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Job description

Job responsibilities

Summary of key duties

• Identify patients requiring medication review and conduct appropriate medication review clinics or home visits
• Provide pharmaceutical support to a designated group of GP practices or care settings to enable them to develop, implement and monitor an agreed prescribing plan which meets the objectives of the medicines management plan.
• Assist practices/ care settings in developing formularies, guidelines and policies to ensure the implementation of NICE guidelines, National Service Frameworks and the requirements of the medicines-related aspects of the GMS contract.
• Lead on population level health management projects for proactive QI in medicines safety.
• Support the delivery of innovative population health interventions in chronic disease areas (e.g. heart failure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation)
• Develop relationships with third sector providers (e.g. community pharmacy)
• Deliver ad hoc clinics and clinical interventions aligned to the PCN workplan
• Advise GPs, care staff and primary health care teams on risk management processes relating to the prescribing and monitoring of specialist drugs e.g. controlled drugs and those subject to shared care arrangements.
• Lead the pharmacy team agenda with practices to review specific areas of prescribing.
• Provide clinical leadership to the PCN Clinical Hub interdisciplinary team.
• Develop and review PCN policy with regard to prescribing systems and quality improvement to encourage the implementation of prescribing guidance and monitoring guidelines where appropriate.
• Liaise with Community Pharmacists and develop the key strategic relationship with Cornwall LPC.
• Provide advice and support to improve the disease registers within each practice to ensure all suitable patients are identified and offered suitable treatment and monitoring for their condition.
• Facilitate and participate in multi-disciplinary meetings related to prescribing topics and to engage in the training of other healthcare professionals and practice staff on matters relating to medicines usage.
• Attend and arrange where necessary primary/secondary care interface meetings.
• Lead the strategic implementation of clinical audits of prescribing in areas identified by yourself and agreed by the PCN or as directed by the PCN.
• Undertake any other duties appropriate to the grade as allocated by line management
• Act as professional lead for strategic support and delivery of network DES and IIF at a population level.
• Ensuring there are systems in place for the pharmacy team to review and action safety alerts, CQC searches and ensuring safe prescribing across PCN
• Lead and develop the education & training strategy for the PCN pharmacy team (and other ARRS roles where necessary) across the PCN
• Plan and deliver teaching to other healthcare professionals as required
• Secure access to the relevant information sources for clinicians working as part of the PCN as necessary Collaborate with secondary care partners regarding potential research projects/joint working and the provision of excellent, evidence based medicines advice to primary care clinicians
• To support pharmacists to join the Royal Pharmaceutical Societys Faculty for peer review and career advancement
• To act as a designated supervisor for NMP prescribing courses if required
• Support a learning culture within the organisation.
• Contribute to, and promote the delivery of, safe, effective and cost efficient prescribing across primary and secondary care.
• Analyse and use web based prescribing data (PACT and e-PACT) at practice to facilitate appropriate prescribing habits and keep drug budgets within limits.
• Evaluate GP practices position with respect to QOF or other incentive schemes including achievement of both financial and quality targets.
• Support in the development of other members of the clinical pharmacy team to replicate projects to support these incentive schemes in their own practice and project manage delivery
• Be responsible for the correct use and security of all equipment, information and data used.
• Support the delivery of medication and prescribing elements of the IIF programme across the East PCN GP practices.
• Provide leadership and a clear vision for the pharmacy ARRS team
• To lead and take responsibility for the delivery of the PCN prescribing workplan, in line with the contract network DES and IIF.
• Be required to communicate information, sometimes complex, to a wide range of individuals and groups.
• Provide written reports on therapeutic topics and summaries of clinical evidence for doctors as well as devising easily understood information for patients and practice staff.
• Demonstrate tact, diplomacy and negotiating skills to engage with doctors to persuade them to work towards objectives, overcoming resistance to change.
• Develop good working relationships with the whole range of practice staff and a network of contacts within the locality and secondary care.
• Advise community pharmacists in the vicinity of where prescribing and medicines management developments and/or changes are planned so they may anticipate the impact on their pharmacies and give a consistent message to patients.
• Work in a discreet and professional manner, respecting and maintaining the confidentiality of patient specific and prescribing data.
• Be aware of, and monitor, the advice given to practices by representatives of the pharmaceutical industry and to counter the impact of inappropriate information to prescribers.
• Provide mentoring, coaching and professional supervision to other members of the clinical pharmacy team.
• Provide expert insight, leadership and specialism in a given clinical area of interest at a PCN level. Actively lead quality improvement in this area, linking in with financial incentives where relevant.
• Deputise where necessary to the locality lead pharmacist for strategic meetings, projects and working groups. Lead on a devolved number of projects as agreed with the locality lead.
• Support the development of prescribing policy in individual practices and care settings, the implementation of that policy and be involved in the development of policy in discreet areas of prescribing, involving working with clinicians in both primary and secondary care
• Produce best practice policies, protocols and SOPs for review by the clinical pharmacist lead and PCN board for adoption at a practice level across the network
• Be able to prioritise and meet set deadlines particularly when under pressure.
• Take the delegated lead responsibility for specific projects or key specialist areas of pharmacy practice as identified by line management.
• Organise and manage their personal workload in the face of competing priorities, managing their own time effectively and working closely with a range of practice staff and the administration and technical staff in the Medicines Management department.
• Record and report to line management and practices on the work undertaken and the benefits produced, in a timely manner, using tools such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and e-mail.
• Critically appraise information from drug industry to inform other staff members and healthcare professionals in practices.
• Assist in analysing medicines data, including interpreting e-PACT data (web-based electronic prescribing data analysis system) and providing reports at practice level for designated practices.
• Actively identify quality improvement areas based on practice level prescribing data across the PCN; propose neighbourhood and PCN level projects and provide professional leadership and accountability to project manage those projects approved by the PCN board or pharmacist lead.
• Demonstrate good computer literacy (e-mail, word, excel, PowerPoint, on-line medicines information databases).
• Promote and be an advocate for the use of local formularies in practices in both written and electronic format ensuring that the formulary is the cornerstone for all prescribing practice in primary care.
• Have access to a car and work across multiple sites on a daily basis.
• Use a VDU for significant amounts of the time e.g. email, prescribing data analysis, web searching and report writing.
• Be required to concentrate on tasks to ensure accuracy around practice work e.g. recommendations to GPs and changing prescriptions on the computer which, if incorrect, could lead to serious harm to a patient.
• Deal with queries, or complaints, from patients who may be distressed or unhappy with changes made to their medication, either face-to face or on the telephone.
• Be required to negotiate with practice staff (including GPs, practice nurses, practice managers and health professionals) who may be unhappy when challenged about their practices relating to prescribing or medicines management.
• Manage a competing and frequently changing workload, responding rapidly to new national or local policy, guidance and/or new legislation.
• Work in a discreet and professional manner, respecting the contractor status of the GP practices and to maintain confidentiality of information, including Prescribing And CosT (PACT) data, in accordance with the Data Protection Act and Caldicott guidance (practice level).
• Present, negotiate and resolve conflict around the implementation of a practice formulary and prescribing policies which are consistent with the aims of quality prescribing and budgetary control, when members of the practice team may be unhappy to co-operate or change their practice.
• The post holder will be guided by their professional Code of Ethics, relevant legislation, policies and guidelines, local and national medicines management frameworks and guidance and will be able to interpret these and make judgements on how they apply when dealing with specific situations as they arise. The post holder will be expected to work under their own initiative, often in isolation, but will be able to seek guidance from their peers or line managers if the need arises.

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