Clinical Pharmacist - The Avenue SurgeryNHS

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Pharmacist to join our friendly and supportive team working at The Avenue Surgery.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and proactive Pharmacist to join our team. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in delivering high-quality, patient-centred care within a supportive and forward-thinking primary care organisation.

Applications are welcomed from both newly qualified and experienced Pharmacists. We are committed to supporting our staff and are happy to discuss flexible working arrangements to help achieve a positive work-life balance.

Main duties of the job

To work alongside GPs and other health professionals to provide expertise in clinical pharmacy, medicines optimisation, management and safety through structured medication reviews. You will provide leadership for medicines use to ensure patients experience high quality patient care that will improve health outcomes and efficiency of the primary care team by providing direct, accessible and timely expertise which include telephone contact with patients.

The main duties will include using your own clinical competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team and ICB to provide face to face and remote medications review, support management of patients with long-term conditions and co-morbidities, undertake medicines reconciliation, polypharmacy management, provide telephone consultation, repeat prescription standardisations, implementation and management, drug monitoring management, shared-care agreement management and clinical audits.

The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational effectiveness within primary so requires, motivation, passion and resilience to deliver and excellent service within general practice.

You will work as part of the prescribing team, you will lead and support the team by providing day to day line management. You will represent the surgery as prescribing lead for the surgery within the PCN and the ICB.

Job description

Long-Term Conditions

• Contribute to improved health outcomes in long term conditions for the practices.
• Support patients to manage their long-term conditions.
• Carry out clinical medication reviews for patients on multiple medications for long term conditions.
• Review if prescribing is appropriate in line with current guidance, cost-effective and safe; identify unmet need, stop unnecessary/ineffective medicines. Implement own prescribing changes as an independent prescriber.
• Review of pathology results for patients under their care.
• Contribute to achievement of QOF targets to improve health outcomes.
• Make appropriate recommendations to the wider clinical team including senior pharmacists, senior clinical practitioners and GPs.

Clinical Medication Reviews

• Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients
• Produce recommendations for senior clinical practitioner, GP etc. for ongoing prescribing and monitoring recommendations.
• To review medications for new patients, to ensure safe, cost-effective prescribing in line with practice/local prescribing policies.

Care Home Medication Reviews

• Undertake clinical medication review with patients and staff within the care home.
• Work with care home staff to improve safety of medication ordering and administration.

Domiciliary Reviews

• Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations.
• Attend and refer patients (if needed) to the multidisciplinary team.
• Work with patients to educate about medication safety, storage and ordering within the home.

Risk Stratification

• Identification of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through computerised searches.
• Review all relevant safety alerts (e.g. MHRA) and ensure any action required is undertaken.
• Conduct medication reviews for patients identified as above.

Unplanned Hospital Admissions

• Review the use of medications most commonly associated with unplanned admissions and re-admission through audit and individual patient reviews.
• Put protocol and policies in place to implement changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to high-risk patient groups.

Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments

• Managing caseload of patient with common/minor/self-limiting ailments whilst working within a scope of practice and limits of competence.
• Signposting to the community pharmacy and referring ro GPs and other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Medicines Support and Information for practice staff and patients (patient facing or telephone)

• Answer medical information queries from GPs, Nurses, practice staff, patients and third-party providers.
• Provide education on medicines related topics to the clinical team.
• Provide advice on suitable alternative medications in the event of a medicine being unavailable.
• Provide education for the clinical team on new medicines.
• Provide specialist knowledge and advice on pharmaceutical matters.
• Provide regular education sessions for the clinicians at the practices to discuss audit results and agree an action plan for improving standards within clinical areas.
• To provide specialist knowledge on medication monitoring and ensure a system for implementation is in place.
• To answer queries from administration staff regarding medication requests where appropriate to save GP time.

Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

• To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospital/ intermediate care; identify and rectify unexplained changes, manage these changes without referral to the GP; perform a clinical medication review; produce a post-discharge medicines care plan including dose titration and booking of follow-up test, and work 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 (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids).
• Reconcile medication from clinic appointment correspondence, identifying any unexplained changes and rectifying these by communication with the secondary care provider. Ensure patients are fully aware of any changes and that a plan for monitoring/dose titration is in place.

Signposting

• Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate health professional and level of care within an appropriate timeframe.

Repeating Prescribing

• Produce and implement repeat prescribing policy within the surgery.
• To re-authorise medication for future repeat prescribing within scope of competence if an independent prescriber.
• Manage medication review dates and ensure that any clinical monitoring or reviews are actioned.
• To ensure the practice repeat prescribing system is safe, efficient and helps minimise waste.

Service Development

• Review NICE and other evidence-based guidance as it is issued, to evaluate any impact on medicines and prescribing.
• Undertake regular clinical audit to support implementation of clinical guidance across the practice.
• To take part in practice clinical meetings when appropriate.
• Encourage cost effective prescribing within the practice, including adherence to local formulary.
• Build good working relationships with local Medicines Management Team members.
• Improve communication about medication-related issues between the practice and both the patient and other care providers

Professional Development

• Work with your line manager to undertake continual personal and professional development, taking an active part in reviewing and developing the role and responsibilities
• Adhere to organisational policies and procedures including keeping up to date with mandatory training.
• Attend formal clinical supervision sessions for further development, case reviews and dealing with difficult issues.
• Attend annual appraisals
• Participate in the delivery of formal educational programmes.
• Demonstrate an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keep up to date with relevant clinical practice.

Research and Evaluation

• Critically evaluate and review literature and implement into practice if appropriate.
• Identify where there is a gap in the evidence base to support practice.
• Generate evidence suitable for presentations at practice and local level.

Miscellaneous

• Work as part of the team to seek feedback, continually improve the service and contribute to the business planning.
• Undertake any tasks consistent with the level of the post and the scope of practice, ensuring that work, tasks and results are processed within a timely manner.
• Use effective communication skills to ensure appropriate and detailed information is effectively communicated whether that be a patient, member of the community, member of the multi-disciplinary team or a staff member.

Leadership and Management

• Be the first line manager for the prescribing team.
• Support new starters with induction, training and mentoring.
• Liaise with clinicians, managers and team leads.
• Deal with immediate responses to complaints relating to prescription requests, escalating as appropriate.
• Implement changes as per management instruction.
• Continually assess and evaluate the prescribing systems, recommend changes and improvements to the management team as appropriate.
• Participate in clinical meetings and manage prescribing team meetings.
• Identify team training needs.
• Help the team prioritise workload.

Administration

• Liaise with community pharmacists to ensure efficient and well managed repeat prescribing systems.
• Liaise with other prescribing leads within the PCN and the ICB.
• Liaise with Care Home managers ensuring they have a point of contact if they have any queries.

Policy and Service Development

• Liaise with ICB regarding local prescribing policies.
• Alongside others within the pharmacy and practice team, define and creat protocols and formularies for consultation with ICB medicines managements team.
• Work as prescribing clinical coordinator to ensure success of QOF and CQC inspections.

Minor Ailments Clinics

You will be responsible for conducting formal physical assessments encompassing a range of clinical measures, tailored to meet the diverse needs of patients with various health conditions.

About us

Sussex Primary Care run a number of GP Practices across Sussex providing excellent primary care in the heart of the community. We are a learning organisation that listens to our team of staff, patients and partners to guide our future. At the heart of our vision are our patients and their needs.

Be patient-focussed in everything we do

Support staff to be the best they can be

Innovate, learn and evaluate