About this role
Job summary
The post holder will be a pharmacist, who acts within their professional boundaries in general practice. The post holder will form a part of our pharmacist team and work closely together with our clinical team.
The post holder will have indemnity cover in place, provided by an appropriate body e.g.
PDA (Pharmacy Defence Association) Insurance or equivalent, arrangements to be agreed prior to commencement of role.
The post holder will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient-facing role.
The post holder will be involved in service delivery within the primary care setting.
The post holder will provide primary support to general practice staff with regards to prescription and medication queries. They will help support the repeat prescription system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice whilst addressing both public and social care need of the patient in the GP practice.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage patients with complex polypharmacy.
The post holder will ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcome, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage workload. The role is pivotal to improving the quality of care and operational efficiencies so requires motivation and passion to deliver excellent service within the practice.
The post holder will have the opportunity to engage in development opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills with the aim to benefit patient care and increase the skill mix within the wider surgery team. Ongoing review of professional development will be completed with your Clinical Manager and Practice Manager to support you through your career at Consett Medical Centre.
About us
Consett Medical Centre is a busy, forward-thinking GP practice serving approximately 16,000 patients in County Durham. We are committed to providing high-quality, patient-centred care through a supportive, multidisciplinary team that includes GPs, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Practice Nurses, Clinical Pharmacists, Healthcare Assistants, and a dedicated administrative team. We embrace innovation, collaborative working, and continuous service improvement to ensure our patients receive timely and effective care. As a training and teaching practice, we are passionate about developing our workforce and creating a positive, inclusive environment where staff are valued, supported, and encouraged to grow.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Patient facing Long-term condition Clinics - See (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required (e.g., COPD, Asthma)To include: Review the on-going need for each medicine,a review of monitoring needs, an opportunity to support patients with their medicines taking ensuring they get the best use of their medicines
Patient facing Clinical Medication Review - Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and action appropriate changes/ produce recommendations for nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring
Patient facing care home medication reviews - Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and their carers, action appropriate changes/produce recommendations for community matron, nurses and GPs.Work with care home staff to improve safety of medicines ordering and administration whilst also taking the opportunity to reduce waste.
Patient facing domiciliary clinical medication review - Undertake clinical medication reviews with housebound patients and their carers, action appropriate changes/produce recommendations for nurses and GPs on prescribing and monitoring.
Management of common/minor/self-limiting ailments - Advising a cohort of patients with common/minor/self-limiting ailments whilst working within a scope of practice and limits of competence. Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professional where appropriate.
Telephone Medicines Support (Telephone Consultations) - Provide telephone consultations for patients with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines. Referring to GP colleagues or other healthcare professional where appropriate. Seeking support from colleagues where appropriate
Medicine information to practice staff and patients - Answer relevant medicine related enquiries from GPs, practice staff (other healthcare professionals), 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
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
Management of medicines at discharge from hospital - To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and in 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)
Repeat Prescribing - Review Practice Repeat Prescribing Policy and make appropriate recommendations and facilitate implementation. 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 in place and are engaging.
Risk Stratification -Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through practice computer searches. This might include risks that are patient related, medicine related, or both.
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).
Information Management - Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision-making.
Medicines quality improvement - Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results and implement changes in conjunction with the practice team
Medicines safety - Implement 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) Formulary - Auditing practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance. Provide newsletters or bulletins on important prescribing messages
Education and Training - Participate in practice clinical meetings where appropriate, providing education and training to the primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation. Also, to provide professional leadership to other members of the pharmacy team and wider MDT.
Care Quality Commission - Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards where medicines are involved.
Public Health -To support public health campaigns. To provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public
Collaborative Working Relationships
Recognises the roles of other colleagues within the organisation and their role in patient care
Demonstrates 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., ICBs)
Demonstrates ability to work as part of a team
Is able to recognise personal limitations and refer to more appropriate colleague(s) when necessary
Actively work toward developing and maintaining effective working relationships both within and outside of the practice and locality
Foster and maintain strong links with all services across the locality
Explore the potential for collaborative working and take opportunities to initiate and sustain such relationships
Demonstrate ability to integrate general practice with community and hospital pharmacy teams
Liaise with ICB colleagues including ICB pharmacists on prescribing related matters to ensure consistency of patient care and benefit
Liaise with ICB pharmacists and Heads of Medicines Optimisation to benefit from peer support
Liaise with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including but not limited to Patients GP, nurses and other practice staff, other healthcare professionals including ICB pharmacists, pharmacy technicians , optometrists, dentists, health and social care teams and dieticians etc. Locality/GP Prescribing Lead, locality managers, community nurses and other allied health professionals, community and hospital pharmacy teams, hospital staff with responsibilities for prescribing and medicines optimisation.
Completion of degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
Minimum of 2 years experience as a pharmacist, demonstrated with a practice portfolio is desirable
Have experience and an awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
To have Independent Prescribing qualification desirable or willing to obtain IP qualification
Recognises priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate
Able to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct
Involves patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidelines
NB: it is anticipated level of qualification held may vary according to the level of position and the components of the role being carried out, see person specification for details
Demonstrate understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and is able to implement this appropriately within the workplace
Demonstrate understanding of, and contributes to, the workplace vision
Engages with Patient participation Group (PPG) and involves PPG in development of role and practices where appropriate
Demonstrates ability to improve quality within limitations of service
Reviews yearly progress and develops clear plans to achieve results within priorities set by others
Demonstrate ability to motivate self to achieve goals
Promotes diversity and equality in people management techniques and leads by example
Demonstrate understanding of the implications of national priorities for the team and or service
Demonstrate understanding of the process for effective resource utilisation
Demonstrate understanding of, and conforms to, relevant standards of practice
Follows professional and organisational policies/procedures relating to performance management
Demonstrate ability to extend boundaries of service delivery within the team
Critically appraise current processes where appropriate and working with the pharmacy team and the wider practice team, assist with the development of new processes.
Demonstrates understanding of the mentorship process
Demonstrates ability to conduct teaching and assessment effectively according to a learning plan
Demonstrates self-development through continuous profession development activity
Participates in the delivery of informal/formal education programmes
Demonstrates an understanding of current educational policies relevant to working areas of practice and keeps up to date with relevant clinical practice
Ensures appropriate clinical supervision is in place to support development
Enrolled into review and appraisal systems within the practice
Person Specification
Experience
Essential
- In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
- An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
- Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences (e.g., patients)
- Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions
- Good IT skills
- Able to obtain and analyse complex technical information
- Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to GPs when appropriate
- Able to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
- Produce timely and informative reports
- Gain acceptance for recommendations and influence/motivate/persuade the audience to comply with the recommendations/agreed
- course of action where there may be significant barriers
- Work effectively independently and as a team member
- Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision
Desirable
- Minimum of 2 years post-qualification experience
Other
Essential
- Self-motivation
- Adaptable
- Full Driving Licence
- Safeguarding adult and children level 3
- Information Governance toolkit completion
- Immunisation status
- Basic Life Support Training
Qualifications
Essential
- Mandatory registration with general Pharmaceutical Council
- Master's degree in pharmacy (MPharm) (or equivalent)
- Independent Prescriber or willingness to complete qualification
Desirable
- Membership of the Royal College of Pharmacy
- Achievement or working towards Advanced credentialling with the Royal College of Pharmacy
- Specialist knowledge acquired through post-graduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience
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
Consett Medical Centre
Address
Station Yard
Consett
County Durham
DH8 5YA
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.consettmedicalcentre.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)