Advanced Mental Health Clinical Pharmacist (Inpatients- Chelmsford)

Job overview

We are seeking an inspiring and dynamic pharmacist to join our inpatient mental health pharmacy team. The role will provide clinical leadership within the clinical pharmacy service in Chelmsford, to support the medicines-related care of patients, address and improve existing pathways in mental health, participate in training, education and research as required, and to support robust medicines optimisation. The role will deputise for the Pharmacist Team Manager for Adult and Elderly Inpatient Mental Health Services in Mid and South Essex. This post would suit an experienced pharmacist with uncompromising standards who will strive to make a deep footprint on quality of care we provide to our patients. The post is based in Chelmsford, with responsibility for Mid and South Essex Inpatient and Urgent Care Services.

They will be highly visible on wards in actively modelling best practice to and coaching our ward teams to ensure that our patients consistently receive the best pharmaceutical care. Working with our senior departmental team of specialists and within the wider Trust, you will set the professional standard and develop our pharmacy team members to achieve their best, and make the transition to the next level of their careers. The role is full time (37.5 hours per week), including participation in on-call, weekend, early, late and Bank Holiday rotas, as necessary.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will exemplify EPUT values of we care, we learn and we empower, and demonstrate the ability to create a high-performing team from the outset. You might not be conventional in your approach, but kindness and empathetic leadership are a must, as is the ability to see the bigger picture and help take our team in this direction. This is an ideal opportunity for someone who is committed to driving improvements, and whose passion for patient care is infectious. You should have a Master’s Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent, be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council and be able to demonstrate evidence of postgraduate training and continuing professional development in clinical pharmacy practice. Whilst ideally this would be in mental health, this post is first and foremost about operational delivery of Great Care – your transferrable skills means you will have what it takes to do what it takes. Experience in mentoring and line managing teams with energy and enthusiasm are vital ingredients, and anyone with a track record of similar in a non-specialist trust is encouraged to apply.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• To work within clinical competence, as part of a multi-disciplinary team, to provide highly specialised advice in medicines optimisation.
• Develop, promote and implement high quality, evidence based, and cost effective use of medicines, in a manner that maximises the benefits of medicines to patients and service users whilst minimising clinical, legal and financial risks
• To act as the senior referral point for healthcare professionals working within local inpatient and urgent care services and undertake clinical audit where required to improve services.
• To help support and maintain patients and their families seen by services by advising patients and carers about the actions and use of medication, optimising drug therapy, providing information for team members, and liaising with other care providers to enhance seamless transfer of care.
• To be experienced in dealing with service users who present with challenging and complex behaviour.
• To advise on physical health and wellbeing, support appropriate medicines monitoring and provide expert advice and perform interventions to improve physical health.
• To participate as an active member of clinical teams in Essex to support the safe and effective use of medicines.
• Communicate highly complex clinical pharmacy advice on the management of patients with mental illness in order to maximise benefit and minimise risk in relation to medicines. Develop, promote and implement tools that support the safe use of psychotropic medicines.
• Plan and organise research and audit within own clinical area.
• Analyse interventions implemented for effectiveness, audit and research.
• To plan, organise and provide education and training to secondary healthcare staff, service users and carers.