Primary duties and areas of responsibility
Clinics/Clinical assessment (Tasks/AccuRx)
Conduct both face-to-face and telephone consultations with patients diagnosed with one or more medical conditions, where medicinal intervention is necessary (e.g., COPD, asthma).
Clinical medication review
Conduct clinical medication reviews with patients, providing recommendations to senior clinical pharmacists, nurses, and/or GPs regarding prescribing and monitoring decisions.
Conduct clinical medication reviews for patients, collaborating with care home staff and community pharmacists to enhance the safety of medication ordering and administration processes.
Domiciliary clinical medication review
Undertake clinical medication reviews with patients, providing recommendations to senior clinical pharmacists, nurses, and GPs regarding prescribing and monitoring.
Attend multidisciplinary case conferences and refer patients as needed.
Manage a caseload of patients with common, minor, or self-limiting conditions, working within the scope of practice and limits of competence.
Signpost patients to community pharmacies and refer to GPs or other healthcare professionals when necessary.
Offer patient-facing or telephone clinics to address questions, concerns, and queries regarding medicines.
Respond to medicine-related inquiries from GPs, practice staff, other healthcare teams (e.g., community pharmacists), and patients.
Suggest appropriate solutions and follow up with patients to assess the impact of any medication changes.
Review the use of medicines frequently associated with unplanned hospital admissions and readmissions through audits and individual patient reviews.
Implement strategies to reduce the prescribing of high-risk medications in vulnerable patient groups.
Work with the Medicines Management Team (MMT) to reconcile medications following discharge from hospitals, intermediate care, and care homes.
Identify and rectify unexplained medication changes, collaborating with patients and community pharmacists to ensure continuity of care post-discharge.
Establish systems to maintain a consistent supply of medications for high-risk patients (e.g., those using compliance aids or in care homes).
Ensure that patients are referred to the appropriate healthcare professional for timely care, including pathology results, common/minor ailments, acute conditions, and long-term condition reviews.
Oversee the practice's repeat prescribing policy and reauthorization process.
Ensure that patients undergo necessary monitoring tests when required.
Identify patient cohorts at high risk of harm from medicines through pre-prepared practice computer searches, considering both patient- and medication-related risks.
Contribute pharmaceutical advice for the development and implementation of new services that have medicinal components (e.g. advice on treatment pathways and patient information leaflets).
Analyse, interpret and present medicines data to highlight issues and risks to support decision making.
Conduct clinical audits of prescribing practices, providing feedback and implementing improvements in collaboration with the practice team.
Implement changes in response to MHRA alerts, product withdrawals, and other local or national guidance to enhance medicines safety.
Monitor practice prescribing against the local health economys RAG list and make recommendations to GPs for medicines that should be prescribed by hospital clinicians (red drugs) or subject to shared care (amber drugs).
Assist the practices in maintaining the practice formulary that is hosted on the practices computer system.
Audit the Practices compliance against NICE technology assessment guidance.
Provide education and training to the primary healthcare team on therapeutics and medicines optimisation.
Collaborate with the general practice team to ensure compliance with CQC standards related to medicines management.
Support public health campaigns and provide expert knowledge on available public health programmes.
Acknowledge the roles of colleagues in patient care, fostering effective communication to engage relevant stakeholders, including patients, senior and peer colleagues, and external professionals.
Demonstrate integration between General Practice and Community/Hospital Pharmacy teams and liaise with ICB colleagues to ensure consistent patient care and enhance patient outcomes.
Hold an undergraduate degree in pharmacy and be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
Possess experience and awareness of common acute and long-term conditions typically encountered in general practice
Recognise priorities when problem-solving and identifies deviations from the norm, referring to senior professionals when necessary.
Adhere to legal, ethical, professional, and organizational policies, involving patients in decisions about their medications and supporting adherence in line with NICE guidelines.
Demonstrate an understanding of the pharmacy role in governance and implement it effectively within the workplace.
Engage with Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) to shape the role and practice development.
Understand the impact of national priorities on the team and service, ensuring effective resource utilization.
Conform to relevant standards of practice and address risk management issues according to policy and protocol.
Critically evaluate literature and identify gaps in the evidence base to inform practice.
Generate evidence suitable for local presentations and apply research findings to improve workplace practices.