Clinical Pharmacist

About the Role

Ambrose Avenue Group Practice is looking to welcome a qualified and experienced clinical pharmacist into our busy practice, to play a full and active role within our multi-disciplinary team. The role is offered on a full-time basis 37.5 hours per week working Monday to Friday.

Responsibilities

• Clinically assessing and treating patients, using expert knowledge of medicines, for specific disease areas;
• Providing specialist expertise in the use of medicines and medicine information (e.g. side-effects, dosage);
• Providing pharmaceutical medication review and health education advice to patients, by face to face, telephone or notes based review, as agreed with the practice;
• Providing leadership on person centred medicines optimisation and quality improvement;
• Contributing to public health campaigns, including flu vaccinations, childhood immunisation and adult immunisation programmes;
• Processing specialist treatment letters;
• Supporting practice dispensary;
• Processing hospital medication discharge letters;
• Acting as a key contact, for all medication related queries;
• Supporting improvements in clinical care, through practice based audits and implementing change;
• Running clinics where medicines are the main interventions e.g. anticoagulant monitoring clinics;
• Conducting travel vaccination clinics after relevant training.
• Conducting care planning, including: mental health, admission avoidance schemes and end of life patients.
• Reviewing daily pathology results and act on results.
• Undertaking minor ailments triage and directing patients, based on clinical need;
• Capturing relevant patient health information at all consultations including contributing to the quality outcomes framework;
• Monitoring patients with complex, long term conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and COPD, ensuring that medication is optimised, titrated, monitored and complied with;
• Providing clinical advice and expertise on medication;
• Establishing ongoing professional relationships with individual patients;
• Liaising with other providers, such as secondary care, community pharmacy and care or nursing homes, as necessary, to ensure the safe transfer of care;
• Delivering on and/or overseeing relevant aspects of the PCN Directed Enhanced Service (DES).
• Taking a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols, clinical research with medicines and liaison with specialist pharmacists;
• Being part of a professional clinical network and having access to appropriate clinical supervision;
• Supporting the PCN clinical director as necessary;
• Managing the repeat prescribing reauthorisation process, by reviewing requests for repeat prescriptions and medicines reaching review dates;
• Reviewing prescribing against local and national targets, and engaging with the wider prescribing team to rectify any issues;
• Carrying out structured medicines optimisation reviews in care homes;
• Contributing to the reduction of medicine wastage within practices across the PCN.

About the Candidate

You will be a qualified pharmacist with strong experience within primary care and have the following skills and qualifications:

• Completion of a degree in pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council;
• Post qualification experience in pharmacy (hospital, primary care or community), or working towards obtaining this;
• Qualified independent prescriber, or working towards this;
• Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS);
• Awareness of the breadth of common acute and long term conditions that are likely to be seen in a general medical practice;
• Ability to demonstrate general pharmaceutical skills and knowledge in core areas;
• Ability to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general care plans for patients with long term conditions;
• Ability to demonstrate accountability for delivering professional expertise and direct service provision as an individual;
• Ability to recognise priorities when problem solving and identify deviations from normal patterns, referring to senior staff or GPs with confidence, when appropriate;
• Ability to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies, procedures and codes of conduct;
• Ability to assist patients in decisions about prescribed medicines and supporting adherence as per NICE guidance;
• Non judgemental attitude and ability to be flexible and adaptable;
• Self motivated with excellent communication skills;
• Understand the need for patient confidentiality.

About Us

Ambrose Avenue Group Practice is a friendly, long established, award winning, progressive GP practice. We are based over two sites within 10 minutes of each other, serving the population of Stanway and Pretty Gate in Colchester, Essex. We are a training practice and offer services to a population of over 14,500 patients.

We hold monthly meetings and training sessions and have a diverse team of clinicians, including first contact physio, pharmacists, ANP/NP, care coordinator, social prescriber, health coach, GP assistant and an award winning team of mental health workers.

Benefits

• Genuine responsibility from day one
• The opportunity to work with a strong social purpose.
• A permanent employment contract.
• A competitive salary with increments based on professional development.
• Membership in the NHS pension scheme.
• Support for your personal and professional development.
• Excellent training and development opportunities.
• Enjoy an impressive total of 30 days of annual leave, along with eight bank holidays (pro rata), all of which increase with your continuous years of service in the NHS. This generous leave policy not only promotes a healthy work life balance but also rewards your commitment and dedication to the healthcare profession.
• Bike rack available.
• Shower facilities.
• Convenient access to the A12, with routes to London and Ipswich.