Rotational Specialist Pharmacist

Job summary

Up to hours per week.

We are seeking exceptional pharmacists to join our pharmacy team at LSW working across our community, general medicine, frailty, mental health, substance misuse and virtual ward areas. You will be confident, motivated individuals who will work closely with other health care professionals within the organisation to a deliver a responsive and pro-active people focused service to continuously improve clinical pharmacy delivery.

As a rotational specialist pharmacist you will have the unique opportunity to rotate and work across different sectors within the organisation that will give you a wealth of experience in different clinical areas of pharmacy enabling you to further develop your knowledge and career aspirations.

In this post your personal and professional development will be key to achieving job satisfaction and success. You will be supported in your clinical and leadership development by experienced pharmacists and through formal education.

At LSW we support flexible working and value work life balance. We currently provide clinical pharmacy services Monday to Friday, with no on-call, late nights, weekend or bank holiday working. We have free parking available on site.

For an informal discussion about the role, please emailNicola Diffey

Interviews will take place between 9th and 13th of December 2024.

Main duties of the job

You work under the supervision and support of the Advanced ClinicalPharmacists in MH and Community and General Medicine to provide clinical pharmacy services to inpatient and communitybased services across LSW specialties.

This role in particular centres on rotations through general medicine (medical rehabilitation, stroke rehabilitation and neuro rehabilitation)and mental health (acute, rehabilitation and forensic inpatient units along side community mental health areas).

There will be opportunities to gain experience working within the virtual ward (acute and community), within substance misuse, and within medicines governance, contributing to policy and guideline writing and carrying out audits.

You will deliver a high quality, clinical pharmacy service ensuring the safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use ofdrugs. This will be achieved through attendance at ward rounds /MDTs and being responsible for medicines reconciliation on admission, medicinesoptimisation and provision of clinical services during inpatient stay, andpharmacy authorisation of discharge summaries.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.

Please note that Livewell may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline if a high number of applications are submitted. Therefore, we recommend you submit your application at the earliest opportunity.

All Livewell staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.

About us

Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise providing integrated health & social care services for people across Plymouth, South Hams & West Devon, as well as some specialist services for people living in parts of Devon & Cornwall. With teams in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, health & wellbeing hubs.

As an organisation with a strong social conscience, we always value being kind, respectful, inclusive, ambitious, responsible and collaborative. Transforming services to make them sustainable, ensuring that we value, support & empower each other.

We are committed to involving the people we care for, families & carers in everything that we do, working towards co-production where we can. Helping us to deliver the right care for people, in the right place & at the right time. By putting people at the centre of what we do, we ensure to support people to lead, healthy independent lives & be the very best at helping people to live well.

Valuing our employees making an investment in their development a priority. We offer:

Protected CPD time for registered staff

Various development pathways and ongoing regular training packages for all staff

Leadership & mentoring programmes

Access & funding for training including Care Certificate, Assistant Practitioners Course & Scholarship Into Nurse Training

A Robust Preceptorship

A bespoke induction programme

Existing members of the NHS Pension Scheme can continue their membership when they join the organisation.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Professional/Clinical

Under the direction of the Clinical Director of Pharmacy andsupported by the Advanced Clinical Pharmacist you will:

Deliver optimum clinical pharmacy services to patients within ourcare

Attend MDTs and consultant ward rounds. Be responsible for thesafe and effective transfer of patients across care settings includingmedicines reconciliation on admission and authorise discharge summaries ondischarge

Provide clinical pharmacist support and advice to consultants,junior doctors, nurses, members of the MDT, patients and their carers bycompletion of medicines reconciliation, comprehensive drug histories,pharmacist led medication reviews, monitoring and advising on strategies tooptimise response to therapies

Be supported in this training post to achieve a Clinical Diplomaand Independent Prescriber qualification or similar qualification.

