Clinical Pharmacist

Job description Job responsibilities Job description and responsibilitiesTo work as a member of the wider PCN Pharmacy Team and to develop positive relationships within that team.To develop and facilitate a good working relationship of practice with community pharmacists and other local providers of healthcare.To establish and maintain strong and effective mechanisms for providing pharmacy advice and guidance to GPs and other clinical staff in their management of patients and promotion of medicines optimisation.To identify national and local policy and guidance that affects patient safety through the use of medicines, including MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and emerging evidence from clinical trials.To manage the process of implementing changes to medicines and guidance for practitioners.To plan and organise own workload, including audit and project work, and training sessions for practice team when necessary.To record personally generated information and maintain a database of information relating to the work done in the practice. Personally, generated information includes information and records relating to audit and clinical work undertaken by the post holder, reference notes relating to clinical/technical information, etc. The database includes maintaining up-to-date, detailed records of all work done in the practice for which the post holder is accountable (done by the post holder or others).Provide advice regarding off licence products including liquid medications for patients with swallowing difficulties.Engage with community and hospital pharmacy colleagues and develop referral processes between primary care professionals including the promotion of the repeat dispensing service.Manage practice formularies to improve the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of prescribing.To maintain registration as a pharmacist and comply with appropriate professional codes.Maintain effective mentorship support from the lead practice GP in order to ensure ongoing clinical and personal development.As appropriate to the post, to maintain and develop professional competence and expertise, keep up to date with medical/therapeutic evidence and opinion, and local and national service, legislation and policy developments, agree objectives and a personal development plan and participate in the appraisal process.Attend practice meetings and Patient Participation Group meetings as appropriate.Attend meetings with other practice-based pharmacists / CCG pharmacists to share best practice.To undertake any other duties commensurate with the post holders grade as agreed with the practice lead GPs.Key Duties and Responsibilities:Management of medicines at discharge from hospitalTo reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into care homes; identify and rectify unexplained changes; manage these changes with minimal referral to the GP; perform clinical medication reviews as appropriate; 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 or those in care homes). Work in partnership with hospital colleagues (e.g. care of the elderly doctors and clinical pharmacists) to proactively manage patients at high risk of medicine-related problems before they are discharged to ensure continuity of care.Risk stratificationWork with patients and the primary care team to minimise risks of unplanned admissions through medicines optimisation.Repeat prescribingAssist with the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing medicines reaching review dates; make necessary changes as an independent prescriber, and ensure patients are booked in for necessary monitoring tests where required.Telephone and patient facing medicines supportProvide telephone help line support for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines. Hold clinics for patients requiring face-to face clinical medication reviews (CMRs) i.e. a review of the ongoing need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and an opportunity to support patients with their medicine taking. As part of the Primary Care Navigation team the post-holder will be available to advise patients with common minor or self-limiting ailments whilst working with the scope of practice and limits of competence; signposting to community pharmacists and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.Medication reviewUndertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy and implement own prescribing changes within areas of competence (as an independent prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests.Care home medication reviewsManage own caseload of care home residents. Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy and implement own prescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and order relevant monitoring tests. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration and promotion of waste reduction.Domiciliary clinical medication reviewSupport Practices with vulnerable housebound patients at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of medicines. Implement own prescribing changes (as an independent prescriber) and ordering of monitoring tests. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences as appropriate.Long term conditionsSee patients in multi-morbidity clinics and in partnership with primary healthcare colleagues and implement improvements to patients medicines, including de-prescribing. Support long term condition clinics where required, responsible for prescribing as an independent prescriber for conditions where medicines have a large component (e.g. medicine optimisation for stable angina symptom control, warfarin monitoring and dose adjustment for patients requiring long-term anticoagulants).Service developmentDevelop and manage new services that are built around new medicines or NICE guidance, where new medicine/recommendations support the development of a new care pathway (e.g. new oral anticoagulants for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation).Cost saving programmesMake recommendations for, implement and, if relevant, manage practice pharmacy technicians, to make changes to medicines designed to save on medicine costs where a medicine or product with lower acquisition cost is now available and clinically indicated.Medicine information to practice staff and patientsAnswer medicine related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff and patients with queries about medicines. Suggesting and recommending solutions as appropriate. Providing follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes as indicated.Information managementAnalyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making across the wider primary care team.Medicines quality improvementIdentify and provide leadership on areas of prescribing requiring improvement for example in the conduct of own audits and improvement projects or work with colleagues such as GP registrars. Present results and provide leadership on suggested change. Contribute to national and local research initiatives as agreed with the practice.Care Quality CommissionProvide leadership to the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved. Undertake risk assessments and management and ensure compliance with medicines legislation.Training & Shared LearningProvide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Provide training to visiting medical students. Facilitate shared learning across clinicians within the practice on medication related issues.Offer professional support, leadership and formal mentorship with other clinical pharmacists working in associated local practices, especially with those developing this role within a practice.Public HealthTo support Public Health campaigns, proving specialist knowledge on all Public Health programmes available to the general public.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of responsibilities, and it is expected that the post-holder will participate in a wide range of activities.