Job Description

Guy's and St Thomas' Medicines Information (MI) department, based at Guy's Hospital, is one of the busiest in the country and employs approximately 20 staff (including Clinical Governance and Formulary).

The teams provide an enquiry answering service to:

Healthcare professionals working at Guy's hospital, St. Thomas' Hospital, Evelina Children's Hospital, King's College Hospital and The Princess Royal University Hospital.

Health care professionals working in community services and primary care

Patients via our dedicated patient 'Medicines Helpline'

Primary care healthcare professionals via the Medicines Helpline



The team also undertakes pro-active work and contributes to local, regional and national MI outputs. It is one of the national centres commissioned to provide medicines advice for primary care as part of the Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS).



Work as part of a high-performing team to provide medicines information and advice within Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust and to other service users in accordance with established policies and procedures.

Utilise your expertise to train a wide variety of pharmacy and non-pharmacy staff to provide medicines information and advice professionally and effectively.

Maintain a theoretical and practical knowledge of medicines optimisation in primary and secondary care as it applies to the service needs.

Assist in the development of training programmes and provide training in medicines information skills to trainee and junior pharmacists.

Support the delivery of local projects for service development as requested by the Principal Pharmacist for Medicines Advice

Be responsible for the provision of medicines management as part of clinical services provided directly to patients.



Guy's and St Thomas' Medicines Advice team is part of a large, vibrant service focussing on delivery of advice related to Medicines Effectiveness and Safety. We are a team of approximately 20 individuals. The Trust's Medicines Advice Service sits alongside the national Specialist Pharmacy Service. We aim to promote the safe, effective and economic use of medicines in patients, through active provision of accurate information and advice.



We provide clinical advice about medicines to a large number of health care professionals and patients. We support many trainee pharmacists and rotational pharmacists as they train in medicines advice skills.



Guys' and St Thomas' Pharmacy Department is one of the largest in the UK and has a strong focus on individual patient care. Our pharmacists work across multi-disciplinary teams both in the hospital and community setting, to deliver advice, guidance, and support within a culture of medicine safety. The focus is on patient-centred care and this is achieved through providing optimised pharmaceutical care for patients as part of a ward-based and clinical pharmacy service and extending pharmaceutical services beyond traditional boundaries. This includes attendance on consultant-led ward rounds and contributing to multi-disciplinary meetings.



Clinical Enquiry Answering



Provide clinical medicines advice to a range of healthcare professionals. This involves:



Receiving and recording complex questions frequently related to patient care, clarifying the clinical problem to be addressed.

Defining a search strategy in order to inform the response and researching the answer. This may sometimes involve the use of the individual pharmacist's professional knowledge and expertise.

Evaluating the information retrieved and making a judgement, often where there is conflicting advice.

Formulating an accurate, evaluated and impartial answer to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines.

Delivering the answer in an accurate, timely and helpful manner tailored to the individual healthcare professional's needs and route of communication.

To participate in relevant departmental developments/projects and attend appropriate monthly staff and continued professional development meetings.



Training



To support the training in medicines information skills and knowledge of trainee, STEP (Structured Training and Experience for Pharmacists), and other rotational staff.

To assist in the preparation and delivery of training materials and programmes and provide MI training for other pharmacy staff and health care personnel as requested by the Principal Pharmacist for Medicines Advice.

To actively participate in the departmental journal club.



Clinical Governance



To participate in Quality Assurance and peer review of MI enquiries completed to ensure that the enquiries meet the standards defined in the UKMI Quality Assurance for Enquiry Answering. This includes ensuring that the work is completed appropriately to a high standard using professional judgement and expertise to the agreed timescales.

To accurately document enquiries onto the bespoke software package, MiDatabank

To attend, in agreement with the Principal Pharmacist for Medicines Advice regional meetings to participate in and keep abreast of new developments as well as to build and establish networks with colleagues.



Pharmacy Clinical Services



To provide a clinical ward pharmacy service to promote safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of medicines in patients.

To dispense at ward level when appropriate or assist in the dispensary during staff shortages (in agreement with line manager).

To establish good working relationships at ward level and pro-actively contribute to activities that will help to improve patient experience.

To carry out audits or service evaluations in agreement with line manager.

To participate in the Pharmacy department rota duties by arrangement with the Director of Medicines Information, this includes the weekend rota.



Financial responsibilities



The post-holder will not have budgetary responsibilities but will be expected to help ensure that the budgetary sum is managed appropriately in year by supporting efficiencies where possible.



Management and Professional Responsibilities



To supervise and mentor rotational staff in Medicines Information providing advice and impromptu collaboration as required.

To act as the Team Leader and organise a broad range of activities, adjusting plans to reflect a changing work environment.

Deputise for the Highly Specialist Pharmacist (Medicines Information) in their absence.

To participate fully in the appraisal process and develop a strategy for continuing professional development in accordance with professional standards.

In consultation with the post-holder, undertake any other duties appropriate to the grade as requested by the Principal Pharmacist for Medicines Advice.