PCN Senior Clinical Pharmacist

Job summary

Are you an experienced clinical pharmacist with proven leadership qualities who is passionate about advancing clinical pharmacy services in primary care through collaborative working? The Chesterfield and Dronfield Primary Care Network (PCN) is looking for a Senior Clinical Pharmacist to join their growing pharmacy team to support and enhance the clinical pharmacy service at practice level. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a developing team of pharmacists.

Benefits of working with us:

NHS Pension with employer contributions On appointment 27 days plus 8 Bank Holiday annual leave entitlement which rises annually with length of service up to 33 days (pro rata for part time staff) Entitlement of up to 5 days professional/study leave per annum, pro rata. Access to Well-Being Support Blue light Card Discount

PLEASE NOTE WE ARE NOT AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE ORGANISATION.

Interviews to be held face to face at Dunston Innovation Centre, Dunston Road, Chesterfield, S41 8NG. Provisional interview date 19 December 2024 in the afternoon.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be expected to:

Line manage, motivate, supportand develop a small team of clinical pharmacists and technicians.

Perform structured medicationreviews (SMRs) to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy andcare home residents.

Be involved in the managementof long-term conditions.

Embrace service development togrow the capabilities of the clinical pharmacy team.

This role is to work across our North & West neighbourhood practices (Chatsworth Road (base), Whittington Moor & Newbold).

The ideal candidate will be a registered pharmacist with significantclinical and quality improvement experience and ideally an independentprescriber. We are looking for an individual with leadership and management qualities,who is committed to improving patient care and is passionate about clinicalpharmacy. The candidate must be able to work effectively as part of a diversepractice team and work towards the PCN vision. Although prior experience inGeneral Practice would be an advantage, pharmacists from other sectors withsignificant transferable skills will be considered for the role. You will beexpected to enroll on the CPPE Primary Care Pharmacy Education Pathway (PCPEP)if you have not completed already or can be exempted.

About us

The Chesterfield and Dronfield PCN, formed by ten member practices isone of the largest Primary Care Networks in the UK and covers circa 100,000patients in North Derbyshire. The PCN has an established and growing team of pharmacistswho are embedded in practices across the PCN and are committed to deliveringhigh quality care for our patients. We are seeking a senior clinical pharmacistto help manage a small team of clinical pharmacist and technicians to deliver thePCN strategy and key performance indicators. Operationally the role willrequire an inclusive and facilitative approach, support collaborative workingand develop the PCN clinical pharmacists. Whilst being part of the PCN pharmacyteam you will be based within a neighbourhood group of GP practices and will helpto deliver the PCN Direct Enhanced Service (DES).

Job description

Job responsibilities

Thepost holder will be the Senior member of a Neighbourhood Team of Pharmacistswho will work within their clinical competencies as part of amulti-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines management, patient-facingstructured medication reviews, manage long term conditions, management ofmedicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, manage repeatprescription authorisations and reauthorisation, acute prescription requests,while addressing both the public health and social care needs of patients inthe GP practice(s) that make up the PCN.

Thisrole is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficienciesso requires motivation and passion to deliver an excellent service withingeneral practice.

Thepost holder will be responsible for the day-to-day management and developmentof the pharmacists and technicians and the distribution of the pharmacist andtechnician resource within a Neighbourhood, liaising with the member practicesand the PCN Pharmacy lead.

Key areas of Focus

Patient-facing medication reviews of patients with polypharmacyespecially for older people, people in care homes and those with multiple co-morbidities.

Leadership to practices and pharmacy team on quality improvementand clinical audit as well as managing some aspects of the Quality and OutcomesFramework.

Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team to manage repeatprescription authorisations and reauthorisation, acute prescription requests,management of medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing.

Providing expertise in clinical medicines management whileaddressing both the public health and social care needs of patients in the GPpractice(s).

Day to day management of the PCN pharmacists and technicians inthe neighbourhood and agreeing allocation of the resource with memberpractices.

Working across and assisting with both practice and PCNrequirements

Keyduties and responsibilities

1. Patient facing medicinessupport

Hold clinics for patients requiring medicationreviews a review of the ongoing need for each medicine, a review ofmonitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicinetaking. Provide a telephone support for patients with questions, queries andconcerns about their medicines.

2. Structured Medication Reviews(SMRs)

Undertake structured medication reviews withpatients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy and implement ownprescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and order relevantmonitoring tests.

3. Risk stratification

Design, development, and implementation ofcomputer searches to identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm frommedicines. Responsibility for management of risk stratification tools on behalfof the practice. Working with patients and the primary care team to minimiserisks through medicines optimisation.

4. Long term condition clinics

See patients in multimorbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcarecolleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines, including deprescribing.Manage own case load, run own long-term condition clinics where responsible forprescribing as an independent prescriber for conditions where medicines have alarge component ( medicine optimisation for stable angina symptom control,warfarin monitoring and dose adjustment for patients requiring longterm anticoagulants). Review the ongoing need for each medicine, areview of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with theirmedicines taking.

