Clinical Primary Care Pharmacist - LIMOS

Job overview

Interested in working in developing your clinical skills and working in the community setting?

Following promotion of the existing postholder, an exciting vacancy has arisen for a motivated, patient centered pharmacist with strong clinical skills to work across both the interface and community setting as part of the domiciliary care arm of the Lewisham Integrated Medicines Optimisation Service.

This is a unique opportunity to work in an award winning service and gain experience in working with older people across care systems to improve independent and safe use of medicines whilst addressing challenges around overprescribing.

Responsibilities includes providing direct patient care and holistic patient centered structured medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy and adherence concerns, in older people and those with multiple long term conditions. The role involves visiting patients both in the hospital and home setting as an integrated approach as part of existing pathways of medicines support in Lewisham and further evolving models of Neighbourhood Care.

This post requires close partnership and team working with members of the MDT to co-ordinate medicines related aspects of care across both health and social care interfaces.

Whilst experience in primary care is not essential, an interest in older people, strong communication skills and lots of enthusiasm to working as part of multidisciplinary approach care are essential.

Main duties of the job

The award winning LIMOS service provides a formal pathway for the referral of patients with medicine-related problems for assessment, support and follow-up by a specialist pharmacy team, working across primary and secondary, and health and social care interfaces. Joint polices around medicines support across health have enabled a collaborative approach to care across the pharmacy and wider workforce.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Purpose:

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, along with Lewisham ICT and Lewisham Borough have developed an integrated approach to medicines optimisation across the interface, community and care home settings as part of improved community management of chronic diseases and long term conditions. This role will be to support the medicines management aspects of this initiative through working within the LIMOS service across the interface and community setting to visit patients at home. This role will work provide specialist advice to patients, and undertake full patient centred medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy and adherence concerns, with focus on older people, frail housebound, and those with multiple conditions including physical or mental health issues and learning disabilities. The role will also involve partnership working across health and social care interfaces in line with the current and further developing pathways for medicines support in Lewisham as part of the Neighbourhood approach to care.

This is a specialised post, which involves analysing and interpreting complex clinical situations to develop, provide and communicate effective medicines management solutions and provide expert advice in this area.

Key Result Areas & Performance:

• To provide medicine management reviews for identified and targeted patients including those who have medication issues or adherence related problems, or are on multiple or high risk medications, in the interface and community settings.
• To deliver quality improvement, while contributing to the delivery of the general practice quality and outcomes framework, other enhanced services and prescribing workstreams in the primary care setting.
• To participate in clinical audit and collect appropriate outcome data.
• To work with general practice colleagues and community pharmacy colleagues to support implementation of safe systems for repeat prescribing and reduction of waste within primary care.
• To work with primary care healthcare professionals to ensure agreed changes in medication are implemented and sustained.
• To provide expertise and clinical leadership on medicines optimisation as part of a team member within the community setting.
• To provide support to improve adherence and help patients get the best from their medicines, reducing medicines related admissions (including falls), and promoting appropriate evidence-based and cost effective prescribing. This will involve advice on de-prescribing where appropriate.
• To provide medicines management support to, and training for patients, carers and members of the multi-disciplinary community and general practice team.
• To contribute to the development of protocols to support improvement in systems around medication ordering and supply in the community setting in the context of improving safety and reducing waste. Service Development
• To work with community staff to promote and embed the role pharmacists in the community setting and raise awareness of services available to patient
• To provide recommendations and plan actions to proactively improve the quality of systems and processes to improve medicines optimisation across the primary care setting.
• To provide training regarding medication related issues and policies/guidelines to staff in primary or secondary care in order to promote medicines optimisation and high quality and cost-effective prescribing as appropriate. 4

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.