Job summary
Part-time hours would be considered
Development role step Band 7- Band 8a would be considered
As the Lead Pharmacist you would join the Emergency Admission and Acute Medicine includes the Emergency Department (including Resus, Paediatrics Resus, Ambulatory Decision Unit and Acute Medical Unit (including our Frailty Assessment/Admission). You will work directly with principal pharmacist, trust management, consultants and wider MDT to improve flow and capacity within high turnover and high pressured department. You will be looking at service development and improving patient experience.
As a forward thinking department we continually drive innovation and utilisation of digital solutions such as EPMA to support our workflows and allow more of time to support direct patient care. This is an exciting time to join the organisation as we are exploring new ways to deliver pharmacy services at ward level with input from all members of the team.
As an organisation, we recognise that our staff are our most valuable resource and we acknowledge the importance and benefits of a healthy workplace and workforce. With a dedicated Health and Wellbeing Team, we are able to offer a range of wellbeing support initiatives including 1-2-1 confidential psychological staff support and a dedicated health and wellbeing information pack, which signposts staff to a vast amount of resources across the region.
Applicants must be a registered Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council
Main duties of the job
The post holders' main base will be the Pharmacy Department of Warwick Hospital, the main base of the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT).
The primary role of this specialist post is to work closely with the ED Team to ensure patients receive a safe, cost effective high quality clinical service following medicines optimisation principles.
The post holder will be working independently with the A&E, A&E obs Ambulatory and inpatients. Ideally, the post holder will be independent prescriber with health assessment skills.
The post holder will be a specialist in acute medicine and the front door and will provide advice to Trust medical staff initiating and maintaining patients on relevant treatment. They will also work to ensure safe prescribing and practice is embedded within the Trust through developing and maintaining Policies and Guidelines, and auditing against these and national standards.
Work collaboratively with provider counterparts in the Coventry and Warwickshire locality and further afield with West Midlands Region.
About us
Come and join a Trust rated Outstanding by the CQC. South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust have been rated as outstanding following our latest inspection by the CQC and we are recruiting new staff to come and help us improve even further.
We provide services across Warwickshire and beyond ranging from Hospitals in Warwick, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and Shipston-on Stour to Community Services across the county. We are a progressive, expanding organisation with great ambition around improving quality, integrating pathways and delivering high levels of productivity.
Our values can be summed up in one sentence. We are 'Trusted to provide safe, effective and compassionate care'. Throughout the recruitment process you will be asked to think about how you demonstrate these values and how they impact on your work. It doesn't matter what role you do, whether it is patient facing or not, we are all working in the same way with our values at the core.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Emergency Department and Front Door Services
Work with the lead consultants, Doctors, ACP and nursing teams ED, A&E obs, Ambulatory. To review, develop and maintain policies, guidelines and procedures to ensure safe and effective supply, storage, prescribing, administration and monitoring of medication. Ensure policies and procedures comply with existing legal requirements, best practice, national and local guidelines and Health Care Commission Requirements.
As an expert practitioner, provide support and advice trust-wide to medical staff initiating, maintaining and monitoring patients in ED, encouraging adherence to Trust acute medicine PGDs/guidelines/ policy.
Ensure accurate transfer of necessary information to GPs to enable continuation of treatment and prevent re-admission to hospital, including meeting all relevant requirements of the Area Prescribing Committee.
Proactively work with prescribers to ensure safe prescribing within the ED and practice is embedded across the Trust.
To the management of End of Life and Palliative patients which come through the ED to support the specialist palliative care team.
Lead, develop and deliver education and training to junior doctors, nurses and pharmacists regarding prescribing, administration and monitoring.
Audit and monitor practice against national standards and Trust guidance to provide assurance to the Medication Safety Committee with regards to safe use of medicine within ED setting across the Trust.
Educate and counsel patients regarding their therapies.
To develop and provide a comprehensive clinical pharmacy service for the patients in your areas a SWFT, attending ward rounds and multidisciplinary team meetings as required.
General Clinical Service
To liaise with hospital colleagues and contribute to the provision of clinical pharmacy services at SWFT.
