Advanced Clinical Pharmacist for Mental Health

37.5 hours per week.

We are seeking an exceptional pharmacist with a passion for mental health to join our pharmacy team. You will be a confident, motivated individual who will work closely with other health care professionals within the organisation to deliver a responsive and pro-active people focused service to continuously improve clinical pharmacy delivery within mental health.

As part of a team of advanced clinical pharmacists in mental health you will have the unique opportunity to rotate and work across different areas within mental health and specialise in a chosen area. You will be able to further develop your knowledge and career aspirations. You will also be involved in developing junior members of the team in mental health sharing your passion and inspiring them to continue in this fascinating, and increasingly important area.

In this post your personal and professional development will be key to achieving job satisfaction and success. You will be supported in your clinical and leadership development by the pharmacy senior leadership team and other members of the health care team, including Psychiatrists and specialist nurses.

At LSW we support flexible working and value work life balance. We currently provide pharmacy services Monday to Friday, with no on-call, late nights, weekend or bank holiday working. We have free parking available on site.

Interviews will take place between 9th and 13th December 2024.

Main duties of the job

This is a key role within LWSW and the Pharmacy Team, providing clinical and managerial support to the Mental Health Pharmacy Team. You will be leading and delivering a high quality, specialised clinical pharmacy service to mental health areas in the Organisation and linking with our System partners.

You will be jointly responsible for the coordination of clinical pharmacy services to wards, units, and service areas, including responding to and further developing a medicines information service whilst setting standards for the junior pharmacists to emulate. They will lead on and develop clinical audits within mental health and have the opportunity to be involved in research and further develop their career.

You will have input into the strategic development of Medicines Optimisation in Mental Health Services and hold a highly visible role within the organisation. You will be a pharmacist with a passion and commitment in this area who wants to help develop the service whilst ensuring medicine related governance is in place, bringing the additional skills of an experienced pharmacist to the team.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.

Please note that LWSW may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline if a high number of applications are submitted. Therefore, we recommend you submit your application at the earliest opportunity.

All Livewell staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.

About us

Livewell Southwest is an independent, award-winning social enterprise providing integrated health & social care services for people across Plymouth, South Hams & West Devon, as well as some specialist services for people living in parts of Devon & Cornwall. With teams in community hospitals, GP practices, sports centres, health & wellbeing hubs.

As an organisation with a strong social conscience, we always value being kind, respectful, inclusive, ambitious, responsible and collaborative. Transforming services to make them sustainable, ensuring that we value, support & empower each other.

We are committed to involving the people we care for, families & carers in everything that we do, working towards co-production where we can. Helping us to deliver the right care for people, in the right place & at the right time. By putting people at the centre of what we do, we ensure to support people to lead, healthy independent lives & be the very best at helping people to live well.

Valuing our employees making an investment in their development a priority. We offer:

1. Protected CPD time for registered staff
2. Various development pathways and ongoing regular training packages for all staff
3. Leadership & mentoring programmes
4. Access & funding for training including Care Certificate, Assistant Practitioners Course & Scholarship Into Nurse Training
5. A Robust Preceptorship
6. A bespoke induction programme
7. Existing members of the NHS Pension Scheme can continue their membership when they join the organisation.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Clinical / Professional

To be responsible for and lead the provision of a high quality, specialised clinical pharmacy service to ensure the safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of drugs in mental health.

To be responsible for the delivery of the clinical pharmacy services to nominated areas, including attendance at consultant ward rounds, providing expert pharmaceutical advice and setting standards for junior pharmacists to emulate.

To be responsible for the provision of professional pharmaceutical advice to healthcare colleagues, patients, and carers as necessary.

To develop and monitor pharmacy initiatives such as medicines reconciliation on admission and provision of discharge summaries to GPs, which promote seamless transfer of patients from secondary care to primary care and vice versa.

To be responsible for the development of ward/unit based pharmaceutical care initiatives e.g. self-medication schemes, use of patients own drugs in hospital, one-stop dispensing, patient and carer counselling, discharge planning, assessing patient concordance and improved communication with primary care healthcare professionals within mental health.

To lead on and develop policy or service changes within Mental Health which improve ward or community services and be responsible for their implementation.

To promote and monitor compliance with the South and West Devon Joint Formulary and to assist in formulary applications and review for medicines to be used in Mental Health.

To be responsible for monitoring prescribing practice to promote cost-effective and economic use of resources and contribute to the establishment and implementation of prescribing guidelines within mental health.

To be lead on and be responsible for reporting and review of clinical and other pharmacy related audits within mental health.

To be responsible for the development of junior pharmacy staff within mental health including rotational pharmacists and trainee pharmacists.

To provide evidence of Continuing Professional Development on an annual basis at appraisal, in accordance with guidance issued by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).

To cover for ward pharmacists as required, during periods of absence.

Occasional dispensary cover including dispensing and checking of medication following local SOPs.

