work in a busy environment; ability to deal with both urgent and important tasks and to prioritise effectively whilst also supporting others.
• Knowledge and understanding of pharmacy law and ethics and current legislation.
• An understanding of the PCN DES and the NHS long term plan.
• Experience in measuring and understanding KPIs.
• Experience of using System One.

• Master's degree in pharmacy (MPharm) Degree or equivalent.
• Independent prescribing qualification or working towards/intent of gaining independent prescribing qualification.
• Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
• CPPE Pathway completion or equivalent.
• Specialist knowledge acquired through postgraduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience.
• Primary Care Pharmacist Association (PCPA) member.

• Self-aware, self-motivated, articulate, and decisive.
• Respectful, positive, and optimistic.
• Adaptable.
• Reliable and trustworthy.
• Ability to use initiative and judgement.

• Minimum of 2 years post qualification experience.
• In-depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice.
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing.
• Ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams community groups.
• Experience of working in Primary Care or a GP Practice.

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.