To contribute to directorate work for all medical specialities.
To advise on / recommend / adapt clinical treatment guidelines that have been produced locally or by national bodies NICE, NSFs, National Prescribing Centre, for use in the specialty area.
To be a lead pharmacist in advising the Principal Pharmacist, and the Head of Pharmacy, on the strategic development of clinical pharmacy services to the designated specialist services.
Work with the ward based and dispensary pharmacy teams in the development of and maintenance of the Trusts pharmacy services.
To ensure that safe systems of handling medicines are in place and that national guidelines and local protocols relating to medicines management are adhered to.
To advise medical, nursing, other professional staff, managers and patients on any aspect of drug therapy or drug control as required or when considered necessary.
To maintain an awareness of current developments in pharmacy practice pertinent to the services, by liaising with relevant bodies, outside agencies, special interest groups and other pharmacists. To inform and advise senior pharmacy staff as appropriate.
Governance
To work directly with the medicine Safety officer and principle pharmacist in addressing the pharmacy and medicines management governance agenda within the Trust relevant to their designated specialty.
To represent Pharmacy on the Audit and Operational Governance group of the relevant division, in the postholders own right, or as alternate.
To undertake the reporting of medication incidents when necessary, according to the Trusts Incident Reporting Policy, to assist other pharmacists in reporting, to investigate medication incidents as necessary, to provide senior pharmacist input to incident report forms and root cause analyses, and to recommend improvements and implement agreed actions.
As a registered practising Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council, the post-holder must undertake Continuing Professional Development CPD and meet the mandatory requirements.
Operational Pharmacy
To contribute to duties as a clinical pharmacist to other wards in the Trust when necessary.
Supporting the assessment of medicines management competencies.
To deputize for senior pharmacy managers as required.
To liaise with the Senior Pharmacists for the allocation of staff, notably to negotiate staffing resource to provide cover of the specialist services in the postholders absence.
To participate in the provision of the total pharmaceutical service, including a contribution to dispensary rotas on weekdays, late duties, and public holidays. The department provides a 7 day pharmacy service and the post holder will be expected to work weekends on a regular basis.
To participate in oncall service depending on service needs.
To undertake routine duties within the dispensary as required, including supervising the work of junior pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and (senior) ATOs.
To assure the standards of pharmaceutical care provided to patients on designated wards, ensuring that a satisfactory level of pharmacy service is provided within the resources available.
Education and Training
The post holder will support the pharmacy departments aspirations in achieving and maintaining the highest possible standards of clinical pharmacy excellence.
If agreed, to act as a Pre-Registration Pharmacist tutor, or as a clinical coordinator for a post-graduate diploma student.
To provide clinical education and training to medical, nursing and pharmacy staff, both undergraduate and postgraduate, including tutoring and mentoring.
To supervise, contribute to and undertake research and audit projects in the specialty areas, particularly those concerned with the clinical and cost effective use of drugs, compliance with safer prescribing and drug administration policies, procedures and guidelines, and implementation of pharmacy service developments. To provide reports and present the audit findings within the Trust or to outside organizations or regional or national meetings where appropriate.
To support the Education and Training Lead Pharmacist to develop and maintain a training Programme for clinical pharmacists allocated to the specialty, and to develop and administer a competency assessment process to ensure the appropriate standards are achieved. To provide clinical pharmacy training for undergraduate pharmacy students, post-grad. diploma students, vacation students, pre-registration pharmacists (hospital and community-based) and hospital clinical pharmacists.
Research
The post holder may undertake practice research and will support research and audit by students and others within the department.
Managerial Responsibilities
To provide short-term cover for colleagues during periods of leave.
To ensure that all Trust standards are maintained and monitored to improve the quality of care to all whom come into contact with services provided by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust.
Every employee has a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of him/her and of other persons who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions at work, and to co-operate with the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust to ensure that statutory and Trust regulations are complied with.
To participate in appraisals and personal reviews and work to achieve agreed set objectives.
To participate in appropriate training and development activities.
