PCN Clinical Pharmacist

Job summary

i3PCN is pleased to announce a vacancy for a dedicated and experienced ClinicalPharmacist to join our dynamic multidisciplinary team. This essential rolefocuses on modernising care pathways and fostering collaboration acrossprofessional boundaries within our expanding Primary Care Network. Thesuccessful candidate will lead PCN-wide projects and should be able to workindependently while demonstrating initiative and expertise. Keyresponsibilities will include conducting medication review clinics, executingelectronic prescribing, and performing MHRA safety searches. Please note thatIndependent Prescribing is a compulsory requirement for this position, giventhe scope of responsibilities, which also encompass medication queries,high-risk drug monitoring, and ensuring compliance with CQC standards. Weinvite enthusiastic professionals who are ready to make a significant impact tosubmit their applications.

Main duties of the job

Thepost holder will act within their professional boundaries, collaboratingclosely with a team of clinicians in General Practice. They will be supportedby a Senior Clinical Pharmacist who will provide guidance and mentorship.

Inthis patient-facing role, the post holder will take responsibility for variousaspects of medicines management within the Network, conducting clinicalmedication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.They will serve as primary support for general practice staff regardingprescription and medication queries, assisting with the repeat prescriptionsystem, addressing acute prescription requests, and managing medicinesreconciliation during transfers of care.

Additionally,the post holder will provide expertise in clinical medicines advice, addressingboth public and social care needs of patients within the PCN. They will offerclinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement, managingcertain elements of the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services.Furthermore, the post holder will ensure effective integration with communityand hospital pharmacy services to optimise skill mix, improve patient outcomes,enhance access to healthcare, and assist in managing workload effectively.

About us

i3 Primary Care Network (PCN) is a collaborativemodel within primary care that brings together a group of general practices(GPs) along with other healthcare providers, such as community services,pharmacies, and social care services, to work together to provide moreintegrated and comprehensive care to the local population.

The purpose and benefits of a Primary Care Networkincludes

Improved Access and Continuity of Care: Patientsbenefit from better access to a range of services and continuity of care,particularly for those with long-term conditions.

Efficiency: By sharing resources, PCNs can reduceduplication of services and make better use of available healthcareprofessionals and technology.

Tailored Care: PCNs are designed to meet thespecific needs of their local population, enabling more personalised andeffective care

Job description

Job responsibilities

See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required ( COPD, asthma).

Review the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines ( medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring.

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacist, nurses or GPs on prescribing and monitoring.

Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacists, nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring.

Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.

Managing caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competence.

Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Provide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Provide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Answers relevant medicine-‐related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams ( community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines.

Suggesting and recommending solutions.

Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes

Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews.

Put in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high‐risk patient groups.

To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes, including identifying and rectifying unexplained changes and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post discharge.

Set up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high‐risk groups of patients ( those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).

Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.

Produce and implement a practice repeat Prescribing policy.

Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorization process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review.

Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.

Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both.

Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components ( advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).

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

Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team.

Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

Monitor Network prescribing against the local health economy’s RAG list and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital doctors (red drugs) or subject to shared care (amber drugs).

Assist practices in seeing and maintaining a practice formulary that is hosted on the practice’s computer system.

Auditing practice’s compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance.

Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.

Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.

Work with the general practice teams to ensure the Network is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.

To support public health campaigns.

To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

- Pharmacy degree - Registered with the GPhC - Evidence of commitment to continuing professional development

Desirable

- Independent prescribing qualification - Previous experience in a GP practice and/or hospital environment.

---