Contribute to the clinical governance agenda(s) of the service andof the organisation

Review policies and procedures relevant to pharmacy and monitorand evaluate medicines related protocols and guidelines

Propose policy or service changes to improve the delivery ofpharmaceutical care to patients which may have multidisciplinary and resourceimplications

Use risk stratification tools/protocols to minimise the risk ofharm from medicines

Implement changes following local and national drugalerts/information in accordance with local policy

Provide pharmacist cover for other areas and settings duringannual leave or sickness

Attend, deliver and contribute to CPD sessions and peer review forthe purposes of revalidation in order to maintain professional registration

Clinical services will be achievedthrough

Contribution to multidisciplinary teammeetings, this will require pharmaceutical advice ensuring optimum treatment isrecommended for every patient

Undertake medication reviews withpatients to support optimum therapy and adherence, making recommendations toprescribers and the MDT and involving the patient in every aspect of theirtreatment

Review and interpret clinical data eachday for patients requiring therapeutic drug monitoring

Recommendation of appropriate therapyfor individual patients where evidence is not available, controversial, evidenceexists, or other professionals may challenge advice

Provide advice on the pharmaceutical andpharmacodynamics properties of drugs including alterations of these parametersin special groups of patients, such as the older adult or those with mentalhealth conditions.

Attendance at Consultant/Doctor/whiteboard/MDT meetings to actively facilitate and provide advice on the treatmentof patients

Promote compliance by prescribers and other healthcare staff withthe South and West Devon Formulary and Referral

Application of the evidence base behind drug therapies

Identification of adverse drug reactions and reporting them to theMHRA via the Yellow Card system

Complete medicines reconciliation within 24hours for acute areas (72hrsat weekends) and within 7 days for rehabilitation areas as patients enter andleave services, identifying and informing prescribers of any changes

Contribute to the organisations wider antimicrobial surveillanceprogramme, implementing local programmesensuring appropriate antimicrobial prescribing within the organisation

Contribute to public health campaigns, including flu vaccinations,and adult immunisation programmes

Analytical and Judgmentalskills

Applying specialist pharmaceutical knowledge to ensure drug, dose,frequency, route etc. are suitable for the individual patient. This may involvecalculations and/or analysis of past medication/medical history and laboratoryresults

To clinically screen drug charts to ensure all aspects arecompatible and no pharmaceutical needs are unmet

To clinically screen discharge summaries and ensure they are safe,detailed and complete to enable better transfer of care for patients acrosscare settings

Use knowledge and professional judgement to respond to medicinesrelated issues with the relevant clinician or team in a timely manner

Support the delivery of the NHS Devon ICB medicines optimisationagenda in primary care

Participation in audit and project work

Identify areas for service development, interpreting NICErecommendations and developing relevant pathways

Responding to medicines information requests from prescribers andother healthcare professionals and providing advice on medicines. In many casesthis is a complex task involving specialist up to date knowledge, effectivesearch strategies, evaluation of the evidence base and formulation of anappropriate response.

Contribute to clinical governance and risk management throughinterventions which optimise the management of medicines in all areas ofpractice, supporting best practice throughout all areas of responsibility.

Planning and Organisationalskills

Organise and prioritise ones own workload in order to respond tourgent and varied requests in a timely manner.

Be flexible according to the needs of the service, which are oftenunpredictable

Ability to work under pressure to ensure that deadlines areachieved

Service Development:

Agree therapeutic areas of practice for development andindependent prescribing in accordance with your competency and the requirementsof the service

Implement changes aligned to local and national drivers fororganisational and system service improvements that are designed to enhance thedelivery of care to patients across the system

Actively contribute to the development of the Clinical PharmacyService initiatives that improve patient care and access across the system

Contribute to the delivery of initiatives that help with theseamless transfer of patients between different healthcare settings

Integrate research evidence into your practice and identify gapsin the evidence base

Provide education and training to all healthcare professionals

Write and review Medicines Policies, procedures and guidelinesunder the direction and support of the Advanced Clinical Pharmacist and seniormanagement team

Review Patient Group Directions and Protocols withtraining and support from the Advance Clinical Pharmacist

Take part in audit work

Development and Support ofother Pharmacy Staff

Provide training and mentorship to otherpharmacists, trainee pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy assistants,work experience students, volunteers and any other members of staff needingsupport as required.

