Primary Care Pharmacist in Gateshead

We are looking for a full‑time Pharmacist who can support the practice in ensuring the process and workload for hospital discharges / medication regime changes. The successful applicant can also review patient requests for acute and past medications in preparation for the GPs to sign off. We are a great team and a pharmacist would enhance the wider team. We can be flexible in some form of hybrid working should that be required. This is a new role and we are keen to work with an experienced pharmacist to help drive change and improve efficiencies within the team so there is scope to help develop this role.

Main duties of the job

• The main duties are to ensure safe documentation in patients clinical records along with discussing some element of prescribing with the patients.
• Hospital discharge letter review and updating in our clinical system ready for patients to order safely.
• Review patient requests for acute and past prescribing ensuring safe systems and guidelines followed.

About us

The practice has great team working in an NHS purpose built building in Wrekenton Gateshead. We have 12 GPs, 3 nurses, 4 HCAs, Admin support, ARRS pharmacists, Physios, Paramedics, Mental Health Practitioners, Counsellors and social prescribers. Our patients are mostly in a deprived area with co‑morbidities and our list size is 12,300 with a weighted list size of just over 14,000. We are part of Gateshead Central South PCN and we work very well as a PCN. We achieve good QOF areas and have a healthy team of students ranging from nursing, pharmacist and year 1 to 5 medical students. We have 2 F2s and 2 GPRs. We are an Agenda for Change employer and also give staff their birthday day off in addition to leave and bank holiday allowances. There is always refreshments available eg tea, coffee, hot chocolate, juices, biscuits and cakes.

Job responsibilities

• The post-holder is a Primary Care Pharmacist. The Pharmacist acts within their professional boundaries, working alongside the rest of the practice team which includes PCN Pharmacists.
• Improve patients health outcomes and the efficiency of the primary care team by providing direct, accessible and timely medicines.
• Be an integral part of the general practice team, as well as part of a wider pharmacist network and multi-disciplinary team.
• Work to optimise medication issues to improve patient care and safety, and support clinical staff in the management of patients.
• Possess independent prescribing, equipping the Pharmacist to be able to practise and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting.

Mission statement

Wrekenton Medical Group aims to deliver the highest possible quality of care to all of our patients in a responsive, supportive, courteous and cost‑effective manner.

Core values

• Patients: Putting patients at the heart of everything we do.
• Quality: Providing the highest standard of care and treatment.
• Integrity: Operating within an ethical framework through openness and transparency.
• Compassionate: Being compassionate about enhancing caring for all of our patients whilst adhering to equality and diversity.
• Working as a team: Valuing the contribution of every team member and building a mutually supportive environment.
• Learning and improving: Adapting to change, building on achievements and developing our services.

Primary key responsibilities

• Work as part of a multi‑disciplinary team in managing hospital letter discharges and reviewing prescribing acute and past medications.
• Be a prescriber, or completing training to become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team.
• Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients.
• Provide leadership on person‑centred medicines optimisation and quality improvement.
• Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across the wider health and social care system.
• Act as the point of contact for all medicine related matters.
• Consult patients within defined levels of competence and independently prescribe acute and repeat medication.
• Manage a therapeutic drug monitoring system and recall of patients taking high risk drugs.
• Review medications for newly registered patients.
• Maintain accurate clinical records in conjunction with existing legislation.
• Encourage cost‑effective prescribing throughout the organisation.
• Implement and embed a robust repeat prescribing system.
• Organise and oversee the organisations medicines optimisation systems.
• Improve the quality and effectiveness of prescribing through clinical audit and education.
• Ensure appropriate supervision of safe storage, rotation and disposal of vaccines and drugs.
• Support clinicians with the management of patients suffering from drug and alcohol dependencies.
• Actively signpost patients to the correct healthcare professional.
• Review the latest guidance, ensuring the organisation conforms to NICE, CQC etc.
• Provide targeted support and proactive reviews for vulnerable, complex patients.
• Handle prescription queries and requests directly.
• Contribute to public health campaigns through advice or direct care.
• Maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times.

Wider responsibilities

• Support the delivery of QOF, incentive schemes, QIPP and other quality or cost effectiveness initiatives.
• Improve the data quality of medicines records.
• Deliver training, mentoring and guidance to other clinicians and staff on medicine issues.
• Work in partnership with pharmacists and clinicians at local hospitals.
• Provide leadership and support to prescription administrative/dispensary staff.
• Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of the role.

Person Specification

Experience

• An appreciation of the nature of general practice and the nature of primary care prescribing.
• Experience in managing pharmacy services in primary care.
• Minimum of two years working as a pharmacist demonstrated within a practice portfolio.
• In‑depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of evidence‑based healthcare.
• Experience of working autonomously.

Qualifications

• GPC registered pharmacist.
• Proof of relevant professional and educational qualifications.
• Hold or be working towards an GPhC independent prescribing qualification.
• To be enrolled in, or have qualified from, an approved training pathway.

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.