Job Description

Overview Penwith Primary Care Network is a large forward thinking and well-integrated PCN covering the westerly point of Cornwall comprising of seven GP practices. The PCN have recently implemented a pharmacy virtual hub which supports practices to complete project & audit work as well as functioning as a space for sharing best practice across the PCN. The post holder will be contributing towards a one team culture throughout the organisation and promoting personalised care, focused on what matters to you, not what's the matter with you. The post holder will be an integral part of the practice team working as part of the multi-disciplinary team of doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants and reception/administrators, as well as functioning as a member of the wider PCN pharmacy team.



Clinical Responsibilities Support the pharmacist to provide a clinical pharmacy service in general practice; Participate in practice meetings and other meetings to improve the integration of the pharmacy technician within general practice & promote issues relevant to prescribing and medicines optimisation. Undertake patient facing and patient supporting roles to ensure effective medicines use, through shared decision-making conversations with patients; Carry out medicines optimisation tasks including effective medicine administration (e.g. checking inhaler technique), supporting medication reviews, and medicines reconciliation. Where required, utilise consultation skills to work in partnership with patients to ensure they use their medicines effectively; Support, as determined by the PCN, medication reviews and medicines reconciliation for new care home patients and synchronising medicines for patient transfers between care settings and linking with local community pharmacists; Provide specialist expertise, where competent, to address both the public health and social care needs of patients, including lifestyle advice, service information, and help in tackling local health inequalities; Take a central role in the clinical aspects of shared care protocols and liaising with specialist pharmacists for more complex patients; Support initiatives for antimicrobial stewardship to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing; Assist in the delivery of medicines optimisation and management incentive schemes and patient safety audits; Support the implementation of national prescribing policies and guidance within GP practices, care homes 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. Technical and Administrative Use and maintain information systems and databases relevant to the positions including incident reporting, medicines optimisation, prescribing data, cost savings and patient outcomes; Be responsible for the organisation, planning of own workload & meet set deadlines; Work with the PCN multi-disciplinary team to ensure efficient medicines optimisation, including implementing efficient ordering and return processes, and reducing wastage; Supervise practice reception teams in sorting and streaming general prescription requests, to allow GPs and clinical pharmacists to review the more clinically complex requests; Provide leadership for medicines optimisation systems across PCNs, supporting practices with a range of services to get the best value from medicines by encouraging and implementing Electronic Prescriptions, safe repeat prescribing systems, and timely monitoring and management of high-risk medicines; Provide training and support on the legal, safe and secure handling of medicines, including the implementation of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS); Develop relationships with other pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and 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.