General Practice Clinical Pharmacist

Job summary IntraHealth is seekingan enthusiastic and proactive clinical pharmacist where the role will directlyimprove patient care and support the efficient running of a general practice.The successfulcandidate will be an exceptional team player with good communication and interpersonalskills who is enthusiastic and committed to join the practice team.
The ideal candidate will also be able to workautonomously when required.The successful applicant for this post will bejoining us at a particularly exciting time as we develop and expand our service.For more details of the role please view the jobdescription and person specification.
Main duties of the job Working within yourclinical and professional boundaries in a patient facing role as part of amultidisciplinary team to manage medicines on transfer of care and systems forsafer prescribing.
Perform face-to-face structured medication reviews ofpatients with polypharmacy; especially for those with frailty and/or withmultiple co-morbidities as well as undertaking reviews of patients withspecific long term conditions that fall within your competency.
Work in partnership withstake holder organisations to improve the safety and quality of care forpatients and manage medicines on transfer of care.
Deliver medicinesoptimisation initiatives within GP practices including the provision ofspecialist professional pharmaceutical advice and services to ensure the safeand cost effective use of medicines.
This will involve work to deliver keymedicines optimisation outcomes against a CCG set work plan.Contribute toquality improvement and clinical audit, as well as supporting aspects of the Qualityand Outcomes Framework, medicines safety and antibiotic stewardship.
You will alsobe required to contribute towards practice financial stability throughmedicines optimisation and related targets in QOF.
The post holder willcomply with the organisation's policies and procedures.
About us IntraHealth isone of the UK's leading provider of NHS Primary and Community Care services.
Weserve a range of patients across our three divisions of Primary Care (generalpractice), Pharmacy and Clinical Services which includes anticoagulationmonitoring, patient medication reviews and childhood immunisation programmes.We also provide management and clinical support to other GPpractices and NHS bodies.
We are awell-established organisation having provided NHS services since the companywas founded in 1999.
Our team is made up of GPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners(ANPs), nurses, pharmacists, Health Care Assistants (HCAs) and localadministration teams supported by a centralised back office function; providingfinance, HR, administration and data analysis support.We operate NHS services across the North East, North West andYorkshire.
Job description Job responsibilities Toimprove patients health outcomes and the efficiency of the Primary Care team byproviding direct, accessible and timely medicines expertise.
To pro-activelytransfer workload relating to medicines optimisation issues from other clinicalstaff to improve patient care, safety and free up scarce clinical staff tospend more time on clinical care: Toprovide relevant support to the primary care team as An Independent prescriberor clinical pharmacist To promote safe, evidence based, costeffective prescribing in line with CCG requirements.
To support effective management of practice prescribing budgets To provide expert pharmaceuticaladvice to practices and the medicines optimisation team To provide prescribing support to designated practices and team members in areas such asoMedication review o Implementation of prescribing changeso Review of repeat prescribingo Audit To act as a training resource for theprimary care teamPractice RoleObjectives Provide pro-active leadership on medicines andprescribing systems to the practice multidisciplinary team, patients and theircarers Develop and deliver patient facing services andclinics which improve patient outcomes, reflect the needs of the practicepopulation and shift workload from other disciplines Deliver direct patient consultations and prescribingas part of the practice and cluster multidisciplinary team approach for acuteillness Improve patient and carer understanding of, confidencein and compliance with their medicines Provide pharmaceutical consultations and home visitsto patients with long term conditions as anintegral part of the multidisciplinary team Field medicines and prescribing queries from patientsand staff Organize and oversee the practices medicinesoptimisation systems including the repeat prescribing and medication reviewsystems Deliver high quality medication reviews and developbespoke medicines treatment plans for patients (particularly the elderly,complex patients and those at high risk of admission) Improve the safety and quality of prescribingfollowing hospital admissions and attendance Improve the quality and effectiveness of prescribingthrough clinical audit and education to improve performance against NICEstandards, prescribing guidance and other clinical standards Develop yourself and the role through participation inclinical supervision, training and service redesign activities Contribute to patient safety culture through reportingand investigation of medicines related incidents and through pro-activemeasures such as the Primary Care Trigger Tool or PINCER Provide a clear and active link with communitypharmacists and other stakeholders in the medicines supply chain to improvepatient experience and manage issues Deliver training, mentoring and guidance to otherclinicians and staff on medicines issues Contribute to the achievement and maintenance of goodto outstanding CQC registration status.
