Clinical Pharmacist

Kentonbridge Medical Centre Dr Golden and Dr Abu

The post holder is a Clinical Pharmacist who acts within their professional boundaries, working alongside a team of pharmacists in general practice within the wider PCN.

They will improve patients' health outcomes and the efficiency of the primary care team by providing direct, accessible and timely medicines and expertise including face-to-face contact with patients.

The post holder will be an integral part of the general practice team, as well as part of a wider pharmacist network and multi-disciplinary team. This includes being a conduit of patient medicines information into and out of hospitals. They will work to optimize medication issues to improve patient care and safety, and support clinical staff in the management of patients.

As part of their employment, the post holder will achieve qualifications from an accredited training pathway, including independent prescribing, equipping the Clinical Pharmacist to be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting.

The supervision and mentorship network will be provided to support the Clinical Pharmacist.

Main duties of the job

The Clinical Pharmacist will be responsible for implementing an effective medicine management system within the practice, including cost-effective prescribing, working as an independent prescriber, providing advice and support for both patients and colleagues. In addition, the post-holder will also support the multi-disciplinary team, in line with the strategic objectives of the practice.

You will also be carrying out the following duties:

1. Asthma QOF reviews
2. COPD QOF reviews
3. Diabetes QOF reviews
4. Hypertension titration of BP medication/follow up reviews
5. Medication reviews
6. Dermatology reviews - patients with eczema, psoriasis or acne
7. Repeat prescriptions
8. Medication Queries
9. Reading and filing of letters in Docman

(this list is not exhaustive)

About us

We are fairly a large practice with over 8000 patients. Our team consists of 6 General Practitioners, a Frailty Practice Nurse, HCA, a Full-time Clinical Pharmacist, and 3 Managers and 6 Admin staff.

We are a progressive, forward-thinking practice looking for a forward-thinking team player with excellent communication skills (written and verbal) and good IT skills. Essentially, they must have excellent customer service skills, be calm under pressure, and have the ability to multi-task and prioritize workload. The NHS environment is demanding and constantly changing, and we need individuals who can embrace and manage multiple changes. Discretion and confidentiality are essential qualities for this post.

Job responsibilities

Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using their expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas.

Be a prescriber, or completing training to become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team.

Be responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially the elderly, people in care homes, those with multiple co-morbidities (in particular frailty, COPD, and asthma), and people with learning disabilities or autism (through STOMP Stop Over Medication Programme).

Provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients at the organization and to help in tackling inequalities.

Provide leadership on person-centred medicines optimization (including ensuring prescribers in the practice conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, whilst contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services.

Through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote self-care.

Have a leadership role in supporting further integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including community and hospital pharmacy) to help improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage general practice workload.

Develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across the wider health and social care system.

Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists, and anticoagulation.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Must be GPhC registered pharmacist - Be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting.
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing.
• Experience and an awareness of common acute and chronic conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice.
• Effective time management (planning and organizing).
• To have worked in a General Practice.
• Ability to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimization issues in core areas for long-term conditions.
• In-depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare.

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.