Lead Acute Medicine Pharmacist

Job content

Job Overview

Join Frimley Health as a Lead Acute Medicine Pharmacist!

Join our dynamic team at the Acute Medicine wards of Frimley Park Hospital for an exciting opportunity as a Lead Pharmacist in Acute Medicine. We’re seeking an enthusiastic, experienced pharmacist to take charge and support our Acute Medical wards.

In this role, you’ll provide clinical pharmacy leadership to our medical and nursing teams, ensuring safe and cost-effective pharmaceutical care for our patients. You’ll play a key role in facilitating smooth patient discharge and transfers, including prescribing discharge prescriptions. Your responsibilities will also include active participation in multidisciplinary ward rounds and the ongoing development of our clinical pharmacy service.

We’re looking for someone who has completed their clinical diploma or equivalent, possesses Independent Prescribing qualifications, and is dedicated to continuous professional development. Hospital pharmacy experience, particularly in clinical pharmacy and teaching, is essential. Strong communication, interpersonal, and motivational skills are a must, as is the ability to work effectively within a team. As a senior clinical pharmacist, you’ll serve as a role model for junior staff, demonstrating confidence and expertise in your field.

Contact Information

Frimley Park Hospital:

• Carole Underwood (Principal Pharmacist Chronic Medicine)
• carole.underwood1@nhs.net
  
  

Main duties of the job

Under the direction of the Principal Pharmacist Acute Medicine and other senior pharmacists, the postholder will:

• To provide clinical pharmacy leadership to medical, nursing and other staff on Acute Medicine and Emergency Department (ED) to ensure safe and cost-effective pharmaceutical care for patients. To facilitate the smooth and efficient discharge and transfer of patients regarding their medication.
• To actively participate in Acute Medicine ward rounds, and post take rounds with Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDT).
• Supervise Medicines Management Technicians (MMTs) within the medical directorate, working to corporate pharmacy objectives in promoting and maintaining high standards of medicine use within the Trust.
• To maintain or develop an area of special clinical interest, and to provide leadership to the department in this specialist area.
• To undertake audit and review clinical practices to affect positive change in medicines management.
  
  

Working for our organisation

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust provides NHS hospital services for around 900,000 people across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.

As well as delivering excellent general hospital services to local people, we provide specialist heart attack, vascular, stroke, spinal, cystic fibrosis and plastic surgery services across a much wider area.

We have three main hospitals - Frimley Park in Frimley near Camberley, Heatherwood in Ascot and Wexham Park near Slough.

Our three core values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other, Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future.

We are also proud to host the Defence Medical Group South East at Frimley Park with military surgical, medical and nursing personnel working alongside the hospital’s NHS staff providing care to patients in all specialties

Detailed Job Description And Main Responsibilities

KEY TASKS & RESPONSIBILITIES:

This job description is an indication of the type and range of tasks that are expected of the postholder, and other duties may be required, in line with the role and the banding. It will be reviewed and amended from time to time in consultation with the postholder to take account of changing organisational need.

