Primary Care Clinical Pharmacist

Job summary

Haywards Heath Central PCN are looking for a Clinical Pharmacist to work at Newtons Practice. The postholder will report to the GP Clinical Lead within the PCN forclinical supervision. They will also have strong working relationships with thePractice Managers and other clinicians in the network.

ABC will provide consistent employment supportthroughout the appointment.

As part of clinical duties, the successful candidateswill join the multi-disciplinary staff in providing comprehensive care and willwork with patients, carers, and families.

ABC as employerwill provide support and ensure access to the NHSE England training programmeas well as a local network of Clinical Pharmacists working in general practice.

This post is part ofthe Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme for Primary Care Networks funded byNHS England and includes funded access to the Clinical Pharmacist TrainingPathway for any further modules required to complete the pathway.

The post holder isa Pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting andworking alongside a pharmacist team in general practice. In this role they willbe supported by a GP Clinical Lead who will develop, manage and mentor them.

The post holderwill work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role. Thepost holder will take responsibility for areas of chronic disease managementwithin the practice and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactivelymanage patients with complex polypharmacy.

Main duties of the job

The post holderwill provide primary support to general practice staff with regards toprescription and medication queries. They will help support the repeatprescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicinesreconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providingexpertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both public and socialcare needs of patient in the GP practice(s).

The post holderwill provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and qualityimprovement, manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework andenhanced services and contribute to the delivery of the local medicinesoptimisation strategy.

The post holderwill ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacyto help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access tohealthcare and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving thequality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passionto deliver excellent service within general practice.

The post holderwill be supported to develop their role to become a nonmedical prescriber (ifnot already a prescriber).

About us

Alliance for Better Care CIC is a GP Federationthat unites 47 NHS GP practices across 13 Primary Care Networks in Sussex andSurrey. We support our Primary Care colleagues as well as their patients, totransform how healthcare is managed within the community. As a membership organisation, our focus is to work in partnership with ourmembers and help them to improve the provision of General Practices in thelocal area. We work with and listen to our GP Practices, PCNs, Hospitals, CommunityOrganisations and the Third Sector. These vital partnerships ensure that,together, we deliver a truly integrated approach that offers the support andexpertise needed to effectively serve our communities.

Haywards Heath Central PCN is a NHSCollaboration between two GP Practices Dolphins Practice and Newtons Practice- working together to provide enhanced access services.

Our surgery teams work closely, sharing expertise andresources to develop new services. Our vision is to continue to improve thequality of care that we provide in alignment with the needs of our patientpopulation.

Our PCN builds on the existing primary careservices and enables a greater provision of proactive, personalised and moreintegrated health and social care. We are supported by practitioners inadditional roles who allow us to create bespoke multi-disciplinary teams basedon the needs of our local population.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Primary duties andareas of responsibility

From Start of Post:

See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medicalproblems where medicine optimisation is required ( COPD, asthma) Review the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoringneeds and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines takingensuring they get the best use of their medicines ( medicines optimisation).Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicineimprovement Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and producerecommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribingand monitoring Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queriesand concerns about their medicines in the practice Provide telephone support for patients with questions, queries andconcerns about their medicines Act as a source of medicines information for all of the practiceteam and patients, (such as around doses, side effects, adverse events,possible alternatives ( around out of stocks) suggesting and recommendingsolutions To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals,intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and rectifyingunexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists toensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supplyto high-risk groups ofpatients ( those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes) Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcareprofessional for the right care. Ensuring that the addition of the pharmacistto the clinical team results in a reduction in workload for other clinicians Produce and implement a practice repeat prescribing policy in linewith the recommendations Medicines Management Team Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewingpatient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reachingreview dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients haveappropriate monitoring tests in place when required Support the contractual requirements to support frail patientswith their medication including medication review and some patientidentification ( patients with problematic polypharmacy) Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by theGPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with thepractice team Work with MMT to support the implementation of local and nationalguidelines including NICE, Prescribing Formularies etc Liaise with hospital colleagues where prescribing needs to bereturned to specialists. Provide education and training to primary healthcare team ontherapeutics and medicines optimisation Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice iscompliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved To support public health campaigns To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmesavailable to the general public Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts,product withdrawal and other local and national guidance Role may evolve to include: Review the use of medicines most commonly associated withunplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individualpatient reviews Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicinesto high-risk patient groups Managing caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limitingailments Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or otherhealthcare professionals where appropriate

Please see full job description for further information

Person Specification

Behaviours & Values

Essential

Self-Motivation Adaptable

Skills & Abilities

Essential

Ability to solve problems effectively and timely and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and when to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills Excellent written and verbal communication skills Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences ( patients) Ability to plan, prioritise, manage, monitor, advise and review clinical and general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions Good IT skills Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information Able to work under pressure and challenging situations to meet deadlines Produce timely and informative reports

Knowledge & Experience

Essential

Minimum of 2 years experience post-qualification In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based medicine and healthcare Good knowledge of service developments in medicines, prescribing, NHS policy and other relevant policy directives A good understanding of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing Excellent understanding and implementation of legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct Good understanding of patient centred care and impact on care quality and outcomes Good understanding of patients role in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidance Experience of multi-disciplinary team working Experience of committees/working groups Drug information experience Experience in writing complex and high quality reports Experience in audit, research and analysis of highly complex information related to improving clinical quality

Desirable

Experience in supervising staff Experience of independent patient consultation, review and recommendations/prescribing

Research, Leadership & Management

Essential

Demonstrates ability to critically evaluate and review literature Demonstrates ability to identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice Demonstrates ability to generate evidence suitable for presentation at local level Demonstrates ability to apply the research evidence base into working practice Demonstrates understanding of the principles of research governance Demonstrates ability to work as a member of the research team Demonstrates understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace Demonstrates understanding of, and contributes to organisational vision Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service Reviews progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others Demonstrates ability to motivate self to achieve goals Demonstrates understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and/or service Demonstrates understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation Demonstrates understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice Demonstrates ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol

Qualifications

Essential

Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council Undergraduate degree in pharmacy (MPharm)

Desirable

Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society A member of or working towards Faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Clinical diploma Postgraduate Certificate in Pharmacy Practice Independent prescriber

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