Health, Safety and Security:

To work safely in the dispensary or ward environment ensuring anyrisks identified to health and safety are managed or escalated to line manager

To ensure safety and security of medicines, prescriptionstationery and other patient identifiable documents according to locally agreedstandard operating procedures

To inform line manager of any breaches of safety or security or ifagreed procedures are thought to be inadequate to manage the risk

Training and Development

This is a training post to develop a pharmacist for their futurecareer. Study at clinical pharmacy post-graduate diploma level and / orconstruction of an Advanced Practice Portfolio for RPS Faculty membership isencouraged

Study to achieve Independent Pharmacist Prescriber status will alsobe possible

Deliver appropriate training and education tohealthcare colleagues, carer groups and outside agencies in order to promotethe safe use and clinical application of drugs.

Freedom to Act:

Pharmacists are expected to work largely unsupervised and to acton their own professional judgement.

Support mechanisms exist within the clinical pharmacy service bycontacting other team members on a mutually beneficial basis.

If studying for a specific qualification a suitable mentor and/orfacilitator will be made available as necessary.

Line manager support is available as required.

Clinical supervision from another health professional can bearranged and is to be encouraged

Clinical roles are supported by policies, SOPs and guidelineswithin which the registered professional is allowed to exercise professionaldiscretion / interpretation

Communications and Relationships

Well-developedverbal and written communications skills are essential to the role

Communicate medicines information (medicines doses and side effects) in oral or written form to patients and/orcarers, who may have difficulties with understanding

Work with the Pharmacy team to manageday to day medicines queries, including face to face consultations withpatients identified to have compliance or other problems in medicineadministration

Be actively involved in patientcounselling

Develop and implement patient/carerhealth educational groups across the organisation

Refer patients to other communityservices where appropriate

Discuss and resolve medication problemswith prescribers where appropriate, ensuring treatment is appropriate, safe andeffective

Input and maintain clinical andpharmacy records, for example using System-one IT, controlled drugs, unlicensedmedication

To provide information for summary carerecords to other healthcare professional if appropriate to do so

Work collaboratively and effectivelywith all levels of healthcare staff in every area of work,

Physical Demands of the Job

There is a need to travel between sites, therefore ability to drive orcommitment to attaining a driving license is essential, and to use own car isan advantage

Good keyboard / computer skills are essential.

Dispensing and checking of medication including blister packs as needed.

Manual handling may include small static loads and some patienthandling

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

Post graduate experience in hospital, community or primary care pharmacy. Experience/understanding roles of other health care professionals staff working in community/multidisciplinary teams.

Desirable

Experience of working within mental health Experience of influencing, negotiating, and implementing change in practice Experience of developing policies, standard operating procedures and guidance Experience of multidisciplinary and multi-organisational working Experience of using and collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, auditing and producing reports Experience in presenting evidence and research

Skills

Essential

Ability to plan and prioritise work with good organisational and time management skills. Ability to have a high level of self-motivation, use own initiative, devise and organise own workload as part of the larger teams work plan for optimum service delivery. Ability to work closely with and as a valued member of the Clinical Pharmacy Service Team. Ability to evaluate quality of own work. Ability to achieve personal and corporate goals. Ability to engage with and learn from peers, other professionals and colleagues. Professional calm and efficient manner.

Desirable

Ability to influence and negotiate with a range of stakeholders to implement change in practice Holds a valid UK driving license or is willing to learn to drive within 12 months of taking the post.

Qualifications

Essential

Mpharm degree or equivalent Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Evidence of commitment to and able to demonstrate CPD.

Desirable

Postgraduate diploma (or working towards) or equivalent evidence of clinical knowledge, competence and achievements in practice Independent Pharmacist Prescriber accreditation - or willing to work towards Membership with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain Working towards or membership of the RPS Faculty

Knowledge

Essential

Evidence of practical application of in depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge. Ability to analyse, interpret and evaluate clinical evidence, data and information from various sources to make judgements, decisions and provide recommendations. Logical and focused approach to problem solving. Awareness of legislation governing equality and diversity. Understanding of confidentiality and data protection act.

Desirable

Experience of IT applications including Microsoft programmes, pharmacy dispensing programmes and Systm-one Demonstrate awareness of interface issues Understand relationships between health and social care

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