Clinical Pharmacist

Job summary

We are looking for a pharmacist to join our team at Merchiston Surgery and Hawthorn Medical Centre with a passion for primary care and working with our patients and staff. You will join an exceptional PCN pharmacy team of experienced pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and a trainee pharmacist who will provide support. Supervision and leadership will be provided on a regular basis by the Lead PCN pharmacist and regular pharmacy team meetings, as well as a GP supervisor.

Primary care experience for this role is desirable, though not essential. If you have not yet completed the CPPE PCPEP pathway (or equivalent) you will be required to do so with this role. On completion of the CPPE pathway you will be supported to complete the Independent Prescribing course. Your job role will expand to managing long term conditions and completing complex medication reviews.

Main duties of the job

The main duties of the role will be patient facing clinics for medication reviews and managing long term conditions. There are also aspects of medication safety and monitoring, medicines reconciliation, and providing medication support to the wider team.

About us

Working at Merchiston and Hawthorn surgeries you will join a strong team of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, GPs, nurses and paramedics in a supportive environment to do the best we can for our patients.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Clinical -

The role is essentially mainly patient facing.

Within your scope of competence carry out structured medication reviews (SMRs) for patients. For those meeting the Directed Enhanced Service (DES) requirements this will be via telephone, video or face to face and may require a domiciliary or care home visit.

Ensure that any monitoring that is needed for the review is completed or arrange for this to be done. As competence grows this will involve ordering and then later reviewing blood tests.

Review and manage where appropriate long-term conditions within your area of competence such a blood pressure control and other cardiovascular risk factors. Run clinics and manage workload and processes around this to see patients for follow up and medicines optimisation, being aware of holistic needs of the patient. Make changes to therapy where needed. This will be in collaboration with colleagues such as healthcare assistants, nurses and GPs.

To educate and support patients in the use of their medicines and optimising their health. This will include referral onto to other services as appropriate. This may also involve supporting colleagues to run groups, and production of health promotional information and materials.

To handle day to day medication issues highlighted by patients, staff, or other professionals within your area of competence. Such issues may be alternatives for out of stock items, clinical assessment of need for items not on repeat prescription and overseeing requests for prescribing from other professionals.

To support the pharmacy technicians with clinical decision making when required

Identify patients suitable for electronic repeat dispensing (eRD), discuss with them how the scheme works, assess consent, and liaise with community colleagues to ensure appropriate communication to allow smooth continuation of care.

Medicines reconciliation -

To reconcile medicines on the patients, record from discharge letters and outpatient clinic letters. To support the technicians with the more clinically challenging discharges, to provide quality assurance of the process and to follow up any outstanding issues to ensure reconciliation is completed in a safe and timely manner.

Assess patients new to the PCN to review their medicines and their care. Refer into hospital services for ongoing care as appropriate. Arrange future monitoring as needed.

Working with the PCN pharmacy technicians if required to ensure that processes around receiving ongoing medication supplies are understood.

Projects and quality improvement -

Work with the PCN pharmacy teams to collate PCN data for the optimisation of medication in key areas. To conduct audits, searches and prepare reports with the support of the senior clinical pharmacist. Track progress and feedback to senior members of the team as required.

Work with the PCN pharmacy technician and other staff in carrying out audits, identifying areas requiring improvement. Draft action plans and lead on areas of implementation, as necessary.

Play a key role working with colleagues to develop PCN wide policies and protocols. Draft documents and present these to senior colleagues adjusting and reviewing as directed. Contribute to the dissemination and implementation of agreed processes and changes in practice overseeing and supervising within your designated practices.

Medication safety -

To facilitate switches of medication in line with local formulary choices or changes in practice within your area of competence

Work with the PCN pharmacy team to assess and give advice on medication alerts as appropriate. Where required support dissemination and action.

Identify areas where new or updated policies and procedures are necessary. Produce such policies and protocols for the practices within your scope of competence. Work with senior colleagues in implementation of these and later assessing impact. Help with keeping a database of when reviews of current documents are required and ensuring the cycle of review is kept active.

Construct or use existing searches to identify patients on high-risk medicines and ensure that monitoring and review is carried out in line with guidelines. Flag up any deviations or concerns with clinical colleagues.

To report Significant Events and complaints in a timely manner to the practice leads as appropriate.

To access Eclipse and work with colleagues to ensure that this is used appropriately to optimise outcomes for patients and the practices.

Carry out searches for people on medicines that require a shared care agreement (SCA). Ensure that this agreement is documented and that the actions allocated to the GP practice are carried out. Highlight any concerns to senior clinical colleagues as applicable.

