Are you anenthusiastic Clinical Pharmacist looking to make a real difference in patientcare? Join our dynamic Primary Care Network team, where you will play a vitalrole in optimising medicines use, improving outcomes for patients, and reducingthe demand on GPs. In this role, you will utilise your clinical expertise toprovide structured medication reviews, manage long-term conditions, and supportour pharmacy technicians and administrative staff to deliver safe and effectivemedicines management. You will also have the opportunity to lead and contributeto innovative, service-driven projects that enhance care pathways and driveimprovements across the network. This is an exciting opportunity to developyour clinical practice within a supportive, forward-thinking multidisciplinaryteam committed to transforming primary care.
Main duties of the job
The Clinical Pharmacist will work as an integral part ofthe Primary Care Network (PCN) team to optimise medicines use, improve patientoutcomes, and reduce demand on GPs through the provision of expert clinicaladvice, structured medication reviews, and management of long-term conditions.
The post holder will support and supervise pharmacy technicians in deliveringsafe and effective medicines management processes, as well as work closely withthe administrative team to streamline prescribing-related tasks and queries.
Inaddition, the Clinical Pharmacist will contribute to the development andimplementation of service-driven projects that enhance patient care, improvesystem efficiencies, and align with local and national priorities across thePCN.
About us
Hawthorn & Merchiston PCN supports two practices. The Merchiston practice was established around 1860 in the village of Stratton-St-Margaret. Until the 1950s, Stratton was a small farming community and it still retains its separate identity, despite now being a suburb of Swindon. The Partnership moved from the original Doctors house into new purpose-built premises in 1992.
Merchiston Surgery is the larger Practice with a raw patient list of 13,500 (13,700 weighted list)
We are a teaching practice with 2 Education Supervisors, 1 Clinical Supervisor, supporting 3 Trainee GPs. Rated excellent by the Swindon GP QA Panel for our trainee placement.
Hawthorn Medical Centre has 13000 patients in Swindon, and was this year rated "Good" by CQC. We are a successful training practice with previous trainees staying with us.
We are a friendly, supportive and hardworking team; reflected by our shared values of caring for each other and our patients. We are committed to providing the highest quality of care for our patients and ensuring that our staff feel valued and motivated. There is a strong team ethos across the practice and have a friendly and relaxed working environment.
The Practices are supported by several ARRS roles employed by Hawthorn & Merchiston PCN:
First Contact Physiotherapists
Shared Care Home nurses
Repeat Prescription Administrators
Job responsibilities
Clinical
Predominantly involves directpatient contact whether face to face, via telephone or video. May includedomiciliary or care home visits as required.
Competently manage andundertake patient clinics, organising workload and processes around this toensure timely patient follow-ups and medicine optimisation.
Participate in and lead onlong-term condition management plans and holistic processes, within your areaof competence.
Carry out structured medicationreviews (SMRs) for patients.
Ensure that any monitoring thatis needed for the review is completed or arrange for this to be done. Ascompetence grows this will involve ordering and then later reviewing bloodtests.
Review and manage whereappropriate long-term conditions within your area of competence such as bloodpressure control and other cardiovascular risk factors.
Being aware of the holisticneeds of the patient. Make changes to therapy where needed. This will be incollaboration with colleagues such as healthcare assistants, nurses and GPs.
To educate and support patientsin the use of their medicines and optimising their health. This will includereferral onto to other services as appropriate. This may also involvesupporting colleagues to run groups, and production of health promotional informationand materials.
Address day to day issuesraised by patients / staff or other HCPs in relation to medicine management.Issues such as alternatives for out of stock items, clinical assessment of needfor items not on repeat prescription and overseeing requests for prescribingfrom other professionals.
Provide support, guidance andassistance as able to other members of the pharmacy team
Ensure clear, concise andappropriate documentation
Identify patients suitable forelectronic repeat dispensing (eRD), discuss with them how the scheme works,assess consent, and liaise with community colleagues to ensure appropriatecommunication to allow smooth continuation of care.
To reconcile medicines on thepatients, record from discharge letters and outpatient clinic letters. Tosupport the technicians with the more clinically challenging discharges, toprovide quality assurance of the process and to follow up any outstandingissues to ensure reconciliation is completed in a safe and timely manner.
Assess patients new to the PCNto review their medicines and their care. Refer into hospital services forongoing care as appropriate. Arrange future monitoring as needed.
Working with the PCN pharmacytechnicians if required to ensure that processes around receiving ongoingmedication supplies are understood.
Projects and qualityimprovement -
Work with the PCN pharmacyteams to collate PCN data for the optimisation of medication in key areas. Toconduct audits, searches and prepare reports with the support of the seniorclinical pharmacist. Track progress and feedback to senior members of the teamas required.
Work with the PCN pharmacytechnician and other staff in carrying out audits, identifying areas requiringimprovement. Draft action plans and lead on areas of implementation, asnecessary.