5. Unplanned hospital admissions

Devise and implement practice searches toidentify cohorts of patients most likely to be at risk of an unplannedadmission and readmissions from medicines. Work with case managers,multidisciplinary (health and social care) review teams, hospital colleaguesand virtual ward teams to manage medicines-related risk for readmission andpatient harm. Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicinesto high-risk patient groups.

6. Care home structured medicationreviews

Manage own caseload of care home residents.Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and implement ownprescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and order relevantmonitoring tests. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicinesordering and administration.

7. Repeat prescribing

Produce and implement a practice repeatprescribing policy. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process byreviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicinesreaching review dates; make necessary changes as an independent prescriber, andensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.

8. Medicines safety and qualityimprovement

Identify and provide leadership on areas ofprescribing requiring improvement. Conduct own audits and improvement projectsand work with colleagues. Present results and provide leadership on suggestedchange. Demonstrate continuous QI activity focused upon prescribing safety asspecified in the QOF guidance. This work for example might include the PINCERtool. Contribute to national and local research initiatives

9. Leadership and management

Provide leadership and management to clinicalpharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pre-reg pharmacists working within assignedneighbourhoods. Responsibility for line managingclinical pharmacists and technicians within assigned neighbourhoods. Operationalmanagement of pharmacy team and clinical support.

10. Domiciliary clinicalmedication review

Manage own caseload of vulnerable houseboundpatients at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of medicines.Implement own prescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and orderingof monitoring tests. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary caseconferences.

11.Service development

Develop and manage new services that are builtaround new medicines or NICE guidance, where new medicine/recommendations allowthe development of a new care pathway ( new oral

anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrialfibrillation).

12.Care Quality Commission

Provide leadership to the practice manager andGPs to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC

standards where medicines are involved.

13.Population and Public Health

To devise and manage population and publichealth campaigns to run within the network. To provide specialist knowledge onimmunisation.

14.Cost saving programmes

Make recommendations for, and manage pharmacytechnicians to, make changes to medicines

(switches) designed to save on medicine costswhere a medicine or product with lower acquisition cost is now available

15.Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answers all medicinerelated enquiries from GPs, other practice staff and patients withqueries about medicines. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effectof any changes.

16.Information management

Analyse, interpret and present medicines datato highlight issues and risks to support decision making.

17.Training

Provide education and training toprimary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Providetraining to visiting medical, nursing and otherhealthcare students where appropriate.

18.Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

To reconcile medicines following dischargefrom hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifyingand rectifying unexplained changes manage these changes without referral to aGP, perform a clinical medication review, produce a post discharge medicinescare plan including dose titration and booking of follow up tests and workingwith patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive themedicines they need post discharge and working with patients and communitypharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge.

Set up and manage systems to ensure continuityof medicines supply to high-risk groups of patients ( those withmedicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Work in partnership with hospital colleagues( care of the elderly doctors and clinical pharmacists) to proactivelymanage patients at high risk of medicine related problems before they aredischarged to ensure continuity of care.

19. Implementation of local and nationalguidelines and formulary recommendations

Monitor practice prescribing against the localhealth economys RAG list for medicines that should

be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs)or subject to shared care (amber drugs). Liaise directly with hospitalcolleagues where prescribing needs to be returned to specialists. Assistpractices in setting and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on thepractices computer system. Suggest and develop computer decision support toolsto help remind prescribers about the agreed formulary choice and localrecommendations. Auditing practices compliance against NICE technologyassessment guidance. Provide newsletters on important prescribing messages toimprove prescribers knowledge and work with the team to develop and implementother techniques known to influence implementation of evidence such as auditand feedback.

20. Medicines safety

Horizon scan to identify national and localpolicy and guidance that affects patient safety through the use of medicines,including MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and emerging evidence form clinicaltrials. Manage the process of implementing changes to medicines and guidancefor practitioners.

Person Specification

Other

Essential

Adaptable Self Motivated Appropriate Immunisation Status Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes

Skills and Knowledge

Essential

In-depth therapeutic & clinical knowledge and an understanding of evidence based healthcare An appreciation of GPs and General Practice environment An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing Excellent Interpersonal, influencing & negotiating skills Excellent verbal & written communication skills Ability to lead and manage a team Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to various audiences ( patients) Able to plan, manage, monitor, advise & review general medicines optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions (LTCs) Good IT communication skills Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and able to refer to Leads or GPs when appropriate Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines Produce timely & informative reports Gain acceptance for recommendations and influence/motivate/persuade audience to comply with recommendations/agreed course of action where there may be significant barriers Work effectively independently and as a team member Develop and maintain effective working relationships with colleagues. Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions

Desirable

Experience of working in Primary Care

Qualifications

Essential

Minimum of 5 years post qualification experience

Desirable

Clinical Diploma Independent Prescribing or currently working towards qualification

Professional Registration

Essential

Mandatory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council

Desirable

Membership Primary Care Pharmacists Association Membership Royal Pharmaceutical Society

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