Evidence based medicines and medicines information -

To provide information to colleagues in response to formal and informal enquiries. As appropriate log information given. Refer to senior clinical colleagues for advice or handover as needed.

Promote evidence-based medicine, use of licensed medicines and clear documentation of discussions, reasoning, and consent where medicines are used outside of usual practice. Ensure that alternatives have been considered and therapy is appropriate. Raise any issues with the senior clinical pharmacists or prescriber.

Training and development -

Develop and deliver training for other staff such as doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals on medicine related themes. Invite feedback to improve training in the practice and disseminate good practice in all the surgeries.

Collaborate with colleagues to develop and deliver training to non-clinical staff and patients.

Complete or have completed the 18 months CPPE PCPEP pathway (or equivalent)

To be or be willing to become an Independent Prescriber

Complete all statutory and mandatory training as required.

Provide support and supervision to less experienced pharmacy staff. Aid development and facilitate competency assessments of staff within your area of competence.

Relationships and networks-

Develop mutual working relationships with colleagues.

Liaise with community pharmacy colleagues as appropriate. Develop working relationships to promote communication and cooperation. Signpost patients to the community pharmacy or other services that may be of benefit to them.

Liaise with Integrated Care Board (ICB) colleagues where appropriate

Liaise with hospital and mental health pharmacy colleagues as well as community colleagues such as district nurses and care home staff for advice and discussion on individual patient care.

Participate in meetings such as practice meetings, patient meetings and informal meetings to raise the role of the pharmacist and promote medicines optimization.

Strategic -

Work with colleagues to determine important outcomes and track progress towards these. Contribute to spreadsheets or dashboards to demonstrate the work of the pharmacy team.

Help ensure that evidence is available to facilitate regulatory oversight such as Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections and audits. Help with any concerns raised around medication storage or processes relating to surgery held medicines in a timely manner.

Work with colleagues in promoting public health schemes and promoting health equity across the PCN. Lead on aspects of this as required by the senior team.

Work with colleagues in promoting consistent ways of working and introducing new ways of working. Lead on aspects of these as required by the senior team.

Personal -

To plan own work schedule, prioritising items as they arise and seeking support as required.

Engage in clinical and managerial supervision.

Ensure that requirements for continuing registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council are met on an annual basis.

To be aware of and adhere to the policies and procedures of the PCN.

Personal transport access will be required as the postholder may need to carry out domiciliary visits, deliver the covid vaccination programme or attend meetings at other sites. To carry out any reasonable requests from the employer that has not been identified beforehand. The post may be subject to change or review as the needs of the population or the service change. Changes will be made in consultation with the individual before any changes are made.

Personal/Professional Development:

The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the Practice as part of this employment, such training to include:

Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development. Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work.

Quality:

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality within the Practice, and will:

Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk. Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhance the teams performance. Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs. Effectively manage own time, workload, and resources

Communication:

The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

Communicate effectively with other team members. Communicate effectively with patients and carers. Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

Contribution to the Implementation of Services:

The post-holder will:

Apply Practice policies, standards, and guidance. Discuss with other members of the team how the policies, standards and guidelines will affect own work. Participate in audit where appropriate. Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)

Desirable

Completion of CPPE PCPEP (or equivalent) Independent prescriber or working towards/intent of gaining an independent prescribing qualification

Experience

Essential

Specialist knowledge acquired through postgraduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience. In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence- based healthcare. An appreciation of the nature of GPs and general practices An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing 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) Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions. Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate. Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems (desirable) and Microsoft office packages (essential) Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data. Has attention to detail, able to work accurately, identifying errors quickly and easily. Able to effectively manage allocated resources. Has a planned and organised approach with an ability to prioritise their own workload to meet strict deadlines. Able to think analytically; anticipating obstacles and thinking ahead; using analytical techniques to draw logical solutions to problems. Excellent communication skills, verbal and written, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience. Excellent verbal and written communication skills Influencing and negotiating skills An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues Works effectively independently and as a member of a team Flexible approach to meet service needs and ensure a stakeholder focused response. Self-motivated and proactive Continued commitment to improve skills and ability in new areas of work. Able to undertake the demands of the post with reasonable adjustments if required . Independently mobile to be able to work across several sites and travel to meet with stakeholders. Adaptability, flexibility, and ability to cope with uncertainty and change. Demonstrate ability to work in a busy environment; ability to deal with both urgent and important tasks and to prioritize effectively whilst also supporting others. Excellent time keeping and prioritisation skills

Desirable

Primary Care experience Presentation skills

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