Play a key role working withcolleagues to develop PCN wide policies and protocols. Draft documents andpresent these to senior colleagues adjusting and reviewing as directed.Contribute to the dissemination and implementation of agreed processes and changesin practice overseeing and supervising within your designated practices.
Medication safety -
To facilitate switches ofmedication in line with local formulary choices or changes in practice withinyour area of competence
Work with the PCN pharmacy teamto assess and give advice on medication alerts as appropriate. Where requiredsupport dissemination and action, following us as required.
Identify areas where new orupdated policies and procedures are necessary. Produce such policies andprotocols for the practices within your scope of competence. Work with seniorcolleagues in implementation of these and later assessing impact. Help withkeeping a database of when reviews of current documents are required andensuring the cycle of review is kept active.
Construct or use existingsearches to identify patients on high-risk medicines and ensure that monitoringand review is carried out in line with guidelines. Flag up any deviations orconcerns with clinical colleagues.
To report Significant Eventsand complaints in a timely manner to the practice leads as appropriate.
To access Eclipse and work withcolleagues to ensure that this is used appropriately to optimise outcomes forpatients and the practices.
Carry out searches for peopleon medicines that require a shared care agreement (SCA). Ensure that thisagreement is documented and that the actions allocated to the GP practice arecarried out. Highlight any concerns to senior clinical colleagues as applicable.
Evidence based medicines andmedicines information -
To provide information tocolleagues in response to formal and informal enquiries. As appropriate loginformation given. Access local and regional medicines information sources asappropriate and refer to senior clinical colleagues for advice or handover asneeded.
Promote evidence-basedmedicine, use of licensed medicines and clear documentation of discussions,reasoning, and consent where medicines are used outside of usual practice.Ensure that alternatives have been considered and therapy is appropriate. Raiseany issues with the senior clinical pharmacists or prescriber.
Training and development -
Develop and deliver trainingfor other staff such as doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals onmedicine related themes. Invite feedback to improve training in the practiceand disseminate good practice in all the surgeries.
Collaborate with colleagues todevelop and deliver training to non-clinical staff and patients.
Complete or have completed the18 months CPPE PCPEP pathway (or equivalent)
To be or be willing to becomean Independent Prescriber
Complete all statutory andmandatory training as required.
Provide support and supervisionto less experienced pharmacy staff. Aid development and facilitate competencyassessments of staff within your area of competence.
Relationships and networks-
Develop mutual workingrelationships with colleagues.
Liaise with community pharmacycolleagues as appropriate. Develop working relationships to promotecommunication and cooperation. Signpost patients to the community pharmacy NewMedicines Service and Community Pharmacy Consultation Service, or other servicesthat may be of benefit to them.
Liaise with Integrated CareBoard (ICB) colleagues where appropriate including colleagues in thePrescription Ordering Direct (POD) hub.
Liaise with hospital and mentalhealth pharmacy colleagues as well as community colleagues such as districtnurses and care home staff for advice and discussion on individual patientcare.
Participate in meetings such aspractice meetings, patient meetings and informal meetings to raise the role ofthe pharmacist and promote medicines optimization.
Strategic -
Work with colleagues todetermine important outcomes and track progress towards these. Contribute tospreadsheets or dashboards to demonstrate the work of the pharmacy team.
Help ensure that evidence isavailable to facilitate regulatory oversight such as Care Quality Commission(CQC) inspections and audits. Help with any concerns raised around medicationstorage or processes relating to surgery held medicines in a timely manner.
Work with colleagues inpromoting public health schemes and promoting health equity across the PCN.Lead on aspects of this as required by the senior team.
Work with colleagues inpromoting consistent ways of working and introducing new ways of working. Leadon aspects of these as required by the senior team.
Person Specification
Experience
* In depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence- based healthcare.
* An appreciation of the nature of GPs and general practices
* An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
* Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills.
* Excellent written and verbal communication skills
* Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences (e.g., patients)
* Is able to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions.
* Recognises priorities when problem solving and identifies deviations from the normal pattern and is able to refer to seniors or GPs when appropriate.
* Experience of working within a PCN
Qualifications
* Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
* Specialist knowledge acquired through postgraduate diploma level or equivalent training/experience.
* Completion of CPPE PCPEP (or equivalent)
* Independent prescriber or working towards/intent of gaining an independent prescribing qualification
* Computer literate with an ability to use the required GP clinical systems (desirable) and Microsoft office packages (essential)
* Able to analyse and interpret prescribing data.
* Has attention to detail, able to work accurately, identifying errors quickly and easily.
* Able to effectively manage allocated resources.
* Has a planned and organised approach with an ability to prioritise their own workload to meet strict deadlines.
* Able to think analytically; anticipating obstacles and thinking ahead; using analytical techniques to draw logical solutions to problems.
* Excellent communication skills, verbal and written, with the ability to adjust communication style and content to suit the audience.
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills
* Influencing and negotiating skills
* An excellent understanding of data protection and confidentiality issues
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.
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