Job description

Job responsibilities

1. JOB SUMMARY

To provide specialist pharmaceutical support to the 4 Practices of Severnvale Primary Care Network (PCN).

To liaise with patients, clinical and non-clinical staff, practice, hospital and community pharmacists and patient's carers to improve the pharmaceutical care of patients.

To consult with patients.

To support the Clinical Pharmacist Management Team and fellow Clinical Pharmacists role to maximise support to all clinical and non-clinical practice staff to improve patient care in relation to all aspects of medicines and their impact.

To provide clinical leadership on medicines optimisation and quality improvement and be responsible for supporting the GPs in implementing effective medicines management within the practices, including undertaking searches and audits identifying areas for improvement, initiating and managing change, and monitoring budgets.

To support in the day to day management of the PCN Prescription Hub.

To help provide leadership to PCN pharmacy technician and Prescription Hub Prescription Clerk Care Co-ordinators.

2. MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

To carry out medication reviews and structured medication reviews (SMRs) for patients both in the surgery, in care homes or for housebound patients - with single or multiple medical problems where medicines optimisation is required; reviewing the need for each medicine and providing recommendations for other clinicians on prescribing.

To consult with patients, by telephone and face to face according to competency. This may include patients with long term conditions, e.g. hypertension, CVD, diabetes as well as medication reviews.

To reconcile medicines following discharge from hospitals or intermediate care and working with patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines they need post-discharge.

To support in the management of the repeat prescribing process, helping to manage repeat prescription requests, resolving queries where possible and producing prescriptions for clinical review and signature. To ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.

To undertake clinical and medication audits in priority areas, such as QOF, IIF (within PCN DES), NICE guidance, CQC searches and other agreed target areas, feeding your findings back to the network teams and implementing actions as appropriate

Provide independent information to patients regarding medicines and prescribing changes, initiating further support from other healthcare professionals where appropriate

To participate in the review of policies relating to medicines management and prescribing

To support in identifying areas of clinical risk at network level and make recommendations to support the introduction of new working practices that will optimise the quality of prescribing and make more efficient use of network resources

To help support the Practice Clinical, Management and Administrative Teams to implement procedural and service changes relating to prescribing to ensure best practice is adopted in accordance with local guidelines, legislation, directives and safety updates e.g. NICE, MRA etc.

To support in the provision of education and training to primary healthcare teams on therapeutics and medicines optimisation

To participate in multidisciplinary clinical meetings within the network

To maintain own clinical and professional competence and be responsible for own continuous professional development

This job description is not intended to be a complete list of duties and responsibilities but is a guide for information to the role. The job description will be periodically reviewed in light of the developing work requirements. The postholder will be expected to contribute towards that revision.

3. SUPERVISION RECEIVED

The postholder will be line managed by the Lead Clinical Pharmacist with clinical supervision provided by a GP from the practice whose patients the post holder is dealing with and the Senior Clinical Pharmacist.

4. SUPERVISION EXERCISED

The post holder will provide clinical supervision to staff involved with the prescribing process where appropriate.

5. KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Develop and maintain key working relationships with:

PCN Clinical director

PCN Clinical Pharmacist Management Team

Other Clinical Pharmacists

Care Coordinator Prescription Clerk Team

Other PCN staff members, e.g. PCN Manager, Frailty lead

Practice GPs, Practice Nurses and Healthcare Assistants

Patients and Carers where appropriate

Practice Management, Reception and other Administrative staff

Secondary Care and interface Pharmacists

ICB Head of Medicines Management & Medicines Management Team

Community Nurses and other allied health professionals

Community Pharmacists and support staff

Person Specification

Skills & Knowledge

Essential

• Good clinical knowledge
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Self-motivated and able to work on own initiative with the ability to prioritise workload and exercise good time management skills
• Proven track record of team-working
• IT skills with established clinical system of EMISWeb

Desirable

• Good influencing and negotiating skills
• Good presentation skills
• Aware of current issues in medicines optimisation

Qualifications

Essential

• Pharmacy degree
• Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• Evidence of commitment to continuing professional development.
• Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) primary care Pharmacy Education Pathway (completed or exempted)

Desirable

• Independent Prescribing Qualification (non-medical prescriber)

Other

Essential

• An understanding, acceptance and adherence to the need for strict confidentiality
• Able to work under pressure.
• Hard working, adaptable, reliable, honest, pleasant and approachable
• Able to work autonomously with minimal supervision
• Clean driving licence

Experience

Essential

• Minimum 2 years post-registration experience
• Previous primary care experience

Desirable

• Previous experience of using prescribing data
• Previous work in a multi-disciplinary team

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

Severnvale PCN

Address

Eastland Road

Thornbury

Bristol

BS35 1DP

United Kingdom

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Be the first point of contact for Practice Managers with regard to delivery of PCN projects/schemes.

