PCN Clinical Independent Prescriber Pharmacist

Job summary

New to General Practice or recently qualified as an Independent Prescriber? Launch your Primary Care career with us.

Join our friendly PCN as a Clinical Pharmacist, working across two of our five practices. Perfect for someone new to General Practice or newly qualified as a prescriber, this role offers excellent development opportunities, clinical support, and the chance to make a real difference to patient care while building confidence in patient-facing clinics and prescribing.

Main duties of the job

The post holder is an experienced pharmacist but maybe new to Primary Care, who acts within their professional boundaries.

The post holder will provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.

Will start to take an active role on the prescribing domains of the QOF Framework and prescribing elements of local commissioned services and maybe start to take a leading role.

As an independent prescriber, be responsible for adjusting medications and arranging monitoring when needed.

The post holder will ensure that the practice integrates with community and hospital pharmacy to help utilise skill mix, improve patient outcomes, 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 general practice.

About us

Preston Park Community PCN is a friendly and ambitious network of five GP practices serving around 57,000 patients across Brighton. We work collaboratively to deliver high-quality, patient-centred care and are passionate about supporting our staff to develop and thrive. Joining our team means becoming part of a supportive multidisciplinary workforce dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of our local community

Job responsibilities

Primary Care Focus

The post holder will provide primary support to general practice staff with regards to actioning prescription and medication queries. They will help support the repeat prescriptions system, deal with acute prescription requests, and medicines reconciliation on transfer of care and systems for safer prescribing, providing expertise in clinical medicines advice while addressing both public and social care needs of patient in the GP practice (s).

Patient Facing Clinics

See patients (where appropriate) patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimization is required eg COPD, asthma. Moving towards own caseload within scope of practice for long term disease management eg hypertension, diabetes, asthma. An outcome of these clinics to see a change in behaviour of patients with long term conditions such as better self-management and self-care.

Undertake clinical medication reviews -reviewing the on-going need for each medicine, a review of monitoring needs and opportunity to support patients with their medicines concordance ensuring they get the best use of their medicines (i.e. medicines optimisation). Make appropriate recommendations to GPs for medicine improvements.

Conduct clinical medication reviews for patients with complex polypharmacy, especially those with frailty and the elderly, people in care homes, those with multiple comorbidities and people with learning disabilities.

Proactively engage with patients whose care has been transferred back to primary care.

Refer patients, attend and contribute to multidisciplinary case conferences. Identifying key areas of need for vulnerable patients and formulating care plans.

Management of common/minor/self- limiting ailments

Managing patients with common/minor/self-limiting aliments while working within scope of practice and limits of competence and referring to GPs or other healthcare professionals where appropriate.

Signposting to community pharmacy and referring to GPs or other healthcare professional where appropriate.

Medicines information

Provide face to face and telephone clinics for patients to answer queries and concerns they may have regarding their medication. Signposting where appropriate to the appropriate healthcare professional in a timely manner.

Provide medication information to the practice staff and other healthcare teams e.g. community pharmacy. Suggesting solutions where needed and providing follow up with the most appropriate healthcare professional.

To support public health campaigns and provide specialist knowledge on all public health programmes available to the general public.

Medicine Optimisation

Provide leadership on person-centred medicines optimisation (including ensuring prescribers in the practice conserve antibiotics in line with local antimicrobial stewardship guidance) and quality improvement, whilst contributing to the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.

Support to the pharmacy technicians to ensure medicines reconciliation from clinical letters e.g. hospital discharges and out-patient clinic letters are completed accurately and in a timely manner.

Report back to ICB/secondary care pharmacy teams queries around requests for inappropriate shared care prescribing requests or non-formulary items.

Work with PCN pharmacy technicians to action ICB medicines management incentive schemes.

Repeat prescribing

Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required as per the repeat prescribing policy.

Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients and produce recommendations for the GP on prescribing and monitoring.

Review medications reaching review dates and flag up those needing review to GP.

Ensure there are uniform protocols and searches for high risk drug monitoring and safe and effective management of high risk medication.

Risk Stratification

Identification of cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through prepared practice searches.

Medicines Quality Improvement programmes

Identify areas of prescribing requiring improvement. Undertake clinical audits of prescribing in areas directed by the GPs, feedback the results.

Signposting

Ensure 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.

Medicines Safety

Working with technicians to implement changes to medicines that result from MHRA alerts, product withdrawal and other local and national guidance.

Care Quality Commission and other regulatory bodies

Work with the general practice team to ensure the practice is compliant with CQC standards and other regulatory bodies where medicines are involved.

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).

Supervision and mentorship

Provide appropriate induction programme of newly appointed/lower band clinical pharmacists.

Develop the role of the clinical pharmacist within the PCN.

Line management of other members of the pharmacy team.

Pastoral support for clinical pharmacists, facilitating group mentoring and professional development.

Fully participate in training and development.

Education and Training

Provide education and training to primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.

Other

Demonstrates responsibility and accountability for agreed areas of work including delivery of service outcomes and professional development plan.

Demonstrates respectful and professional communication and other behaviours to internal and external colleagues.

Values the contributions of other PCN staff and practice staff.

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties and you will be expected to undertake such tasks that may reasonably be expected within the scope, level of skill and knowledge for this band.

Person Specification

Skills/Knowledge/Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 2 years experience as a pharmacist, demonstrated within a practice portfolio.
• Have experience and an awareness of common acute and long-term conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice.
• 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.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships and to promote collaborative practice with colleagues.
• Self-motivation.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills.
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensate information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences.
• Demonstrates accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision.

Desirable

• In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence- based healthcare.
• Minimum 1 years experience in primary care.
• Post graduate clinical diploma.
• Familiar with GP clinical systems i.e. EMIS or Systmone.
• Completion of practice/education supervisor course.

Qualifications

Essential

• Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
• Masters degree in pharmacy (MPharm) or equivalent
• Willing to be enrolled on or completed the CPPE PCPEP pathway

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.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).