• To promote and ensure safe and clinically effective drug prescribing and administration to acute medical wards.
• To work specifically on ED and the Admission Wards, providing senior clinical support to all escalation beds.
• To work and support with Acute Emergency Ambulatory Care Unit(AECU) providing clinical pharmacy services to all patients.
• To be willing to undertake training to act as an independent non-medical prescriber within this specialist area as appropriate.
• To fulfil this role within the individual’s area of competence, including medicines reconciliation on admission and prescribing of currently prescribed medicines on discharge. This will include prescribing for MCAs (Multi-compartment aids) on FP10s for supply by Community Pharmacists.
• To attend and pro-actively take part in ward rounds and clinical meetings as appropriate.
• To maintain a high profile on the medical wards and provide education and training to multi-disciplinary groups.
• To supervise MMTs, working collaboratively in the review of drug histories, patients’ own drugs and to advise on current therapy.
• To promote seamless pharmaceutical care on discharge and transfer to other wards within the Trust, establishing good links with Primary Care. In particular, to explore and develop opportunities to promote the Transfer of Care agenda across the local health community.
• To maintain and develop formal links with Medical Consultants, medical and nursing teams and Associate Director for Medicine. To advise, evaluate and report on drug use and expenditure on acute medical wards.
• To review and develop clinical drug and treatment guidelines and drug policies for use within medicine
• To liaise between A&E, Admission wards, Ambulatory Care Unit, and other medical wards, and other ward pharmacists to ensure effective two-way communication of patient specific information.
• To record and analyse all pharmacist interventions made in the medical admissions wards on a regular basis.
• To provide relevant drug information as requested to medical, nursing and other healthcare professional staff in Medicine.
• To be an active member of Clinical Governance Groups relevant to medical admissions and discharges.
• To assist in the development of drug treatment protocols where appropriate.
• To undertake project work and audit within medical wards, in liaison with the Clinical Audit department.
• To provide pharmacy input into implementing national prescribing guidelines and policy initiatives.
• To support clinical pharmacy input into medication error reduction processes within the Trust.
• To liaise closely with the Pharmacy Governance Manager to ensure that appropriate actions are taken to comply with National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) guidance, National Institute of Clinical Excellence, or successor organisations, and Care Quality Commission (CQC) assessments.
• To advise medical, nursing and other professional staff on appropriate drug use and selection in order to achieve cost effective prescribing and the safe use of medicines.
• To line manage a clinical pharmacist and be responsible for their appraisals, performance, and well being.
• To participate on recruitment and selection interview panels for key posts within the Trust (training will be provided where necessary).
• To act as a panel member of disciplinary, grievance and performance management and appeal hearings on behalf of the Trust, as required (training will be provided where necessary).
• To fulfil the role and duties of the “Responsible Pharmacist” when required, and complete appropriate records as required by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
• To participate in late clinic, bank holiday and weekend dispensary rotas as appropriate for the staff group.
• Any other duties as required by the Chief Pharmacist or his/her deputy
  
  

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Pharmacy degree (Masters level 4 years)
• Registered with GPhC
• Postgraduate clinical diploma or equivalent
• Evidence of Continuous Professional Development
• Independent prescriber Pharmacist
  
  

Desirable criteria

• MSc or higher degree
• RPS membership
• Advanced Practitoner
  
  

SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES FOR ROLE e.g communication, problem solving, leadership

Essential criteria

• Excellent written and verbal communication
• Applied clinical knowledge
  
  

Desirable criteria

• Excellent IT Skills
  
  

Professional/ Specialist/ Functional Experience

Essential criteria

• Significant post-qualification experience working as a pharmacist in a clinical environment.
• Experience in prescribing.
  
  

Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust (FHFT) has an outstanding reputation and a proud record of achievement. As a well performing, well led and ambitious Foundation Trust, we have exciting times ahead of us. We have an ongoing commitment to improving the health and care services for the 900,000 people we serve across Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey and south Buckinghamshire.

We are proud of the ambitions laid out in our strategy, Our Future FHFT, including our vision to be a leader in health & wellbeing, delivering excellence for our communities.

We continue to invest in our services and facilities, including a £10 million upgrade to the hospital maternity unit as well as £49m major new Emergency Assessment Centre on our Wexham Park site. The opening of a brand new £100m state of the art hospital which replaced the existing hospital facility at Heatherwood and are planning to invest further in diagnostics and inpatient capacity at Frimley Park.

We have also made significant investment in our quality improvement and digital programmes to support our vision and we will ensure that we achieve our aim of providing the highest quality healthcare to our patients. Our new EPR – Epic – went live in June and we are already beginning to reap the benefits of this ambitious investment.

Our threecore values, and the behaviours that support them, guide everything we do and set out what we expect of our staff in the way they treat patients, visitors, service users and each other,Committed to Excellence, Working Together and Facing the Future.

Apply online now