PCN Clinical Pharmacist

Job description Job responsibilities Key duties and responsibilitiesPatient facing Long term condition clinicsSee (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. COPD, asthma)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 GPs for medicine improvement.Patient facing Clinical Medication ReviewUndertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations on prescribing and monitoring.Patient facing care home medication reviewsUndertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations on prescribing and monitoring. Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration.Patient facing domiciliary clinical medication reviewUndertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations on prescribing and monitoring. Attend and refer patients to multidisciplinary case conferences.Management of common/minor/self limiting ailmentsManaging caseload of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments while working within a scope of practice and limits of competenceSignposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.Patient facing medicines supportProvide patient facing clinics for those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines in the practice.Telephone medicines supportProvide a telephone help line for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.Medicine information to practice staff and patientsAnswers relevant medicine-related enquiries from GPs, other practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g. community pharmacy) and patients with queries about medicinesSuggesting and recommending solutionsProviding follow up for patients to monitor the effect of any changes.Unplanned hospital admissionsReview the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviewsPut in place changes to reduce the prescribing of these medicines to highrisk patient groups.Management of medicines at discharge from hospitalTo 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 dischargeSet up and manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to highrisk groups of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids or those in care homes).SignpostingEnsure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate period of time e.g. pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.Repeat prescribingManage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a reviewEnsure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.Risk stratificationIdentification 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 developmentContribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).Information managementAnalyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.Medicines quality improvementUndertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team.Medicines safetyImplement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.Implementation of local and national guidelines and formulary recommendationsMonitor 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 the practices computer systemAuditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidanceProvide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages.Education and TrainingProvide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.Care Quality CommissionWork with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.Public healthTo support public health campaignsTo provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.Collaborative Working RelationshipsRecognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role to patient careDemonstrates use of appropriate communication to gain the co-operation of relevant stakeholders (including patients, senior and peer colleagues, and other professionals, other NHS/private organisations e.g. CCGs)Demonstrates ability to work as a member of a teamIs able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessaryActively work toward developing and maintaining effective working relationships both within and outside the practice and localityFoster and maintain strong links with all services across localityExplores the potential for collaborative working and takes opportunities to initiate andsustain such relationshipsDemonstrates ability to integrate general practice with community and hospitalpharmacy teamsLiaises with CCG colleagues including CCG Pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefitLiaises with CCG pharmacists and Heads of Medicines Management/ Optimisation to benefit from peer supportLiaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to Patients GP, nurses and other practice staffOther healthcare professionals including CCG pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians etc.