Clinical Pharmacist

Main purpose of job

To contribute to improve health outcomes in long

term conditions as a member of the multidisciplinary primary care team

To provide specialist knowledge and advice on

• pharmaceutical matters, including cost-effective prescribing and clinical
• guidelines for disease treatment, and to also provide evidence-based education
• and training for colleagues in partnership with the practice
• To practice as an independent prescriber,
• holding face to face consultations

To provide advice and support for patients with

self-limiting conditions

To work to improve communication about

medication-related issues between the practice and other care providers

To lead on implementation of safe and efficient

repeat prescribing systems

This job description is not exhaustive and duties may vary

with the requirements of the GP Practice.

Main tasks/overview

of responsibilities:

Contribute to improved health outcomes in long term

conditions

Long term

condition clinics

Practice as

an independent non-medical prescriber, holding clinics for long term

conditions within scope of competence.

Aim to review

multiple long term conditions at same clinic visit to provide holistic care

and improve patient experience.

Support

patients to manage their long term conditions.

Medication

review / medicines optimisation

Carry out

face to face clinical medication reviews for patients on multiple medications

for long term conditions.

Review if prescribing

is appropriate in line with current guidance, cost-effective and safe; identify

unmet need, stop unnecessary/ineffective medicines. Implement own prescribing changes as an

independent prescriber.

Pathology

results

Review daily

pathology results for patients under their care

QOF

Contribute to

achievement of QOF targets to improve health outcomes

CHD risk

reduction

Identify

patients at high risk of CHD and provide advice/treatment to reduce risk

Domiciliary

visits

Identify and

visit housebound patients who would benefit from a clinical medication review

or a review of their LTC by a clinical pharmacist.

Provide specialist knowledge and advice on pharmaceutical

matters

Medical

information queries

Answer

medical information queries from GPs, Nurses, practice staff and patients.

Education

Provide

education on medicines related topics for GPs, Nurses, medical students,

registrars.

Evidence-based

prescribing/ Clinical guidance

Review NICE

and other evidence-based guidance as it is issued, to evaluate any impact on

medicines and prescribing.

Undertake

regular clinical audit to support implementation of clinical guidance across

the practice.

Provide regular

education sessions for the clinicians at the practice to discuss audit

results and agree an action plan for improving standards within clinical areas.

Medicines unavailability

Provide

advice on suitable alternative medications in the event of a medicine being

unavailable.

Cost

effective prescribing

Encourage

cost effective prescribing within the practice, including adherence to local

formulary.

Build good

working relationships with local Medicines Management Team members

New medicines

Provide

education for the clinical team on new medicines

Drug safety

Review all

safety alerts (e.g. MHRA) and ensure any action required is undertaken

Unplanned Emergency

Admissions

Work with the

practice team to help reduce medicines related emergency admissions by running

regular searches to identify patients at risk of harm from their medicines. Review these patients to reduce the risk of

harm.

To provide advice and support for patients with

self-limiting conditions

Patient

advice

Provide

patients with advice on treating self-limiting conditions through face to

face/ telephone consultations and patient information leaflets/website. Conditions may include UTIs, hayfever,

emergency contraception, conjunctivitis.

Improve communication about medication-related issues

between the practice and both the patient and other care providers

Management of

medicines related information at hospital admission

To review

communication processes between practices/ hospitals/care homes/ community

pharmacies at hospital admission to evaluate how this can be improved

Management of

medicines at discharge from hospital

To reconcile

medicines following discharge from hospital/ intermediate care; identify and

rectify unexplained changes, manage these changes without referral to the GP;

perform a clinical mediation review; produce a post-discharge medicines care

plan including dose titration and booking of follow-up test, and work with

patients and community pharmacists to ensure patients receive the medicines

they need post discharge. Set up and

manage systems to ensure continuity of medicines supply to high-risk groups

of patients (e.g. those with medicine compliance aids).

Medication

changes from clinic appointments

Reconcile

medication from clinic appointment correspondence, identifying any

unexplained changes and rectifying these by communication with the secondary

care provider. Ensure patients are

fully aware of any changes and that a plan for monitoring/dose titration is

in place.

Community

• Pharmacy
• Act as the
• practice lead contact for community pharmacy related projects and build
• effective working relationships.

Hospital

• Pharmacy
• Act as the
• practice lead contact for hospital pharmacy related projects and build
• effective working relationships.

Care Homes

Ensure care

home residents have an annual medication review by a clinical pharmacist. Any changes agreed with the patient and/or

their representative should be communicated to the care home staff and the

community pharmacy.

Newly

registered patients

To review

medications for new patients, to ensure safe, cost-effective prescribing in line

with practice/local prescribing policies.

Lead on implementation of safe and efficient prescribing

systems

Repeat

prescribing system

To ensure the

practice repeat prescribing system is safe, efficient and helps minimise

waste.

Medication

monitoring

To provide

specialist knowledge on medication monitoring and ensure a system for

implementation is in place

Prescription

queries

To answer

queries from administration staff regarding medication requests where

appropriate to save GP time

Reauthorisation

of repeat medication / medication review

To

reauthorise medication for future repeat prescribing within scope of

competence as an independent prescriber

To work with

practice staff to ensure a robust medication review policy

Repeat

dispensing

To identify patients

suitable for repeat dispensing. Ensure

this is implemented effectively by close working with patients, prescribers

and community pharmacies.

Prescribing

for vulnerable patients

Review the

• prescribing of medication for vulnerable patients to ensure it is
• appropriate e.g. weekly prescriptions
• for at risk-patients, monitored dosage systems or alternative solutions to
• improve patient compliance

All employees should understand it is their personal

responsibility to comply with all organisational and statutory requirements

(e.g. health and safety, equality and diversity, confidentiality and clinical

governance)