Senior Pharmacist Clinical Lead for the Frailty Assessment Service (FAS) - 1 year fixed-term maternity cover (22.5 hours a week)
Now is an exciting time for an experienced clinical pharmacist to join our team as we further develop our clinical pharmacy service to the Frailty Unit.
We are looking for an experienced and enthusiastic patient-orientated clinical pharmacist who embraces the challenge of working in busy environments as part of a multi-disciplinary team, is keen to further develop their clinical skills and focused on delivering high quality pharmaceutical care that has a valuable impact on patients.
With this post, you will join a supportive and friendly pharmacy team, and be provided with numerous opportunities for personal and professional development.
For further details or to arrange an informal visit, please contact David Richards (david.richards@nhs.net) or Elisabeth Willis (elisabeth.willis1@nhs.net) Clinical Pharmacist Leads for Medicine. Tel: 0300 422 6841.
The post-holder(s) will join a dedicated clinical pharmacy team responsible for the delivery and development of the clinical pharmacy service to the Frailty Unit. They will provide expert pharmaceutical advice for the management of patients, deliver high quality pharmaceutical care, improve patient safety and patient flow.
The post-holder will be an independent prescriber, responsible for undertaking medicines reconciliation and medicines optimisation by utilising their prescribing qualification to review and prescribe patients’ regular medication. They will also independently prescribe medication in order to facilitate discharge.
To ensure safe prescribing, the post holder will be expected to produce and maintain policies and guidelines.
They will act as a central point of contact between the Pharmacy Department and the Frailty service, and act as deputy to the Clinical Pharmacy Leads when necessary. As a member of the clinical pharmacy team, the post-holder will be required to provide general pharmacist duties within the department and to other clinical specialities as the service requires. Participation in pharmacy department late night, weekend and bank holiday rotas is required.
They will undertake clinical supervision and training of other pharmacy colleagues and provide education and training on medication to medical and nursing colleagues.
With a team of over 9,000 employees, we are proud to be the largest employer in Gloucestershire. By joining our Trust, you will benefit from an excellent package that includes exclusive benefits, flexible working opportunities and the chance to gain valuable experience in one of our innovative hospitals. Both hospitals are located in the city centres with access to shops and cafes.
The 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 clinic.
We are a friendly, inclusive department who wish to nurture and develop our staff at all grades, from a mentoring programme for band 6 pharmacists to the development of pharmacist prescribers.
Within the Pharmacy department at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHSFT, we are committed to supporting the South West Inclusive Pharmacy Practice manifesto ( https://pwds.nhs.uk/associates/sw-ipp/ ).

Provide highly specialised advice on appropriate drug treatment in line with own professional judgement, experience, evidence-based medicines and treatment guidelines

• on occasion, give a specialist opinion in areas where information is lacking and/or medical opinion differs
• educate junior doctors on good prescribing practice
• persuade senior/junior medical staff to follow agreed prescribing policie

Communicate with junior medical staff (and occasionally Consultants) to clarify aspects of the prescription including drug, dosage, frequency, duration of treatment, and length of supply when necessary.
Use professional judgement to make a final decision about content and appropriateness of discharge prescriptions when a suitable prescriber cannot be contacted.
Communicating with patients, carers, community pharmacists as necessary to establish what medication is available at home, and/or to explain changes made to their prescription during hospital admission.
Able to assess and respond appropriately to individual patient’s needs for help with managing their medicines at home.
Assessing the suitability of patient’s own drugs for re-use/continued use at home, if necessary.
Supply pharmaceutical and clinical information to the patient’s GP including details of and reasons for medication changes, advice given to the patient, or monitoring needed by the GP.

Provide highly specialised advice on appropriate drug treatment in line with own professional judgement, experience, evidence-based medicines and treatment guidelines

• on occasion, give a specialist opinion in areas where information is lacking and/or medical opinion differs
• educate junior doctors on good prescribing practice
• persuade senior/junior medical staff to follow agreed prescribing policies

To initiate, collaborate in, analyse and report on multi-disciplinary audits and research involving the pharmacy service and/or medical directorate as required.
Clinical Governance

Support the Divisional Clinical Governance agenda by advising on strategy for reducing medication errors and improving safety in conjunction with the Associate Pharmacy Director

• To investigate individual adverse incidents related to drug use within the Division in collaboration with the Clinical Risk and Effectiveness Department.
• To monitor trends associated with errors in prescribing, dispensing or administering drugs
• To educate other healthcare staff in the safe use of drugs
• To audit identified high risk areas
• To monitor Patient Safety Incident forms (Datix) completed by pharmacists working on the wards

Prescribing
If post holder holds a Certificate in Professional Studies/Postgraduate Certificate in Non-Medical Prescribing they must practise within the boundaries of local strategy, professional guidance and the law.
Prescribe medicines for agreed patients within their competency as a dependent (e.g. supplementary) prescriber in line with current legislation, local policies and within their own level of experience and competence
Prescribe medicines in their competency as an independent prescriber in line with current legislation, local policies and within their own level of experience and competenc