PCN Clinical Pharmacist

Job description Job responsibilities

The following list of duties encompasses a range of areas the networks may require the Clinical Pharmac ist to deliver. The list may not be exhaustive.

Long-term conditions

See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g. Respiratory, Cardiovascular and Diabetes). 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. Patient facing Clinical Medication ReviewUndertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for senior clinical pharmacist, nurses and/or GP on prescribing and monitoring. Patient facing Care Home Medication ReviewsUndertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the senior clinical pharmacist, nurses or GPs on prescribing and monitoring.Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration. Patient facing Domiciliary Clinical Medication ReviewsUndertake 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. 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. Unplanned hospital admissionsReview 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. 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 competence. Signposting 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. 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 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). Medicine information to practice staff and patientsAnswers 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. 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 prescribingProduce and implement a repeat prescribing policy within each PCN practice. Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching revi ew dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required. 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 relevant 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 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. Education and TrainingProvide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Care Quality CommissionWork with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved. Public healthTo support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public. Collaborative working arrangementsParticipate in the PCN MDT.Liaises with CCG colleagues including CCG pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit.Work as part of the RHA team and attend meetings/forums and supervision.Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the PCN and neighbouring networks.Explore the potential for collaborative working and take opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships.Liaise with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to:1. Patients and their representatives2. GP, nurses and other practice staff3. Social prescribers, first contact physiotherapists, physicians associates and paramedics.4. Community pharmacists and support staff5. Other members of the medicines management (MM) team including pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians and Dieticians6. Locality / GP prescribing lead7. Locality managers8. Community nurses and other allied health professionals9. Hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation

This obligation will continue after the termination of this work unless and until any such information enters the public domain.