To participate in team, professional and personal development activities and promote commitment to continuous development and improvement.
Ensure that all staff consciously review mistakes, complaints and incidents/near misses as well as successes to improve performance and the level of customer care.
Allemployees will havean organizational and individual responsibility towards safeguarding vulnerable adults, young people and children. Where employees are working with children, young people and families they have a responsibility to cooperate in national safeguarding policy around early intervention activities appropriate to improving health outcomes.
As a major provider of health care, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust operate a Smoke Free Policy by providing a totally smoke free environment to help aid patients recovery, promote health and wellbeing and minimize the risks of complications attributed to smoking tobacco and second hand smoke.
To abide by Infection Prevention and Control policies relevant to their area of work, and undertake the necessary level of training. This will be appraised through the KSF review process or other relevant professional review process.
To accept responsibility for the provision of effective infection prevention and control within the Trust in liaison with the Trust's Infection Control Team.
To act as a role model in applying good infection control practice and ensures compliance with all Infection Control policies.
To promote and demonstrate implementation of the Trust's Carbon Management strategy and policy, ensuring team members are fully aware of the policy and are contributing to this.
For full details on duties associated with this role please see attached Job Description.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
1. Master's degree in pharmacy (or equiv.)
2. Completion of a one-year pre-registration programme
3. Current UK professional registration as a Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council
4. Postgraduate Clinical Pharmacy diploma or equivalent advanced experience
5. Specialist qualification or accreditation, or equivalent advanced practice, gained or in progress in a relevant clinical specialty
6. Independent Prescribing
Desirable
7. Health Assessment
Experience
Essential
8. A sufficient breadth and depth of post-registration hospital Pharmacist practice, to acquire the competencies needed for the job
9. Lectures, talks, training given (Medical/Nursing/Pharmacy staff and patients)
10. Recent clinical Pharmacy experience of medication reviews in acutely ill patients
11. Experience of development in a service area of pharmacy
12. Staff mentorship and supervisory management
Desirable
13. Undertaken audit work
14. Planning and implementing change
Skills
Essential
15. Good understanding of recent NHS and pharmacy reports
16. Ability to demonstrate a very high level of specialist knowledge
17. Ability to advise and influence all grades of medical and nursing staff on therapeutic aspects of patient care
18. An understanding of the relevance of clinical governance and risk management
19. Knowledge of drug expenditure/drug budget/clinical activity issues
20. Able to understand clinical research data
21. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
22. Able to clearly communicate highly complex clinical information to all grades of medical, nursing and pharmacy staff
23. Able to question patients sensitively on their drug treatment and to communicate clearly with them
24. Excellent interpersonal skills
25. Good presentation skills
26. Able to create a rapport with panel
27. Ability to prioritise own work and assist others to do so
28. Able to use initiative and work without supervision
29. Understanding of budgetary mechanisms, funding processes
30. Ability to manage junior pharmacy team members
31. Able to give credible representation of pharmacy at senior medical and management levels
32. Effective work in teams - pharmacy teams and multidisciplinary teams
33. Sound judgement on clinical, pharmaceutical and ethical issues
34. Able to advise other pharmacists of all grades in the postholder's expert area of knowledge
35. Assertiveness skills - able to negotiate to a satisfactory outcome with professional colleagues at all levels
36. Able to deal with concerned/anxious patients or relatives particularly in relation to their drug treatment
37. Able to meet deadlines
38. High standards of work presentation
Personal Qualities
Essential
39. Professional appearance
40. A positive "can do", enthusiastic approach to work
41. Self-motivating and able to motivate a pharmacy team
42. Wants to "make a difference"
43. Sees the potential of the post
Other
Essential
44. Prepared to share in regular clinical pharmacy and dispensary duties
45. Accurate work
46. Able to undertake weekend, Bank Holiday and Statutory Day working on a rota
47. Ability to use VDUs
48. Able to demonstrate a satisfactory level of continuing professional development
49. Satisfactory computer keyboard skills
50. Competent in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Microsoft Outlook
Desirable
51. Use of own vehicle and insured for business use