Clinical Pharmacist in General Practice

Crondall New Surgery is seeking a Clinical Pharmacist for 2 days per week or equivalent hours within our Practice, under the ARRS scheme.

The post holder is to be a Clinical Pharmacist who actswithin their professional boundaries, working alongside other colleagues.

They will work to improve patient health outcomes and theefficiency of the primary care team by providing direct, accessible and timelymedication management. The plan is for the role to hybrid, with a mixture of home working, as well being based at the Practice, though this is negotiable.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be an integral part of the general practice team, as well as part of a wider pharmacist network and multi-disciplinary team. This includes being a conduit of patient medicines information into and out of all local hospitals. They will work to optimise medication issues to improve patient care and safety, and support clinical staff in the management of patients.

About us

Crondall New Surgery is a part-dispensing GMS practice in the villageof Crondall, between Fleet and Farnham on the Surrey/Hampshire border. We are part of Fleet PCN which in turn is part of Frimley Integrated Care Board.

We have approximately 6000 patients, with a steadily growing list size due to localhousing developments. We currently have 2 GP Partners and salaried GPs, with practice nurses,HCA, phlebotomist, dispensers, first contact physiotherapist, mental healthpractitioner and a first class admin team.Home visiting is provided by an excellent paramedic practitioner homevisiting service, employed by the local federation.

We cover 4 local care homes and a supported living facility withweekly GP visits to each establishment.

Extended access commitment is currently one evening a week on a sharedbasis. There is a high quality localout of hours provider.

We use EMIS Web and Docman, with the Ardens clinical support package.

Our ethos is to offer first class patient care whilst maintaining apersonal feel to the practice. We knowour patients well and have historically low prescribing and referralpatterns.

We are a friendly and supportive practice. Westrongly believe that a good work-life balance is key to a fulfilled team. We can support flexible working patterns and clinicians wishing to develop specialist skills or interests.

The team share lunch on a weekly basis, and have regular meetings. Local educational opportunities areexcellent.

Job responsibilities

Primary keyresponsibilities

You will be our resident medicines expert, providing direct patient care and leadership across the practice. Working closely with GPs, Nurses, Allied Health Professionals and the wider team, your role will include:

Patient-facing clinical care: carry out consultations for long-term condition clinics, structured medication reviews and possible home visits for patients with complex regimens. Medicines reconciliation following hospital discharges will also be key to the role.

Prescription requests: to support with urgent prescription requests or alternatives for out of stock items, by prescribing them yourself if within your clinical expertise, or sending to the appropriate clinician.

Dispensing support: having knowledge of dispensary processes, and supporting dispensing colleagues.

Chronic disease and medicines management: proactively manage people with chronic diseases, frailty, learning disabilities or mental health. Oversee therapeutic drug monitoring, recall patients on high-risk drugs and tackle polypharmacy to optimise outcomes.

Medicines optimisation & quality improvement: champion person-centred prescribing, antimicrobial stewardship and cost-effective use of medicines. Lead quality improvement initiatives, audits and education to improve performance against NICE standards, QOF and enhanced services.

Integration & collaboration: strengthen links between general practice, community and hospital pharmacies. Provide specialist support on shared care protocols, mental health medicines, substance misuse and end of life care. Support triage services, handle medication queries and signpost patients to the most appropriate care.

Professional leadership & development: serve as the practices point of contact for all medicine-related matters. You will have the opportunity to attend training, deliver education and contribute to clinical governance. You will be part of a professional network, as well as being mentored by the GP prescribing lead and have ongoing opportunities to develop specialist interests.

Person Specification

• Ability to communicate complex and sensitive information effectively with people at all levels by telephone, email and face to face
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing, negotiation and organisational skills with the ability to constructively challenge the views and practices of managers and clinicians
• Knowledge of IT systems, including ability to use word processing skills, emails and the internet to create simple plans and reports
• Clear, polite telephone manner
• Ability to promote best practice regarding all pharmaceutical matters
• Effective time management (planning and organising)
• Demonstrate personal accountability and emotional resilience, and work well under pressure
• Good clinical system IT knowledge of EMIS/Accurx
• Ability to plan, manage, monitor, advise and review general medicine optimisation issues in core areas for long term conditions

Personal Qualities

• Ability to follow legal, ethical, professional and organisational policies/procedures and codes of conduct
• Ability to use own initiative, discretion and sensitivity
• Able to get along with people from all backgrounds and communities, respecting lifestyles and diversity
• Flexible and cooperative
• Ability to identify risk and assess/manage risk when working with individuals
• Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations
• Able to provide leadership and to finish work tasks
• Problem solving and analytical skills
• Ability to maintain confidentiality
• Knowledge of and ability to work to policies and procedures, including confidentiality, safeguarding, lone working, information governance and health and safety

Experience

• An appreciation of the nature of GPs and general practice.
• An appreciation of the nature of primary care prescribing, concepts of rational prescribing and strategies for improving prescribing
• Experience and an awareness of common acute and chronic conditions that are likely to be seen in general practice
• An appreciation of the new NHS landscape, including the relationships between individual practices, PCNs and the commissioners
• Minimum of two years working as a pharmacist demonstrated within a practice portfolio
• Experience in managing pharmacy services in primary care
• In-depth therapeutic and clinical knowledge and understanding of the principles of evidence-based healthcare
• Understanding of the mentorship process
• Broad knowledge of general practice

Qualifications

• GPhC registered pharmacist
• Hold or be working towards an GPhC independent prescribing qualification
• The Clinical Pharmacist is enrolled in, or has qualified from, an approved 18-month training pathway or equivalent that equips them to:
• a.Be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting (for example, the CPPE clinical pharmacist training pathways)
• b.Be able to deliver the key responsibilities outlined in section B1 of the Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service 2024-25 specification.
• Minor ailments certification
• Membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Working towards faculty membership of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• MUR and repeat dispensing certification

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.