Job Description

Looking to work in one of the most innovative and progressive NHS trusts in the country? Come and join us at Mersey Care, where you will progress your career in medicines management while feeling supported, both professionally and personally.

Due to significant investment by our Trust Board, in recognition of the valuable work we do, we have a number of exciting opportunities for the right candidates to join our medicines management teams, working across both mental and physical health services, in our inpatient and community settings.

Pharmacists will be supported to undertake the independent prescribing qualification and the opportunity to practice as a prescriber.

You may also be required to be part of a rota to support the dispensary. This will involve a small commitment to be part of a week end rota, to work a four-hour shift on site at Maghull Health Park, although this is only relevant to specific roles.

You have the opportunity to ask questions at two virtual information sessions, hosted by the Chief and Deputy Chief Pharmacists, where you will be introduced to the aims and vision for this service to help inform your application for the available posts.

These sessions have been scheduled for Monday 21August 2023 12.00 -13.00 and Wednesday 6 September 13.00 - 14.00.

To receive an invitation to one of these sessions please contact: Medicines Management.HR@merseycare.nhs.uk

Main duties of the job

You will promote high quality, safe and cost-effective prescribing, informed by evidence-based practice, national guidance and local guidance. You will deliver the medicines management work plan within general practice, under the direction of the Team/Locality lead Pharmacist, ensuring that relevant activity and outcome data is recorded and reported in a timely fashion. You will be responsible for delivering structured medication reviews, medicines reconciliation, multidisciplinary working, clinical services such as anti-coagulation services, education, and audit, with a focus on safety, quality and clinical effectiveness. You will be expected to work flexibly in line with the hours of operation.

About us

Mersey Care is one of the largest trusts providing physical health and mental health services in the North West, serving more than 11 million people.

We offer specialist inpatient and community services that support physical and mental health and specialist inpatient mental health, learning disability, addiction and brain injury services. Mersey Care is one of only three trusts in the UK that offer high secure mental health facilities.

At the heart of all we do is our commitment to \'perfect care\' - care that is safe, effective, positively experienced, timely, equitable and efficient. We support our staff to do the best job they can and work alongside service users, their families, and carers to design and develop future services together.

We are currently delivering a programme of organisational and service transformation to significantly improve the quality of the services we provide and safely reduce cost as we do so.

Job description
Job responsibilities

This post holder will be responsible for:

1. To participate in the delivery of specialist clinical pharmaceutical services and medicines supply, ensuring that services meet the standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council and relevant legislation.

2. To provide support for clinical and dispensary services at a specialist level and provide professional supervision as required and maintain competency in these areas.

3. To provide specialist advice on pharmaceutical matters to patients, carers, clinicians and managers, as required.

4. To support the process of medicines reconciliation, following transfer of service users between primary and secondary care.

5. To contribute to the delivery of the quality strategy, within the designated area, incorporating establishment of systems and processes.

6. To identify risks and errors, and record these on the trust Incident reporting system. Staff will complete an initial risk assessment and escalate to more senior staff when necessary, highlighting safeguarding risks to senior clinicians and the safeguarding team.

7. To support review and learning from incidents involving medication.

8. To develop effective partnerships with other professions, as part of a multidisciplinary approach to medicines optimisation.

9. To work towards the delivery of the Mersey Care medicines optimisation strategy.

10. To liaise with other healthcare professionals to ensure the implementation of the local area prescribing committee formulary, to ensure the safe and effective use of drugs and resources across the primary/secondary care interface.

11. To be responsible for accurately recording activity, e.g., outcomes and KPI data, in an accurate and timely fashion, in line with standard operating procedures.

12. To contribute to the development of standard operating procedures for the clinical service and suggest changes to policies as required.

Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential

• Master of Pharmacy degree, or equivalent qualification
• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Postgraduate diploma in Clinical Pharmacy, or equivalent experience

Knowledge and experience
Essential

• Experience of working within pharmaceutical services
• Experience in one or more sector of pharmacy practice
• Experience of multi-disciplinary team working
• Clear understanding of relevant legislation and guidance
• Experience of providing medicines information and education
• Experience of clinical audit
• Familiar with accessing and using clinical guidance, good practice and medicines safety information sources
• Knowledge of clinical governance and quality frameworks
• Understanding of how medicines optimisation contributes to high quality patient care
• Awareness of local area prescribing committees processes
• Understanding and positive regard for the needs and rights of people with mental health problems or learning disabilities, and their carers
• Demonstrable evidence of commitment to self development and CPD

Values
Essential

• Continuous Improvement
• Accountability
• Respectfulness
• Enthusiasm
• Support
• Responsive to service users
• Engaging leadership style
• Strong customer service belief
• Transparency and honesty
• Discreet

Skills
Essential

• Excellent communication skills: - written - verbal - listening
• Ability to work flexibly
• Ability to work under pressure
• Self-motivated and able to use initiative
• Problem-solving skills
• Ability to adapt to changing environments, needs and demands
• Proven influencing and negotiating skills in dealing with sensitive or conflict situations
• Ability to analyse data
• Decision making skills
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with multidisciplinary staff
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Good IT skills.
• Ability to work both independently and as a team player.
• Ability to prioritise workload and manage time effectively to meet specified deadlines
• Critical appraisal skills
• A methodical approach to work, with the ability to concentrate and have attention to detail in checking and verification of data
• Recognition of own limitations and ability to ask for support when necessary
• Professional manner
• Ability to travel between different sites

Any attachments will be accessible after you click to apply.

350-MMT5570192

British Medical Journal