Job summary
This post is part of the commitment to increase specialist mental health pharmacists working in community mental health teams.
The postholder will be a clinical specialist in mental health pharmacy, they will deliver and further develop clinical pharmacy services to community mental health teams within Gloucestershire, and support the lead pharmacist for community mental health teams.
The postholder will be the lead clinical pharmacist for clozapine services within the pharmacy team and to the operational delivery of pharmacy clozapine services. This includes leading and developing the pharmacy technician delivered point of care testing (POCHi) clozapine clinics across the county, being the lead clinical pharmacist for the governance of clozapine in the Trust, and leading any associated projects.
The postholder will deliver a comprehensive clinical pharmacy and medicines management service to patients under the care of Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC) and to the multidisciplinary teams (MDT) responsible for their care. This involves visiting inpatient wards and community team bases, and regularly attending MDT meetings to proactively review, rationalise and optimise patients' medications.
The pharmacy department at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital provides the clinical pharmacy and dispensing services to Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC) under a Service Level Agreement.
Main duties of the job
Interested applicants should have some experience in mental health pharmacy and suitable skills to:
- Deliver and further develop clinical pharmacy services to community mental health teams within Gloucestershire, and support the lead pharmacist for community mental health teams.
- Be the lead clinical pharmacist for clozapine services within the pharmacy team and to lead the operational delivery of pharmacy clozapine services. This includes leading and developing the pharmacy technician delivered POCHi clozapine clinics across the county, being the lead clinical pharmacist for the governance of clozapine in the Trust, and leading any associated projects.
- Be a clinical specialist in mental health pharmacy, and act as an independent prescriber.
- Deliver a comprehensive clinical pharmacy service to patients under the care of GHC and to the MDT responsible for their care. This involves visiting inpatient wards and community team bases, and regularly attending MDT meetings to proactively review, rationalise and optimise patients' medications.
- Support the education, training and development needs of pharmacy professionals and other multidisciplinary staff.
- Support patients and their families by providing advice about the actions and use of medication, optimising treatment, providing information and liaising with acute and other care providers to ensure seamless transfer of care.
- Promote safe, rational, efficacious and cost-effective medicines use.
About us
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest employer in the county and with over 8,000 staff, we are one of the largest NHS trusts in the UK. We offer a generous annual leave allowance, discounts for local shops, restaurants and services, access to our health and well-being hub, access to our two on-site nurseries, flexible working options, discounted public transport, reward and recognition schemes, exercise and activity classes and membership to our popular hospital choir. Both hospitals are located in the city centres with access to shops and pharmacy department has approximately 240 staff. The 2 sites provide dispensary services to inpatients & outpatients, medicines information, procurement services and full clinical service to wards; the onsite aseptic and manufacturing services are centralised at CGH.Pharmacy is at the forefront of many exciting projects including an award-winning service provided by pharmacist prescribers in orthopaedic pre-admission the department are specialist clinical teams; the Specialist Mental Health Pharmacy facilitates delivery of Specialist services for Mental Health & Learning Disabilities. The cancer services team provide a pharmacy service at both sites for oncology & haematology and satellite are a friendly, inclusive department who wish to nurture and develop our staff at all grades, from a mentoring programme for new pharmacists to the development of pharmacist prescribers.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The pharmacy department at Gloucester Royal Hospital provides the clinical pharmacy and dispensing services to Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust (GHC) under a service level post was developed 2 years ago as part of the commitment to increase specialist mental health pharmacists working in community mental health teams.
The post is responsible to the Lead Pharmacist for Community Mental Health Teams, and involves managing some staff within the mental health pharmacy team.
For full details refer to the job description.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
1. Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
2. Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy or equivalent skills gained through experience of hospital pharmacy
3. Specialist Post Graduate certificate or diploma in psychiatric pharmacy, or equivalent
4. Post graduate qualification in Non-Medical Prescribing (or willingness to work towards this qualification within an agreed timeframe)
5. This post will require travel to wards and units in Gloucestershire.
Experience
Essential
6. Experience in supervising and training of staff
Desirable
7. Intermediate competence in standard range of IT programs.
Knowledge & Skills
Essential
8. Expert clinical knowledge in the specialist mental health pharmacy services
9. Able to work alone and unsupervised
10. Able to organise and prioritise own workload
11. Effective oral and written communication with colleagues, staff and patients
Desirable
12. Able to write reports and make and deliver presentations to a range of colleagues in various settings.