About this role
Job summary
Are you a pharmacist who is passionate about exploring a new opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in delivering excellence in patient clinical care?
The Chesterfield and Dronfield Primary Care Network (PCN) is looking for a Clinical Pharmacist to join their growing Arc Primary Care Pharmacy Team, to work alongside a team of Pharmacy Technicians and the practice team, in Chatsworth Road Medical Practice, to develop their knowledge and skill with keen support from the existing team, to meet the diverse needs of our patients.
Arc Primary Care is not an Agenda for Change organisation but does offer structured meritorious pay progression and NHS pension.
Interviews for this post will be held at Arc Primary Care, Dunston Innovation Centre, face to face, on Thursday 4 June 2026.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will work within their clinical competencies as part of a multidisciplinary team to deliver highquality clinical medicines management. The role will include providing patientfacing Structured Medication Reviews, supporting the management of longterm conditions, optimising medicines at transfer of care, and contributing to systems that promote safer prescribing. The post holder will also support the management of repeat prescription authorisations and reauthorisations, as well as acute prescription requests, ensuring prescribing remains safe, effective, and aligned with best practice.
In undertaking this role, the post holder will address both the public health and wider social care needs of patients registered at GP practices within the PCN. They will work collaboratively with the wider practice and PCN teams to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare inequalities. The post holder will receive clinical supervision, mentorship, and professional support from senior and lead clinical pharmacists, who will support the development, governance, and oversight of their role.
This role is central to improving the quality of care, patient experience, and operational efficiency within general practice and therefore requires a high level of motivation, professionalism, and commitment to service improvement.
About us
Chatsworth Road Medical Practice is a friendly, dynamic and innovative practice on the picturesque western edge of Chesterfield, near to the peak district. The Practice is one of the ten practices in The Chesterfield and Dronfield PCN, which is one of the largest Primary Care Networks in the UK, delivering care to over 100,000 patients combined.
Whilst the role is integrated and embedded in one practice, it is part of a larger and growing team of pharmacy professionals across the PCN, that is committed to delivering high quality care for our patients through collaborative working.
We deliver enhanced services within the PCN designed to support and enhance the services offered by our member GP Practices within Chesterfield. We do this by employing staff to work through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme and finding innovative and sustainable solutions to the changing needs of the Practices; we bid for contracts to help tackle health inequalities and drive up standards of care within the Chesterfield and Dronfield locality.
Our mission: Committed to high quality collaborative person-centred care. Delivered with integrity and transparency, improving health and wellbeing for all.
Benefits of working with us:
NHS Pension Scheme 27 days plus 8 Bank Holiday annual leave entitlement which rises annually with length of service up to 33 days (pro rata for part time staff) Up 5 days professional/study leave per annum Access to Wellbeing/EAP Support Blue light Card Discount
Job description Job responsibilities
Key duties and responsibilities
1. Patient facing medicines support
Deliver clinics for patients requiring medication reviews, stratifying the need for technical reviews, medicines adherence reviews (including polypharmacy reviews), focal long-term condition/clinical reviews (see section 3) or holistic long-term condition/clinical reviews (structured medication reviews). Provide support for patients with questions, queries, and concerns about their medicines.
2. Medicines related clinical support for care homes
Deliver clinical medication reviews in collaboration with patients, care home staff, and the Ageing Well team, producing clear and evidencebased recommendations for the multidisciplinary team to support medicines optimisation, prescribing, and monitoring. Work collaboratively with care home staff and the Ageing Well team to optimise medicines management and promote safe, effective, and appropriate use of medicines, including updating medication at transfer of care and investigating and responding to requests for medication not on, or as on, repeat.
3. Long-term condition Clinics
Deliver reviews to patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g., Respiratory, Cardiovascular-Reno-Metabolic). 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.
4. Patient facing Domiciliary Structured Medication Reviews
Deliver clinical medication reviews with patients in care home or domiciliary settings and produce recommendations for multidisciplinary teams on (de)prescribing and monitoring.
