The post-holder is a PCN Clinical Pharmacist Assistant based at Redlands Primary Care with travel to all practices in the PCN if ever required; and is an integral part of the general practice team, working within their professional boundaries.
This role will work under the supervision of the Clinical Pharmacist to ensure the safe, accurate and timely supply of prescribed medication to patients.
The PCN Clinical Pharmacist Assistant will provide technical and administrative support to the Clinical Pharmacist and clinicians.
The PCN Clinical Pharmacist Assistant will support the PCN and practice clinical teams with queries regarding medication from patients.
The PCN Clinical Pharmacist Assistant will complete audits regarding patient safety in the prescribing of medication and present the information for sharing with the clinical team.
The PCN Clinical Pharmacist Assistant supports public health and screening programmes including immunisations and vaccination programmes while participating in quality improvement initiatives to enhance patient outcomes and reduce health inequalities.
Generic responsibilities
All staff at this organisation have a duty to conform to the following:
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
A good attitude and positive action towards Equality Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) creates an environment where all individuals can achieve their full potential. Creating such an environment is important for three reasons - it improves operational effectiveness, it is morally the right thing to do, and it is required by law.
Patients and their families have the right to be treated fairly and be routinely involved in decisions about their treatment and care. They can expect to be treated with dignity and respect and will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Patients have a responsibility to treat other patients and our staff with dignity and respect.
Staff have the right to be treated fairly in recruitment and career progression. Staff can expect to work in an environment where diversity is valued, and equality of opportunity is promoted. Staff will not be discriminated against on any grounds including age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. Staff have a responsibility to ensure that they treat our patients and their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF)
The PCN is committed to supporting and promoting opportunities for staff to maintain their health, wellbeing and safety.
The post-holder is to manage and assess risk within the areas of responsibility, ensuring adequate measures are in place to protect staff and patients and monitor work areas and practices to ensure they are safe and free from hazards and conform to health, safety and security legislation, policies, procedures and guidelines.
All personnel have a duty to take reasonable care of health and safety at work for themselves, their team and others and to cooperate with employers to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements.
All personnel are to comply with the:
Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
Environmental Protection Act 1990
Environment Act 1995
Fire Precautions (workplace) Regulations 1999
Other statutory legislation which may be brought to the post holder's attention
Confidentiality
The PCN and associated practices are committed to maintaining an outstanding confidential service. Patients entrust and permit us to collect and retain sensitive information relating to their health and other matters pertaining to their care. They do so in confidence and have a right to expect all staff will respect their privacy and maintain confidentiality at all times.
It is essential that, if the legal requirements are to be met and the trust of our patients is to be retained, all staff must protect patient information and provide a confidential service.
Quality and Continuous Improvement (CI)
To preserve and improve the quality of PCN & practices outputs, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do but how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work.
The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the PCN and practices to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice and to discuss, highlight and collaborate with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care.
This PCN continually strives to improve work processes which deliver healthcare with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement where everyone counts, and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.
Staff should interpret national strategies and policies into local implementation strategies that are aligned to the values and culture of general practice. All staff are to contribute to investigations and root cause analyses whilst participating in serious incident investigations and multidisciplinary case reviews.
Induction
In addition to the induction process at this organisation where you will be provided with a full induction programme, when attending any practice within the network you will also be required to complete their practice induction programme.
Learning and development
The effective use of training and development is fundamental in ensuring that all staff are equipped with the appropriate skills, knowledge, attitude and competences to perform their role. All staff will be required to partake in, and complete mandatory training as directed. It is an expectation for this post-holder to assess their own learning needs and undertake learning as appropriate.
The post-holder will undertake mentorship for team members and disseminate learning and information gained to other team members to share good practice and inform others about current and future developments (e.g., courses and conferences). The post-holder will provide an educational role to patients, carers, families and colleagues in an environment that facilitates learning.
Collaborative working
All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working and understand their own role and scope and identify how this may develop over time. Staff are to prioritise their own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team.
Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments, and the post-holder is to work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working and to work effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery
Effective communication is essential, and all staff must ensure they communicate in a manner which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner. All staff should delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence. Plans and outcomes by which to measure success should be agreed.
Managing information
All staff should use technology and appropriate software as an aid to management in the planning, implementation and monitoring of care and presenting and communicating information.
Data should be reviewed and processed using accurate SNOMED codes to ensure easy and accurate information retrieval for monitoring and audit processes.
Service delivery
Staff will be given detailed information during the induction process regarding policy and procedure. The post-holder must adhere to the information contained within PCN and local practice policies and regional directives, ensuring protocols are adhered to at all times.
Security
The security of the organisation is the responsibility of all personnel. The post-holder must ensure they always remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity immediately to their line manager.
Under no circumstances are staff to share the codes for the door locks with anyone and are to ensure that restricted areas remain effectively secured. Likewise, password controls are to be maintained and are not to be shared.
Primary key responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of the PCN Clinical Pharmacist Assistant in delivering health services:
a. Support medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for patients
b. Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing
c. Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation and management incentive schemes and patient safety audits
d. Support the implementation of national prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, and other primary care settings. This will be achieved through undertaking clinical audits (e.g., use of antibiotics), supporting quality improvement measures and contributing to the Quality and Outcomes Framework and enhanced services
e. Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage
f. To support practice reception teams in sorting and streaming general prescription requests, so as to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists to review the more clinically complex request
g. To support medicines optimisation systems across PCNs, supporting practices with a range of services to get the best value from medicines by encouraging and implementing, safe repeat prescribing systems, and timely monitoring and management of high-risk medicines
h. Provide training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines.
i. Develop relationships with members of the multi-disciplinary team to support integration of the pharmacy team across health and social care including primary care, community pharmacy, secondary care, and mental health
j. Be aware of duties and responsibilities regarding current legislation and adhere to practice policies and procedures on Safeguarding Adults and Safeguarding Children
k. To handle prescription queries and requests directly
l. Be an integral part of the general practice team, working in each practice and across the PCN should this be required.
m. Demonstrate initiative and be creative in finding solutions to problems
n. Support in the delivery of enhanced services and other service requirements
o. Participate in clinical audits and research projects and implement changes as required, including supporting with the development, and updating of practice protocols/guidelines and procedures locally
p. Support in the management of patient complaints when requested to do so and participate in the identification of any necessary learning brought about through incidents and near-miss events
q. Undertake all mandatory training and induction programmes
r. Contribute to and embrace the spectrum of clinical governance
s. Attend a formal appraisal with their manager at least every 12 months. Once a performance/training objective has been set, progress will be reviewed on a regular basis so that new objectives can be agreed
t. Contribute to public health campaigns (e.g., flu clinics)
u. Maintain a clean, tidy, effective working area at all times
There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks, this will be dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels
The Person Specification is available upon request.
Job Type: Part-time
Pay: From 13.25 per hour
Expected hours: 22.5 per week
Benefits:
Company pension
On-site parking
Ability to commute/relocate:
Crediton: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Education:
GCSE or equivalent (preferred)
Work Location: In person
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