Job overview
An opportunity has arisen to join our established, friendly, and dynamic clinical pharmacy team at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
We welcome newly qualified pharmacists and pharmacists willing to start their career in mental health pharmacy. We offer a structured training programme for the first few years in practice and in the field of mental health care.
The required job role is set at Band 7 Senior Clinical Pharmacist Level, and you will initially begin your job as a Band 6 Clinical Pharmacist and progress to Band 7 on completion of key objectives and when agreed skills and standards are met. Applications from current Band 7 are welcome.
The vacancy is at the Bethlem Royal Hospital which also serves the Ladywell Unit in Lewisham. We also offer the training opportunity to rotate to Ladywell and to acute hospitals in South London for defined placements.
We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. Once established in post, there are further opportunities for development and career progression in a variety of settings, for example education and training, quality improvement, research, clinical trials, independent prescribing and more.
Main duties of the job
You will be supported by a dedicated supervisor and will have the opportunity to undertake short courses on mental health pharmacy and work alongside expert pharmacists in the field.
During your training you will provide pharmaceutical care to inpatients and community patients within South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, as well as work in one of our three main dispensary sites. You will join the on-call rota and late duty rota where applicable. You may be required to travel to various hospital and community mental health teams sites.
Working for our organisation
About the team
The pharmacy department provides dispensing services from the Maudsley, Lambeth, Bethlem Royal hospitals and Ladywell unit and a clinical pharmacy service to 1,000 inpatients and 3,000 community patients. The Medicines Advice Centre at the Maudsley is the national centre for information on psychotropics. The department produces the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines, now on its 15th Edition, and is the world’s leading pharmacy centre for research in psychiatry, having published over 300 clinical papers in the past 25 years.
The pharmacy is also part of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Clinical Academic Group (PSCAG) which incorporates more than 1,800 staff and students and includes staff from all four organisations within King’s Health Partners with the aim to integrate the work across all partner organisations to improve practice, research and healthcare/academic education and training strategy. Our CAG includes a variety of professional groups, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, scientists, healthcare professionals, students and administrative and support staff.
About the location
Bethlem Royal Hospital is based in a beautiful setting in over 200 acres of green space in the London Borough of Bromley, South East London. The hospital has easy access to nearby main roads and have offers free parking. The site is within walking distance from of Eden Park and West Wickham overland stations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Job Purpose:
1. To deliver a comprehensive clinical pharmacy service to inpatient wards and community mental health teams in line with Trust policies, procedures and standards.
2. To support patients to gain maximum benefit from their medicines, through medicines related consultations with patients and carers, involving patients in treatment decisions, and improving patient and carer satisfaction with information they receive about medicines
3. To support the multidisciplinary inpatient teams to use medicines safely and effectively and reduce medicines wastage through medicines optimisation and quality improvement programmes, and by providing medicines related training
4. To develop post-registration foundation pharmacist skills in accordance with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS) Foundation Pharmacy Framework and work towards specialist mental health pharmacy skills
5. To act as a practice supervisor in the training and education of trainee pharmacists and junior pharmacists (once progressed to B7)
6. To prescribe medicines within competence and scope of practice, once qualified to do so by completing the post-graduate certificate in Independent Prescribing (once progressed to B7)
7. To partake in the pharmacy on-call service (Emergency Duty Cover, bank holiday rotas) and a Saturday service.
Key Responsibilities:
8. To ensure safe and effective use of medicines at ward, team and dispensary level. This includes adhering to Trust policies, pharmacy procedures, local and national guidelines, and legal requirements.
9. To be responsible for providing clinical pharmacy input as part of the multidisciplinary team (MDT). This will include providing advice to clinicians on medicines, including the use of unlicensed medicines use and areas of practice where the evidence base is lacking, liaising with the medicines information pharmacists where appropriate.
10. To be responsible for providing a clinical pharmacy service to groups of patients Ensure effective outcomes of treatment with medicines Monitor patients for potential and actual adverse effects of their medicines Ensure the effective, timely and accurate supply of medicines suitable for use as an inpatient and appropriately labelled for discharge if applicable. Support planning for discharge, including liaising with community team pharmacists for follow-up appointments where appropriate Undertake medicines-related consultations to inpatients during their admission and run medication groups on the ward. Take steps to ensure patients understand the purpose of their medicines and deal with any practical issues that may prevent the optimal use of their medicines.
11. To assess medicine regimes both during enquiry answering and/or routine ward visits, providing highly specific advice to other clinical team members on the management of often complex medicine related issues, such as complex drug interactions, high dose antipsychotic prescribing, unlicensed use of medicines etc.
12. To prescribe medicines within their scope of practice and in line with Trust policy if qualified and registered with the GPhC as an independent pharmacist prescriber.
13. To be able to present information in a suitable format (e.g. written and/or verbal) and style for the target audience. Barriers to effective communication may include learning disability, mental impairment, non-consenting/noncompliant patients, and patients detained under the mental health act who may be violent/aggressive.
14. To provide information in a timely manner, to the appropriate individual (in accordance with the degree of urgency of the request or issue identified).
15. To assist the principal pharmacist in communicating relevant SLaM Trust decisions and policy relating to medicines to local clinical areas.
16. To prepare and deliver training for clinical staff (e.g. nurses, support workers, junior doctors) on a wide range of medicines-related issues. To provide clinical supervision to a team of pharmacists, and to act as a practice supervisor to pre-registration training pharmacists and junior pharmacists.
17. To support local implementation of Trust Medicines Management Policies within own clinical area, and ensure medicines are handled safely and securely within designated clinical areas.
18. To participate in and develop quality improvement initiatives, undertake local and national audits, and engage in research and medicines evaluation as required by the Chief Pharmacist
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
19. MPharm Degree or equivalent
20. Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), with mandatory CPD
Desirable criteria
21. Postgraduate certificate/diploma in mental health or pharmacy practice or equivalent
22. Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society or Member / associate member of the CMHP
Experience
Essential criteria
23. Relevant experience in patient-facing pharmacist roles
24. Previous participation in audit, development of audit tools, data collection and collation
Desirable criteria
25. Relevant experience in NHS hospital pharmacy
26. Previous experience in providing clinical mental health services
27. Experience in education and training
28. Evidence of implementing new procedures
Knowledge / Skills
Essential criteria
29. Good written and verbal communication
30. Desire to work in psychiatric pharmacy
31. Empathy and understanding of medication issues facing people with mental health problems and their carers
32. Demonstrates commitment and ability to develop own knowledge, skills and quality of work in line with local and national standards
Desirable criteria
33. Good computer skills, in particular for completing spreadsheets, graphs and reports
34. Good time management with ability to prioritise workload and meet deadlines
35. Ability to work without close supervision, making decisions and acting upon them within the limitations and understanding of the job responsibilities, or to refer appropriately