Clinical Pharmacist- GP Surgery

The post holder is a pharmacist who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of other clinicians. The postholder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team in a patient-facing role. The post holder will be responsible for the tasks listed below for the individual practices; these may vary from practice to practice. The post holder may provide primary support to general practice staff regarding prescription and medication queries. They may help support the repeat prescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both and social care needs of patients in the GP practice(s). The post holder may provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services. The post holder may ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to health care, and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving care and operational efficiencies, so it requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice. Primary responsibilities Patient facing long-term conditions (LTC) See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical conditions where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma). Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking, ensuring they get the best use of their medicines. Make appropriate recommendations to senior pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement. Patient-facing clinical medication review Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for nurses and/or GPs on prescribing and monitoring. Patient-facing domiciliary clinical medication review Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior pharmacists, nurses, and/or GPs on prescribing monitoring. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences. Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments Managing the 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 health care professionals where appropriate. Patient-facing medicines support Provide patient-facing clinics for those with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines in the practice. Telephone medicines support Provide a telephone help line for patients for those with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines. Medicine information to practice staff and patients Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy), and patients with queries about medicine, suggesting and recommending solutions. Provide follow-ups for patients to monitor the effect of any changes. Unplanned hospital admissions 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. Management of medicines at discharge from hospitals 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 (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes). Signposting Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate health care professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time, e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long-term medical reviews, etc. Repeat prescribing Review practice repeats prescribing policies Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation 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. Risk stratification 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. Service development Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medical components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets). Information management Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making. Medicines quality improvements Undertake clinical audits in prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team. Medicines safety Implement changes to medicines resulting from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal, and other local and national guidance. Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations 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 practices computer system Audit the practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages. Education and training Provide education and training to primary health care teams on therapeutic and medicines optimisation. Care Quality Commission Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved. Public health To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the public. Collaborative Working Relationships Recognise the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role to patient care. Demonstrate use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders The ability to work as part of a team Able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleagues where necessary Actively work towards developing and maintaining effective working relationships Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the locality Demonstrate the ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams Liaise with colleagues, including pharmacists on prescribing-related matters ensuring consistency of patient care Liaise with other stakeholders, including but not limited to : Patients, GPs and other clinical staff, other health care professionals, locality / GP prescribing lead, community nurses and other allied health care professionals, community and hospital pharmacy teams and hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation. Knowledge, Skills, and Experience Required Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Have experience and an awareness of common, acute, and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern, and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate Able to follow legal, ethical, professional, and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines Leadership and management Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately in the workplace. Engage with patient participation groups (PPGs) involving PPGs in the development of the role and the practices Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation Demonstrate the ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol The ability to motivate self to achieve goals Promotes equality and diversity Demonstrate the ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team Education, Training and Development Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team/service Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes Demonstrates an understanding of practice policies and procedures NB: This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of responsibilities, and it is expected that you will participate in a wide range of activities. Job description Job responsibilities The post holder is a pharmacist who acts within their professional boundaries, supporting and working alongside a team of other clinicians. The postholder will work as part of a multidisciplinary team in a patient-facing role. The post holder will be responsible for the tasks listed below for the individual practices; these may vary from practice to practice. The post holder may provide primary support to general practice staff regarding prescription and medication queries. They may help support the repeat prescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both and social care needs of patients in the GP practice(s). The post holder may provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services. The post holder may ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to health care, and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving care and operational efficiencies, so it requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within general practice. Primary responsibilities Patient facing long-term conditions (LTC) See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical conditions where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma). Review the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking, ensuring they get the best use of their medicines. Make appropriate recommendations to senior pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement. Patient-facing clinical medication review Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for nurses and/or GPs on prescribing and monitoring. Patient-facing domiciliary clinical medication review Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior pharmacists, nurses, and/or GPs on prescribing monitoring. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences. Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments Managing the 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 health care professionals where appropriate. Patient-facing medicines support Provide patient-facing clinics for those with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines in the practice. Telephone medicines support Provide a telephone help line for patients for those with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines. Medicine information to practice staff and patients Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy), and patients with queries about medicine, suggesting and recommending solutions. Provide follow-ups for patients to monitor the effect of any changes. Unplanned hospital admissions 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. Management of medicines at discharge from hospitals 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 (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes). Signposting Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate health care professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time, e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long-term medical reviews, etc. Repeat prescribing Review practice repeats prescribing policies Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation 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. Risk stratification 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. Service development Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medical components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets). Information management Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making. Medicines quality improvements Undertake clinical audits in prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team. Medicines safety Implement changes to medicines resulting from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal, and other local and national guidance. Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations 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 practices computer system Audit the practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages. Education and training Provide education and training to primary health care teams on therapeutic and medicines optimisation. Care Quality Commission Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved. Public health To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the public. Collaborative Working Relationships Recognise the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role to patient care. Demonstrate use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders The ability to work as part of a team Able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleagues where necessary Actively work towards developing and maintaining effective working relationships Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the locality Demonstrate the ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams Liaise with colleagues, including pharmacists on prescribing-related matters ensuring consistency of patient care Liaise with other stakeholders, including but not limited to : Patients, GPs and other clinical staff, other health care professionals, locality / GP prescribing lead, community nurses and other allied health care professionals, community and hospital pharmacy teams and hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation. Knowledge, Skills, and Experience Required Completion of an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Have experience and an awareness of common, acute, and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern, and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate Able to follow legal, ethical, professional, and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines Leadership and management Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately in the workplace. Engage with patient participation groups (PPGs) involving PPGs in the development of the role and the practices Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation Demonstrate the ability to identify and resolve risk management issues according to policy/protocol The ability to motivate self to achieve goals Promotes equality and diversity Demonstrate the ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team Education, Training and Development Understands and demonstrates the characteristics of a role model to members in the team/service Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process Demonstrates self-development through continuous professional development Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development Participate in the delivery of formal education programmes Demonstrates an understanding of practice policies and procedures NB: This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of responsibilities, and it is expected that you will participate in a wide range of activities.