PCN Clinical Pharmacist- Hackney Marshes PCN

Job responsibilities

The PCN Clinical Pharmacist will:

work as part of a multi-disciplinary team in a patient facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using their expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas;

be a prescriber, or completing training to become a prescriber, and work with and alongside the general practice team;

be responsible for the care management of patients with chronic diseases and undertake clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially the elderly, people in care homes, those with multiple co-morbidities (in particular frailty, COPD and asthma) and people with learning disabilities or autism (through STOMP Stop Over Medication Programme);

provide specialist expertise in the use of medicines whilst helping to address both the public health and social care needs of patients at the PCNs practice(s) and to help in tackling inequalities;

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;

through structured medication reviews, support patients to take their medications to get the best from them, reduce waste and promote selfcare;

have a leadership role in supporting further integration of general practice with the wider healthcare teams (including community and hospital pharmacy) to help improve patient outcomes, ensure better access to healthcare and help manage general practice workload;

develop relationships and work closely with other pharmacy professionals across PCNs and the wider health and social care system;

take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines, liaison with specialist pharmacists (including mental health and reduction of inappropriate antipsychotic use in people with learning difficulties), liaison with community pharmacists and anticoagulation.

Key aspects of PCN pharmacist role

Patient facing role undertaking face to face structured medications reviews for:

patients on complex polypharmacy with long term conditions

housebound patients

specific disease areas identified as a priority area within the PCN

Review patients with single or multiple medical problems where medicine optimisation is required.

Review on-going need for each medicine, assess monitoring requirements and support patients to ensure treatment is safe, appropriate and optimised for maximum clinical benefit.

Discuss recommendations and outcomes with relevant members of the PCN team and provide appropriate and timely follow up.

Support patients to optimise medicines by providing additional written patient information leaflets, and liaise with community pharmacists about the need for special requirements to aid adherence.

Management of Common/Minor/Self-Limiting Ailments

Support practices in improving patient access for minor ailments and acute presentations.

Promote the importance of self-care and signpost patients to community pharmacies in line with national guidance on over the counter medicines.

Medicines Information to Practice Staff and Patients

Support relevant medicine-related enquiries from the practice team, PCN team, community pharmacists and patients.

Update practice teams at weekly meetings on current medicines related information and issues with a view to educating and improving prescribing within the practice.

Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to practice staff regularly to highlight prescribing issues.

Communicate recommended actions relating to medication and medical device safety alerts.

Medicines Reconciliation

Reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care and into 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.

Commissioned improvements for QIPP and medicines optimisation

Support the practice and the PCN in delivering the outcomes as required in the medicines section of the Clinical Commissioning Contract

Signposting

Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for specialist referral, monitoring and/or referred to the social prescriber for further support services where required.

Repeat Prescribing

Review, implement and support adherence to the practice repeat prescribing policy.

Manage the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process by reviewing patient requests for repeat prescriptions and reviewing medicines reaching review dates and flagging up those patients needing a review.

Ensure patients on repeat prescriptions have the required monitoring and assessments undertaken as appropriate to their condition(s) and medicines prescribed.

Clinical Governance

Communicate, action and support implementation of MHRA alerts, product withdrawals and other local and national guidelines and formulary recommendations.

Undertake clinical audits in priority areas identified by the CCG medicines management team or within the PCN and feedback results to practices and the PCN and support them in implementing recommendations.

Support practices and PCNs in identifying and reporting onto NRLS any incidents relating to medicines. Be involved in investigating medicines incidents and identifying and implementing any required system improvements.

Support implementation of shared care protocols in practice, including processes to improve monitoring of high- risk drugs.

Review the use of medicines most commonly associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audit and individual patient reviews.

Identify cohorts of patients at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches e.g. using PINCER and other tools.

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

Education and Training

Contribute to the provision of education and training on medicines optimisation and specific therapeutic areas to healthcare professionals within the PCN and to the wider CCG geography.

Public Health

To support public health campaigns.

To provide specialist advice on all public health programmes available to the general public.

General

Undertake any other work supporting medicines optimisation in GP practices and the PCN commensurate with the banding of the post and which is agreed between the postholder and the manager

Key Collaborative Working Relationships

The post-holder will be required to work with a wide range of stakeholders. It is important that the post holder recognises the roles of other colleagues to person-centred care, and liaises with other stakeholders as needed for the collective benefit of patients including:

Patients and Patient Participation Groups (PPGs)

GPs, nurses and other practice staff

Other healthcare professionals including ...