5. Risk stratification
Identify cohorts of patients at increased risk of harm from medicines using agreed, preprepared practice clinical system searches. This may include risks that are patientrelated, medicinerelated, or a combination of both, and will include the use of prescribing and clinical decisionsupport software such as Eclipse Live Radar 500 searches.
Where appropriate, pharmacy technicians will be accountable for reviewing and acting on the outcomes of these searches within their scope of competence, in accordance with agreed protocols. Clinical pharmacists will provide supervision and support where the management of highrisk patients falls outside the pharmacy technicians competence, and will assume responsibility during periods of leave or in exceptional circumstances.
6. Unplanned hospital admissions
Review 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.
7. Management of medicines at discharge from hospital
Reconcile medicines following discharge from acute hospitals and intermediate care settings, including identifying, resolving, and appropriately escalating unexplained changes to medicines. Work collaboratively with patients, carers, community pharmacists, and wider healthcare professionals to ensure timely access to medicines and continuity of care postdischarge, including those requiring medicines compliance aids and residents of care homes.
Provide mentorship, supervision, and appropriate delegation of medicines reconciliation activities to pharmacy technicians and junior pharmacists, including foundation pharmacists, in line with their competence and agreed governance arrangements.
8. Medicine information to practice staff and patients
Answers 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.
9. Signposting
Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for the appropriate level of care within an appropriate time period e.g., pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, long term condition reviews etc.
10. Repeat prescribing
Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those needing a review. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.
11. Service development
Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g., advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).
12. Information management
Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.
13. Medicines quality improvement
Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs and the PCN team, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the relevant practice team.
14. Medicines safety
Implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.
15. 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).
16. Education, Mentoring and Clinical Supervision
Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
Mentor, supervise and delegate, as appropriate, clinical workflow to pharmacy technicians and more junior pharmacists (including foundation pharmacists), to optimise skill-mix and aid team development.
17. Care Quality Commission
Work with the general practice teams to ensure the practices are compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
18. Public health
Support public health campaigns and provide specialist knowledge on all public health programs available to the general public.
19. Collaborative working arrangements
As part of an integrated pharmacy team, foster and maintain collaborative working relationships with practice teams, ICB colleagues including medicines management pharmacy professionals, the Ageing Well Team and social prescribing team, and all other relevant services across the PCN and other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit the practice and its patients.
Person Specification
Skills and Knowledge Essential
Awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice Excellent Interpersonal, influencing & negotiating skills, to make shared decisions in situations where barriers to this may be present Excellent verbal & written communication skills, including appreciation of different communication needs and skills Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to various audiences (e.g. patients) Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use clinical systems, word processing skills, spreadsheets and emails to communicate effectively, document consultations and code accurately and safely, and produce timely and accurate reports Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information with accuracy, appropriate management of errors and logical innovation of solutions Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and able to recognise limitations of own competence, referring to more senior clinical colleagues when appropriate Able to work under pressure and meet deadlines, including prioritisation, time-keeping and sustainable working, including when resource levels change Work effectively independently and as a team member Able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more suitable colleagues when appropriate Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals
Desirable
In depth therapeutic & clinical knowledge and an understanding of evidence-based medicine, clinical terminology, medicines optimisation and shared decision-making An appreciation of GPs and General Practice, including the relationship between GP, PCNs and ICBs in the context of the larger NHS and NHS funding. Experience of collaborative working and building relationships across a variety of organisations Able to plan, manage, monitor, advise & review general medicines optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions (LTCs) Understand the systems of research governance
Qualifications Essential
Mandatory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council Demonstrates understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice Follows professional & organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management
Desirable
Membership Primary Care Pharmacists Association Membership Royal Pharmaceutical Society Foundation training in primary care Clinical Diploma Independent Prescribing or currently working towards qualification
Experience Desirable
Experience of working in Primary Care
Other Essential
Adaptable and self-motivated Meets DBS reference standards and has a clear criminal record, in line with the law on spent convictions Appropriate Immunisation Status Access to own transport and ability to travel across the locality on a regular basis, including to visit people in their own homes
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.
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Arc Primary Care
Address Arc Primary Care
Dunston Road
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S41 8NG
Employer's website https://www.chesterfieldanddronfieldpcn.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)