Clinical Pharmacist

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities

Medication review

Deliver a programme of structured medication review for the practices, to include patients with multi‑morbidity and polypharmacy or complex health needs.

Care Home Review

Undertake clinical medication review for patients residing in care homes, working with the Pharmacy Technicians and care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration, and ensure safe transfer of care.

Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines. Risks may be patient related, medicine related or both.

Support practices with medication reconciliation following discharge from hospitals, through intermediate care and on admission to care homes, ensuring changes are actioned and implemented, and communicated in a timely manner.

Advanced Care Planning

Work with case managers, hospital colleagues, Practice teams and Community Pharmacy as part of the neighbourhood multidisciplinary health and social care team to manage medicine related risk for re‑admission and patient harm.

Long term conditions

Support the management of long term conditions as specified in the Pharmacy Workplan.

Advise practices in the network, regarding medicine safety alerts, such as MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and National Guidance.

Quality Improvement

Work with practices to demonstrate continuous Quality Improvement.

About us

Bury GP Federation (BGPF) is a federation of 23 GP practices within Bury, Greater Manchester, providing a platform for collaboration, knowledge‑sharing and co‑ordination. Through working at scale, we redirect resources into delivering at‑scale support, relieving capacity pressures and enabling local general practice to maintain high standards of care for patients and to keep pace with best practice.

Job responsibilities

Job Summary

The post holder will work, within their professional boundaries, as part of a multidisciplinary team, across practices within the network. They will conduct clinical medication review to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy, including frail elderly and vulnerable adults as identified by the practices, and other members of the integrated neighbourhood teams. They will ensure that they consider medicine optimisation, medicine safety, antibiotic stewardship and de‑prescribing agendas as part of any structured medication review. They will integrate with the wider healthcare teams, including Community and Hospital Pharmacy and Intermediate Care colleagues, communicating and implementing medication changes as appropriate.

Key Working Relationships

• Work collaboratively with the Senior Pharmacist and GP Practice leads within the Primary Care network.
• Work as part of the Neighbourhood Multi‑disciplinary team, to provide Pharmacy Professional expertise. This involves working with social care, GPs, nursing professionals, housing representatives, therapists, social prescribers, paramedics etc.
• Work with Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians within the Pharmacy team to deliver the workplan.
• Work with Community Pharmacy colleagues to ensure consistency of patient care.
• Liaise with sub ICB colleagues including Medicine Optimisation Pharmacists and Technicians on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care.
• Liaise with Hospital Staff including Pharmacists and Intermediate Care staff to ensure smooth transfer of care.
• Liaise with other PCN Pharmacists in neighbouring networks as needed for the collective benefit of patients, and to provide continuity of service.
• Liaise with Practice Pharmacists to ensure complementary working and to avoid duplication of effort.
• Engage with Local Professional Networks to benefit from Peer support and enhance collaborative working relationships.

Key Responsibilities

• Medication review – undertake structured medication review with patients with multi‑morbidity and polypharmacy or complex health needs. This may include vulnerable housebound patients at risk of hospital admission and harm from poor use of medicines.
• Implement prescribing changes, within own prescribing competences, liaising with other prescribers as appropriate.
• Care home review – undertake clinical medication review for patients residing in care homes, working with the Pharmacy Technicians and care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration, and ensure safe transfer of care.
• Risk stratification – identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines. Identify patients at risk of unplanned admission and readmission from medicines known to cause harm, through audit and individual patient reviews. Put systems in place to reduce the prescribing of the same medicines to high‑risk patient groups.
• Support practices with medicine reconciliation following discharge from hospitals, through intermediate care and on admission to care homes, ensuring changes are actioned and implemented, and communicated in a timely manner.
• Manage medicine related risk for re‑admission and patient harm in collaboration with case managers, hospital colleagues, Practice teams and Community Pharmacy.
• Long term conditions – support the management of long‑term conditions as specified in the Pharmacy Workplan. Ensure patients with long term conditions within SMR caseload are managed, monitored and treated appropriately and effectively according to the latest guidance. Make recommendations or changes to treatment regimen as appropriate within sphere of competence.
• Advise practices in the network, regarding medicine safety alerts, such as MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and National Guidance. Work alongside the medicines optimisation team to identify patient groups affected by such alerts and assist with implementation of changes where relevant to work plan.
• Quality Improvement – work with practices to demonstrate continuous Quality Improvement, conduct audit and implement changes in collaboration with the Practice teams within the network. Demonstrate implementation of the de‑prescribing agenda, antibiotic stewardship and medicines safety tool. Demonstrate Quality outcomes from SMR projects.
• Ensure compliance with CQC standards where medicines are involved – provide advice and support to practices in the network regarding compliance with CQC standards where medicines are involved. Demonstrate activity in support of these standards.
• Repeat Prescribing – record medication review within patient electronic record and update prescription record as appropriate and in accordance with Repeat Prescribing policy. Provide advice to practices regarding Repeat Prescribing policy and consider standardisation across the network.
• Education and Training – provide education and training to patients and the primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicine optimisation. Support Pharmacy Students and Trainee Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians as requested by the Lead Pharmacist. Support the public health agenda and provide specialist knowledge to patients and other members of the healthcare team.
• It is anticipated that this will be a developing role and the job description will need to be reviewed periodically. There may be additional asks, in keeping with the role of the Pharmacist in General Practice.

Leadership

• Demonstrate an understanding of the Pharmacy role in governance and be able to implement this appropriately within the workplace.
• Demonstrate an understanding of, and contribute to, the workplace vision.
• Demonstrate ability to improve quality within the limitations of service.
• Demonstrate ability to lead a team and provide support to colleagues with differing abilities.
• Understand and demonstrate the characteristics of a role model to members in the team/service.
• Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals.
• Demonstrate understanding of and conform to relevant standards of practice.

Management

• Provide direct line management to members of the team as delegated by the Lead Pharmacist.
• Support the Lead Pharmacist to demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team.
• Follow professional and organisational policy relating to performance management.
• Support the Lead Pharmacist to review progress and develop plans to achieve results within priorities set by others.
• Understand resource allocation and support the lead pharmacist to utilise this accordingly.
• Promote diversity and equality in people‑management techniques and lead by example.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and service and support the Lead Pharmacist in managing the team through these changes.

Person Specification

Personal Attributes

• Commitment to continuing professional development
• Self‑motivated
• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
• Flexible and adaptable to work environment
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Neat and tidy and well‑groomed appearance
• Full driving licence and access to transport

Experience

• Minimum of 2 years experience
• In‑depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of principles of evidence‑based healthcare
• An appreciation of the nature of GPs and general practice
• Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to Seniors or GPs when appropriate.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long‑term conditions.
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing, email and the internet to create simple plans and reports.
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships and promote collaborative working
• An appreciation of the nature of Primary care prescribing concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
• Produce timely and informative reports
• Understanding of health inequalities and approaches to reducing them
• Experience of working within multidisciplinary or neighbourhood teams

Qualifications

• Vocational Masters degree in Pharmacy (MPharm) or equivalent
• Clinical Diploma or equivalent
• Non‑medical Prescribing Qualification
• Completion of the CPPE Pathway PCPEP (or GPPTP or MOCH)

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.

£45,000 to £50,000 a year – dependent upon experience

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