Patient FacingClinical Services and Care Manage a caseload of complex patients as required byGP Practices Develop specialist area(s) of interest Conduct face to face and other modes of medicationreviews and agree medicines care plans in agreement with patients and carers Delivering long term conditions clinics and homevisits particularly for patients with complicated medication regimes andprescribe accordingly within competency and agreed management plans Consult with patients for acute & long-termillnesses within defined levels of competence and prescribe medication withinagreed management plans Prescribe appropriate medication for patient needwithin areas of competency and within agreed management plans Provide targeted support and pro-active review forvulnerable, complex patients and those at risk of admission and re-admission tosecondary care Receive and resolve medicines queries from patientsand other staff Contribute to public health campaigns ( fluclinics) through advice or direct care Provide specific advice and support to patients incare homes and support staff Provide help and advice on medicines use to patientsand their carers Promote self-management and develop patient supportsystems Manage therapeutic drug monitoring system and recallof patients taking high risk drugs anticoagulants, anticonvulsants andDMARDs etc Support virtual and remote models of consultationand support including e-consultations, remote medication review and telehealthand telemedicine.
Medicines OptimisationSystems Investigate and feedback on examples of bestpractice within the field and formulate how to apply these to the practice Organize and oversee repeat prescribing, repeatdispensing, electronic prescribing and medication review systems Provide leadership and support to prescriptionadministrative staff Handle prescription queries and requests directly Oversee system for reconciliation of medicines fromoutpatient and discharge letters and support safe transfer of care throughliaison with hospital and community colleagues Liaise with other stakeholders in the supply chainsuch as community pharmacists and appliance contractors to handle queries andmanage supply problems Maintain and review a Medicines Handling Policy forthe practice to ensure safe processes for self-administered medicines andcontrolled drugs Support the delivery of QOF, incentive schemes, QIPPand other quality or cost effectiveness initiatives Agree and review Prescribing Formularies andProtocols and monitor compliance levels Improve the data quality of medicines records andlinking to conditions.Quality Collection and review of KPI and performancemonitoring data Monitor progress against the overall objectives ofthe programme and escalate any issues Ensure compliance with CQC and other professionalstandards Promote a culture of constant improvement andexcellence Conduct regular clinical audits and otherimprovement activities Assess own performance regularly and makesuggestions of how to improve personal and team performance Understand a risk management approach and apply itto all activities.
Communication and Relationships Support the Lead Pharmacist to deliver the individual practiceand locality action plans in linewith CCG requirements Provide high quality, evidence based, prescribing advice to individual GPs, nurse and patients,bothindividually and in meetings.
Communicate effectively within primary care teams to gain agreement and commitment from GPs and wider team members to implement change, overcoming barriers where necessary Establishtrusted and successfulworking relationships withGPsand practice staff to support delivery of objectives Discussion and recommendation regarding CCG prescribing initiatives with individual practitioners Act aspoint ofcontact with any specialistservices as dictated by the action plan, care homes, community nursing services Patient Care Carry out computer record searchesrelated to prescribing initiatives Review patientmedication records in general practice and/or care home setting Develop protocols to enable agreed changes to be implemented Deliver patientconsultation to implement agreedchanges where appropriate Develop and disseminate information to patients to support medicines optimisation Advise on appropriate drug choice Planning and Organisation Organise andplan own workload in practices and adjust asneeded to meet CCG requirements and deliver action plans Prepare and presentsummary reports for each practice regarding progress against actionsplansand / or audit Support practices to implement and auditNICE and otherevidence basedguidance Review and improve practice repeat prescribing systems and systemsfor medication review Analytical and Judgement Downloadand interpret practicelevel prescribing reports IPS,RAIDR Identify poor prescribing issues andprovide facts and options to support remedial action Prepare and present summary reports for audits conducted as part of agreed action plans Promotion and review ofcompliance against local CCGformularies and prescribing guidance.
