Clinical Pharmacist

We are a small PCN (Primary Care Network) of four GP practices who work collaboratively providing care and support to our patients. We are looking for another clinical pharmacist to add to our existing team. We are a great team providing a high standard of care. All practices are local to each other.

Main duties of the job

The purpose of this role is to improve patients' health outcomes efficiently by providing direct, accessible and timely medicines expertise, improving patient care and safety.

Job responsibilities

• To improve patients' health outcomes and the efficiency of the practice team by providing direct, accessible and timely medicines expertise, including identifying areas for improvement and initiating change.
• To be the primary contact within the practices for queries relating to medicines management, in particular around individual patient care.
• To focus on individual patient care by addressing immediate and future needs through personalised care planning.
• Proactively transfer workload relating to medicines optimisation from other clinical staff to improve patient care and safety.
• Demonstrate the effectiveness of the practices and PCN, and the CP role through audit and data analysis.
• Take on general practice workload including initial assessment of common presentations, recognising signs of serious illness, differential diagnosis and independent management of minor ailments.
• Follow up patients and investigations, particularly blood tests.

Job Summary:

The post holder is a pharmacist who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working in the GP practices within the PCN. In this role, they will be supported by a senior clinical pharmacist and GP leads who will discuss the development of the role and offer mentorship. Their line manager will be the PCN Manager. They will work autonomously and travel between surgeries to ensure that the population of the PCN has equitable access to their service. The post holder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team.

The Clinical Pharmacist will bring their expertise around medicines and prescribing to assist the team in providing holistic care. The post holder will take responsibility for areas of chronic disease management within the practice and undertake clinical medication reviews to manage proactively patients with complex polypharmacy. Areas of focus might include CVD, COPD, Asthma, Diabetes, Frailty, etc.

The post holder will provide primary support to general practice staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. This may be face to face in surgery, patients' homes, care homes, via telephone consultation or via online working. They will help support the repeat prescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both public and social care needs of patients in the GP practice(s).

The post holder will provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services. The post holder will ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice.

The post holder will be supported to develop their role, if not already, to become a non‑medical prescriber.

Clinical - Long Term Conditions / Chronic Disease Management

• Undertake disease focused medication reviews, particularly of high-risk groups (elderly, renal/hepatic impairment, patients on high-risk medicines, etc.) to improve effectiveness and safety, and to ensure appropriate compliance with national and local guidelines.
• Ensure the care for patients taking high risk drugs e.g. DMARDs, anticoagulation, are safe and appropriate.
• Review the ongoing need for each medicine.
• Titrate medication according to need and guidance.
• Review monitoring requirements and arrange appropriately, ensuring recalls are placed on the IT system.
• Provide health promotion where appropriate, including flu vaccinations.

Clinical - Repeat Prescribing and Medication Reviews

• Develop and quality‑assure improved, safe and efficient repeat prescribing and medication review processes within the practices/PCN, and implement changes as required.
• Ensure computer records are updated and accurate, and recall/review dates are entered appropriately.

Clinical - Acute Illness Pharmacist led clinics

• Pharmacists may be involved in clinics assessing patients who present with undifferentiated minor illness, working within their scope of practice and limits of competence.

Risk Stratification around medication harm and avoidable hospital admissions

• Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions through audit and individual patient reviews with the intent of reducing avoidable admissions.

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

• To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into/from care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post-discharge.

Team Information, Education and Training

• Answers relevant medicines and prescribing related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) with queries about medicines.

Implementation of local and national guidelines, safety alerts and formulary recommendations

• Implement changes to medicines and prescribing that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

Audit and Monitoring

• To plan and undertake prescribing audits to identify areas where improvement is needed, develop action plans and implement appropriate changes.

Person Specification

Qualifications: see attached.

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.