PCN Pharmacist

The Northwick Surgery is seeking an accomplished and enthusiastic Independent Prescriber Clinical Pharmacist to join its friendly, forward thinking, and well established practice as a PCN Pharmacist. The successful postholder will play a key role in supporting the delivery of services for patients with new and long term health conditions, contributing to high quality, patient centred care across the practice and PCN.

Main duties of the job

• The successful candidate will have responsibilities that include overseeing the repeat prescribing process within the practice, managing a cohort of patients who may have medication queries or require medication reviews, and taking the lead in designing and delivering a service specifically tailored to their needs.
• Conducting review clinics for patients with chronic diseases such as Asthma, COPD, Pre‑Diabetes, Diabetes, Hypertension, and Heart Failure. These clinics may be conducted face‑to‑face, through telephone consultations, or via video calls.
• Ensuring safe prescribing practices, monitoring higher risk drugs, managing long‑term conditions, and identifying potential missed diagnoses in accordance with CQC standards.
• Planning, developing and supporting the introduction of new working processes within the practice to optimise the quality and safety of prescribing and undertaking medication audits.

About us

The Northwick Surgery has 5 GP partners, 1 ANP, 2 Practice nurses, 1 Nursing associate, 2 HCAs, and 2 Clinical Pharmacists who all work together as a well knit team. The Northwick Surgery is part of the Sphere PCN, a well established PCN in Harrow consisting of 6 general practices that work collaboratively to improve patient outcomes and deliver excellent healthcare services.

Job responsibilities

• Manage own case load.
• Do the necessary checks for QOF and Enhanced services, entering the data correctly on the computer system.
• Implement improvements to the patients medication and prescribing independently where necessary.
• Manage patients holistically, reviewing co‑morbidities in the same appointment and updating QOF and Enhanced services as appropriate.
• Referring to other members of the Primary Health Care team and Secondary Care as necessary.
• Undertake structured medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy and implement own prescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests.
• Provide telephone support for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines and deliver medicines reconciliation from secondary care recommendations.
• Request and manage the results for the cohort of patients under your care in a safe and timely way.
• Identify and provide leadership on areas of prescribing requiring improvement.
• Conduct own audits and improvement projects and work with colleagues.
• Present results and provide leadership on suggested change.
• Demonstrate continuous QI activity focused upon prescribing safety as specified in the QOF guidance.
• Contribute to national and local research initiatives.
• Develop and manage new services that are built around new medicines or NICE guidance.
• Provide leadership to the practice manager and GPs to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
• Attend MDT, PCN and Practice meetings as required.
• Foster and maintain good relationships between, within and outside the Practices involved in the PCN.
• Devise and manage population and public health campaigns to run within the network if required.
• Answer all medicine‑related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff and patients with queries about medicines.
• Understand that this is a new and evolving role which may change with the needs of the PCN.
• Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economies RAG list for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors or subject to shared care.
• Assist practices in setting and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system.
• Provide newsletters on important prescribing messages to improve prescribers knowledge.

Person Specification

Experience

• To be a qualified Clinical Pharmacist with a minimum of two years experience in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team and perform effectively under pressure.
• Highly motivated with excellent clinical timekeeping.
• Ability to consistently observe and comply with all appropriate statutory requirements in relation to Child and Adult Safeguarding.

Qualifications

• Qualified Pharmacist and registered with GPhC.
• Enhanced DBS check in required.
• CPPE Qualification or working towards it.

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.