Provision of advice around effective use of electronic transferof prescriptions as agreedwiththe CCG Collation of information from practices regarding patterns and trends of medicines usageobtained through prescription searches andaudit Policy and Service Development Support development oftools and resources to implement agreed initiatives, SOPs, guidance Support development of medicines optimisation policies or guidance withinpractices or area, contributing to at scaleactivities Provide support and feedback to practices on medicines related questions from patients and practices Support delivery of the medicines optimisation strategy,once agreed Financial and Physical Resources Support effective management of practice prescribing budgets viadelivery of practice and CCG action plans Human Resources Fulfill mandatory CPD requirements Support wider team of pharmacists and technicians to deliver practice and CCGaction plansas required by Lead Pharmacist InformationResources Extract and manipulate clinical andfinancial prescribing data from relevant systems (EMIS, e-PACT, RAIDR), and present to GPs in anappropriate format Provide appropriate high quality and cogent reports to demonstrate progress and practice and CCG action plans Communicate effectively via the use of electronic mediasuch as e-mail, Power-point, Excel orWord Research and Development Develop and undertake auditin relevant therapeutic areas Person Specification Qualifications Essential Masters degree in Pharmacy (or pre-2000 equivalent) Member, in good standing, of General Pharmaceutical Council Extensive knowledge of medicines optimisation or clinical pharmacist role, acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training Desirable Evidence of post graduated qualifications Extensive knowledge of medicines Optimisation acquired through post graduate diploma or equivalent experience or training plus further specialist knowledge or experience to masters level equivalent.
Membership of the RPSGB GPhC Independent Prescribing Qualification or working towards A member of or working towards Faculty of RPSGB Working on or intending to complete CPPE Primary Care Pathway training course Attitudes Essential Ability to constructively challenge the views and practices of clinicians and managers.
Excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills.
Excellent interpersonal skills.
Work effectively independently and as a team member.
Will consider the most effective way to promote equality of opportunity and good working relationships in employment and service delivery; has the ability to take actions which support and promote this agenda.
Embrace change, viewing it as an opportunity to learn and develop.
Desirable Developed communication skills for delivering key messages to a range of stakeholders both internal and external (including outside the NHS) to the organisation.
Experience of communication, negotiating and influencing with a wide range of stake holders.
Able to facilitate change.
Experience of clinical audit.
Experience Essential Must have an understanding of the background to and aims of current healthcare policy and appreciate the implications of this on planning, engagement and delivery, or clear evidence of ability to acquire and apply this rapidly Minimum of two years post-qualification experience.
Current NHS experience Good understanding of primary care Desirable Should have an appreciation of the new NHS architecture including the relationship between individual provider and commissioning organisations.
Good understanding of primary care.
Experience of undertaking evidence reviews.
Understanding of the current national policies in particular those impacting on medicines Optimisation services.
Evidence of experience in using independent prescribing or clinical pharmacist skills Skills and Abilities Essential Demonstrates understanding of legal, governance and ethical frameworks within which pharmacists and primary/secondary.
Ability to summarise and present information in relevant concise and proactive way Current and valid UK driving license with access to a car to be able to travel around PCN practices.
Excellent clinical knowledge and ability to apply to practice.
Understanding of the data protection act and patient confidentiality, clinical governance, information governance and Caldicott requirements.
Demonstrate an understanding of the data protection act and patient confidentiality, clinical and information governance and Caldicott requirements.
Good presentational skills for conveying complex concepts.
Ability to use informed persuasion to influence others.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Office with intermediate keyboard skills.
Desirable Evidence of planning and delivering of programmes and projects and services on time.
Experience of a patient focused role and consultation skills to apply knowledge in a format patients/carers can understand.
Sound knowledge of medicines legislation and the vision for the development of clinical pharmacists within primary care.
Ability to critically analyse complex information and evidence and communicate the findings clearly in simple terms.
Ability to identify risks, anticipate issues and create solutions and to resolve problems in relation to project or service delivery.
Ability to understand a broad range of complex information quickly and making decisions where opinions differ/no obvious solution.
Ability to work without supervision, providing specialist advice to the organisation, working to tight and often changing timescales.
Interpreting national policy for implementation