Act as the Freedom to Speak Up Guardian Lead for the four member practices, promoting a culture of openness, transparency and psychological safety. Provide an independent and confidential point of contact for staff who wish to raise concerns, ensuring concerns are managed appropriately and in line with national guidance.

Lead and coordinate neighbourhood working across the PCN, developing effective partnerships with member practices, community providers, local authorities, the voluntary sector and wider health and care organisations.

Analyse service specification, performance indicators and data collection requirements to inform design for new PCN services

Develop job descriptions, person specifications and selection and recruitment activities for new services (if required) to ensure the correct interpretation of the PCNs requirements have been understood

Support service delivery by being the conduit between the service provider and the PCN and its member practices, thereby ensuring integration of the new service staff into existing teams and working processes

Develop metrics and other arrangements to support the subcontracting of services and subsequent contract management

Be responsible for the management of operational processes of the PCN and for the development of Standard Operating Procedures for PCN services

Manage financial requirements on behalf of the PCN

Chair quarterly board meetings, capturing minutes for distribution

Co-ordinate training and development of PCN clinical/administrative staff

Manage recruitment, HR, induction and training of new PCN staff

Collate feedback / analysis data on behalf of the PCN to report to the ICB and other organisations as required

Manage the workflow processes in relation to the above

Help develop joint working and relationships across networks and its stakeholders.

Maintain relationships across all core member Practices & PCN Managers across the network.

Build external relationships and identify opportunities to work with wider system partners

Lead on the planning, mobilisation, implementation and evaluation of new services, transformation programmes and PCN initiatives, ensuring delivery against agreed objectives, timescales and budgets.

Drive continuous improvement across the PCN

Develop and maintain all PCN databases and policies

Carry out any other duties as may reasonably be required by the Clinical Director, PCN Board and its members.

Leadership:

Work with the PCN clinical director and the PCN Board to ensure the delivery of high quality of services, meeting the requirements of the Severnvale patient population.

Develop business cases to secure additional investment into the PCN

Lead on designated work streams as directed by PCN Clinical Director

Work closely with PCN Clinical Director and member Practices, support and build organisational capacity and capability

Work to improve patient and staff experience through supporting the management and facilitation of PCN- wide initiatives

Provide leadership, support and guidance to PCN ARRS positions

Provide strategic leadership for neighbourhood working service transformation and implementation of new NHS initiatives affecting the PCN.

Represent the PCN at locality, Integrated Care Board (ICB) and wider system meetings, building collaborative relationships to influence service development and improve outcomes for patients.

Travel

Regularly undertake travel to variety of sites.

The post holder will be required to support events, meetings or conferences, these may involve travel outside the Severnvale area.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• 5+ years Primary Care experience and experience in General Practice
• Have an understanding and experience of working in the NHS with extensive knowledge and understanding of the roles of NHS organisation and of the primary care sector
• Have an understanding of the national policy direction for primary, community and secondary care as evidenced in the Five Year Forward Review together with good practical and conceptual knowledge of healthcare improvement methods and practices
• Experience of developing primary care provision at scale, for example working with a federation or collaboration of general practices
• Have experience of developing working relationships with local and national stakeholders, demonstrating effective influencing and negotiating skills, training and facilitation skills
• Have experience of managing projects within tight deadlines and implementing complex primary care based initiatives to a successful outcome.
• Have good understanding of the other primary care providers and stakeholders, such as the LMC, OneCare and the ICB.

Desirable

• Have knowledge of the regulatory and contractual frameworks for primary care contracts such as LES, DES, QOF,

Skills

Essential

• Be able to speak confidently on a range of commissioning and primary care subjects, with the ability to provided definitive advice on national primary care regulation, policy and development
• Be proficient in the use of Microsoft Office products
• Be computer literate, able to operate commonly used IT packages and manage their own IT system with support from the IT provider.
• Be able to identify clear priorities for action while managing multiple stakeholder expectations
• Be highly effective communicator and be self-motivated, with the ability to work on own initiative, manage agreed work areas to tight time scales and be flexible and adaptable to manage a range of different and demanding agendas within tight timescales
• Be politically sensitive with highly developed diplomatic skills and be able to identify issues which may cause political sensitivity at an early stage and escalate or manage appropriately
• Have the confidence to work with and challenge, if necessary, the PCN Clinical Director, the Board and practice managers to ensure that work is completed on time and to a sufficiently high standard
• Be able to deal with complex problem solving situations and to think their way around the problem with the minimum of supervision to ensure implementation on the ground is not affected
• Be aware of and understand data protection implications and manage information appropriately at all times

Qualifications

Essential

• Minimum of Maths and English Grade C or above.

Desirable

• Leadership/management qualification.
• Educated to degree level or qualified by 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.

Employer details

Employer name

Severnvale PCN

Address

Eastland Road

Thornbury

Bristol

BS35 1DP

United Kingdom