GP Clinical Pharmacist

Integrated Care System; Crawley; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare provider seeks a motivated Medicines Management Pharmacist to enhance patient care by optimising medicine use and supporting general practice teams. The successful candidate will be responsible for medication reviews and managing prescribing systems, aiming to improve operational efficiencies and patient outcomes in collaboration with healthcare teams.

Qualifications

• Must be registered and qualified as a pharmacist.
• Experience in collaborative working within healthcare settings.
• Ability to manage and advise on medicines optimisation.

Responsibilities

• Conduct patient-facing structured medication reviews.
• Manage repeat prescription authorisation and review processes.
• Undertake clinical audits of prescribing.

Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Analytical Skills

Communication Skills

Problem Solving

Education

Pharmacist Registration

Experience in Primary Care

Job description

The successful candidate will be responsible for implementing an effective medicine management system at Bridge Medical centre . You will be expected to work to achieve cost-effective prescribing, work as an independent prescriber, provide advice and support for both patients and colleagues, undertake all duties expected within the changing role over time.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will work within their clinical competencies as part of a multi-disciplinary team to provide expertise in clinical medicines management, patient-facing structured medication reviews, manage long term conditions, management of medicines on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, manage repeat prescription authorisations and reauthorisation, acute prescription request, while addressing both the public health and social care needs of patients in the GP practice(s) that make up the PCN. In this role they will be supported by senior and lead clinical pharmacists who will develop, manage and mentor them.

This role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver an excellent service within general practice. The post holder will be supported to develop their role to become a non-medical prescriber if that qualification is not already held.

About us

Overview of your organisation

We are a hard working and can-do Practice who strives for the best possible care for our patient cohort whilst enjoying the benefits of a positive working environment where contributions from all are welcome.

Job responsibilities

ob responsibilities

Key duties and responsibilities

1. Patient facing medicines support

Hold clinics for patients requiring medication reviews, stratifying the need for technical reviews, medicines adherence reviews (including polypharmacy reviews), focal long-term condition/clinical reviews (see section 3) or holistic long-term condition/clinical reviews (structured medication reviews). Provide support for patients with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines.

2. Care home structured medication reviews

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients, care home staff and aging well team, produce recommendations for the multidisciplinary team on prescribing and monitoring. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.

See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g., Respiratory, Cardiovascular-Reno-Metabolic). 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 (i.e. medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to Senior Pharmacists or GPs for medicine improvement.

4. Patient facing Domiciliary Structured Medication Reviews

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.

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.

6. 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.

7. Management of medicines at discharge from hospital

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).

8. Medicine information to practice staff and patients

Answer relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other network staff, other healthcare teams

(e.g., community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicines. Suggesting and recommending solutions. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.

9. Signposting

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

10. Repeat prescribing

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.

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

12. Information management

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 and the PCN team, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the relevant practice team.

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

15. Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations

Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys 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 each practices computer system.

Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance.

Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.

16. Education and Training

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

17. Care Quality Commission

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

18. Public health

To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programs available to the general public.

19. Collaborative working arrangements

Participate in the PCN MDT.

Liaise with ICB colleagues including ICB pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit.

Liaise with colleagues including ICB, STP/ICS Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Heads of Medicines Management/Optimisation to benefit from peer support.

Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks. Explore the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.

Liaise with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• Excellent Interpersonal, influencing & negotiating skills, to make shared decisions in situations where barriers to this may be present
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to various audiences (e.g. patients)
• An appreciation of GPs and General Practice environment
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails & internet to produce timely and accurate plans and reports
• 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 more senior clinical colleagues when appropriate
• Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Work effectively independently and as a team membe
• Experience of working in Primary Care
• In depth therapeutic & clinical knowledge and an understanding of evidence-based healthcare
• Experience of collaborative working and building relationships across a variety of organisations
• Able to plan, manage, monitor, advise & review general medicines optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions (LTCs)
• Understand the systems of research governance
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision

Other

• Adaptable and self-motivated
• Able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more suitable colleagues when appropriate
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals
• Appropriate Immunisation Status
• Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions
• Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.