Senior Clinical Pharmacist

Job summary The Senior Clinical Pharmacist plays a crucial role within our virtual wards, with a clinical focus on frailty, respiratory and general medicine, working collaboratively with acute providers across Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.
This is an exciting opportunity to work in a dynamic and evolving environment, providing pharmaceutical expertise to support the delivery of safe and effective patient care.
We are looking for a Senior Clinical Pharmacist to join our newly established Virtual Ward Pharmacy Team, working alongside the Principal Clinical Pharmacist to design, enhance and deliver high quality pharmacy services to patients receiving care on virtual wards.
Each role works alongside the pharmacy and clinical teams at the acute trust(s) which deliver the virtual ward service they are allocated to and so we are now looking for an enthusiastic individual for Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, based at the Southport site, however consideration will be given to allocation to one of the other sites.
The sites include Countess of Chester, East Cheshire NHS Trust, Mersey and West Lancashire, Liverpool University Teaching Hospitals, Warrington and Halton Hospitals and Wirral University Teaching Hospitals.
The role is on a fixed term basis for 6 months.
Join our team and make a difference in the lives of patients across Cheshire and Merseyside
Main duties of the job The main duties of the role include: Provide specialist clinical pharmacy services to the virtual wards, ensuring the safe and appropriate use of medicines.
Collaborate with the multidisciplinary team to optimize medicines management, including medicines reconciliation, prescribing, and monitoring.
Conduct comprehensive medication reviews and provide evidence-based recommendations to improve patient outcomes.
Support the development and implementation of clinical guidelines, protocols and policies related to pharmacy and medicines management for virtual wards.
Provide education and training to healthcare professionals, patients and carers on medicines-related topics.
Contribute to audit, research, and service improvement projects to enhance pharmaceutical care for patients on virtual wards.
About us Cheshire and Merseyside ICB covers a population of 2.7million people with services provided by 17 NHS trusts, 349 GP practices, 9 local authorities and 590 pharmacies.
This role is hosted by Warrington and Halton Hospitals pharmacy department on behalf of the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.
The role will provide services to one or more of the Virtual Ward sites but will be part of a team of pharmacists working across all areas of the ICB.
Virtual wards for respiratory, frailty and general medicine are operational across the region.
The Medicines Management team at C&M ICB and pharmacy team at Warrington and Halton Hospital are committed to the professional development of their staff.
Full induction and training will be provided for staff working in this new area of practice, and we will support staff who wish to undertake additional training linked to their role.
Job description Job responsibilities Role summary - please note that a full JD/PS is attached to this vacancyThe post holder will be an integral member of the C&M virtual wards pharmacy team.
The main duties are to provide specialist clinical pharmacy services to patients admitted to the virtual wards across the ICB footprint and be part of the Place virtual ward clinical teams:Lead and deliver on a specialist clinical pharmacy service to virtual ward patients.Provide and develop a specialist clinical pharmacy service to improve the quality of patient care and to promote evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing and use of medicines.
Identify risks related to medicines and manage these to ensure patient safety and improve patient experience.Manage other members of the virtual wards pharmacy team as appropriate.Lead on projects and audits to monitor the delivery of the pharmacy service as the virtual wards evolve.Provide training and education to clinical and healthcare staff, including members of the virtual ward MDT.Play a key role liaising with a range of colleagues in the virtual ward teams, notably prescribers, nurses, other clinical roles, finance, human resources, estates, facilities, transport and health and safety.Participate in the virtual ward MDT ward rounds.The post is allocated a base but may be expected to travel to patients homes across a defined geographical area within C&M.The post holder will be required to work with different organisations across C&M ICS.The post holder will be expected to work flexibly in line with hours of operation of virtual ward sites.
Person Specification Qualifications Essential Master's degree in pharmacy or equivalent Registered as a pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
Specialist knowledge acquired through a post graduate diploma course in Clinical Pharmacy or similar or alternatively acquired through relevant and equivalent experience Desirable Registered independent prescriber with the GPhC.
Physical Effort Essential Able to lift / carry pharmaceutical goods.
Experience Essential Extensive relevant post-registration experienceExtensive relevant post-registration experience Broad specialist clinical pharmacy knowledge.
Developing and undertaking clinical and non-clinical audits.
Familiarity with the concepts of evidence-based medicines.
Involved in identifying and assessing risk to improve patient safety.
Ability to demonstrate evidence of working in multi-disciplinary teams.
Specialist knowledge and experience on relevant areas of community health services.
Understanding of issues related to independent prescribing.
Experience of providing clinical pharmacy services.
Expertise of addressing and resolving legal issues related to medicines.
Experience of implementing NICE, NSF recommendations related to medicines.
Addressing, implementing and monitoring compliance with NHS Improvement Patient Safety Alerts related to medicines.
Developing and delivering medicines management training to other healthcare professionals Desirable Managing or advising on drug budgets and drugs costs and how to monitor these.
Experience of provision of medicines information and associated systems.
Experience of working with older people with complex health needs as a clinical pharmacist.
Management/supervision of pharmacy staff.
Skills, Knowledge and Competencies Essential Excellent organisational skills.
Ability to develop effective working relationships at all levels.
Effective influencing and negotiation skills and ability to persuade others.
Ability to communicate effectively with a range of healthcare staff including prescribers, social care staff and patients.
Ability to work independently and within a team.
Good time management skills, with ability to prioritise and manage own workload.
Knowledge of other professional registering bodies , NMC, GMC.
Able to apply sound professional judgement to legal and ethical issues.
Able to work and deliver within identified timelines.
Self-motivated and able to initiate change.
Good written communication skills.
Methodological approach and attention to detail in terms of medicines.
Desirable Ability to generate prescribing data using and to interpret data produced.
Specific role requirements Essential Reliable, enthusiastic and self-motivated.
Flexible approach.
Able to concentrate on dispensing / checking/ clinical screening for extended periods.
Able to cope with interruptions when busy.
Able to work to deadlines , transport, patients requiring medication.
Professional appearance and manner.
Physical skills Essential Computer literate including use of word-processing, excel spread-sheets, power-point.
Ability to write report and other documents.
Desirable Knowledge of primary care clinical Systems (EMIS/SystmOne) Knowledge of secondary care clinical systems.
Mental Effort Essential Ability to assimilate, analyse and interpret complex data.
Critical appraisal skills.
Ability to challenge.
Ability to work under pressure and be able to make important decisions.
Ability to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty.
Skills, Knowledge and Competencies Essential Good presentation skills.
Good verbal communication skills.
Emotional Effort Essential Exposure to upsetting situations, high level of resilience to deal with distressing and/or challenging situations Distressed patients with complex diseases.
May work with distressed patients, relatives due to drug regime, drug misadventures.