Analytical and Judgemental Skills

Have highly developed skills for analysing drug, patient information in mental health in order to provide advice on medicines, dosages, production issues in areas where information is lacking and medical or other opinion differs.

Clinical screening of prescription charts and discharge prescriptions, to ensure prescriptions are safe and appropriate.

Responding to and recording medicines information requests from prescribers and other healthcare professionals relating to mental health and providing advice on medicines proactively. In many cases this is a complex task involving highly specialist up to date knowledge, effective search strategies, evaluation of the evidence base and formulation of an appropriate response.

To be responsible for the investigation and monitoring of medicines related incidents relating to mental health, recommending and implementing change as required to improve patient safety, collating these for discussion at pharmacy team meetings and at the Medicines Governance Group (MGG).

Clinical Governance

To be responsible for and lead on clinical governance and risk management through interventions which optimise the management of medicines in mental health, supporting best practice throughout all areas of responsibility.

To participate in and lead multidisciplinary groups in the review and development of selected medicines related policies and procedures relating to mental health and present to the MGG.

To lead on the development and review of documents e.g. Patient Group Directions, Policies, Guidelines and Protocols relating to mental health and presenting reviewed documents to the MGG.

To support professional leads in identifying and addressing evidence-based medicine practice consistent with the requirements of clinical governance and of national directives.

To work with the Pharmacy Senior Management Team to lead on continuous quality improvement projects and audit within mental health.

Managerial

To provide mentoring, training, supervision and line management of mental health substantive and rotational pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other pharmacy staff and students as required, including appraisals and performance reviews.

To organise the trainee pharmacist timetable when they rotate through mental health.

To act as Designated Supervisor to a Trainee Pharmacist annually as required.

To mentor/buddy other NMPs within Mental Health.

To act as a Designated Prescribing Practitioner, Educational supervisor or Practice Supervisor as appropriate for members of the team undertaking their independent prescribing training.

Freedom to Act

Pharmacists are expected to work largely unsupervised and to act on their own professional judgement.

Clinical supervision from another health professional can be arranged and is to be encouraged.

Technical roles are defined by standard operating procedures which should always be followed.

Clinical roles are supported by policies and guidelines within which the pharmacist is allowed professional discretion/interpretation.

This role includes setting the parameters under which other pharmacy staff will operate.

Training and Education

To lead on the training and development of pharmacy staff within Mental Health and support training of other staff members within the team as appropriate.

To plan, develop and deliver appropriate training and education to healthcare colleagues, carer groups and outside agencies to promote the safe use and clinical application of medicines within mental health.

To be responsible for and lead on the induction of new pharmacy staff with mental health.

To assist and lead, where appropriate, on the training provided to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and other pharmacy staff.

Health, Safety and Security

To work safely in the dispensary, ward and office environments ensuring any risks identified to health and safety are managed or escalated to line manager.

To ensure safety and security of medicines, prescription stationery and patient identifiable documents according to locally agreed standard operating procedures.

To inform line manager of any breaches of safety or security or if agreed procedures are thought to be inadequate to manage the risk.

COMMUNICATIONS AND RELATIONSHIPS

The ability to communicate highly complex drug or medicine related information to prescribers, clinicians, patients, relatives within the mental health service.

Well-developed verbal and written communications skills (including telephone and email) are essential to the role.

To liaise with all levels of healthcare staff and professionals working in the multidisciplinary team within mental health.

The ability to challenge and accept professional challenge from other health care professionals.

To liaise with patients and carers, the acute hospitals, doctors, GPs, community nurses and community pharmacists to ensure appropriate supply of medicines.

To communicate pharmacy / medication issues clearly and concisely at team meetings and governance groups e.g. MGG.

To work virtually through use of technology where required.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF THE JOB

There is a need to travel between units in a timely fashion, therefore ability to drive and to use own car is an advantage.

Good keyboard / computer skills are essential.

Limited manual handling of static loads.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience as a practising pharmacist, including experience of working in mental health and as a member of a Multidisciplinary Team
• Experience of networking with other healthcare professionals across the full range of disciplines at all levels
• Experience of review and development of pharmacy / medication related policies, procedures and PGDs
• Experience of audit work
• Experience of delivering education to healthcare staff and patients / carers via workshops, informal discussion or formal lectures

Desirable

• Experience of preparing documents for clinical governance groups and presenting these to a committee
• Experience of leading on audit and producing reports
• Experience of mentoring, supervision and line management
• Experience of influencing, negotiating and implementing change in practice

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters Degree (or equivalent) in Pharmacy
• Registered Practising Member of the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Specialist knowledge acquired by postgraduate diploma or equivalent evidence of specialist knowledge, competence and achievements in practice in mental health
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development and revalidation

Desirable

• Postgraduate qualification in psychiatric pharmacy
• Member of specialist interest groups
• Working towards membership of the RPS Faculty or towards being a credentialed member of the College of Mental Health Pharmacy
• Independent prescriber or willingness to work towards

Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills including verbal, written and formal presentation skills for a wide variety of audiences.