Principal Pharmacist, Frailty

Job overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our team on a fixed term 6 month basis as one of the Principal Pharmacists supporting Frailty Services. The successful candidate will join the multi-disciplinary team working on either the Mary Seacole frailty unit at Epsom Hospital, or at one of the Community Hospitals sites. The Mary Seacole Unit is a community-facing frailty unit based within Epsom Hospital. The unit supports patients who have frailty, complex needs and/or rehabilitation needs and offers enhanced Multidisciplinary team support in order to support the patients' transition of care back to their place of residence as soon as possible. The Community Hospitals provide care for people needing rehabilitation. They aim is to help patients return to living independently, or with care or other support. As the specialist pharmacist in the team you will lead on medicines optimisation and medicines management in the ward setting. You will provide advanced pharmaceutical expertise in frailty and polypharmacy. You will also conduct in-depth, personalised and goal orientated medication reviews with patients to improve their understanding of medicines, address adherence issues and reduce inappropriate polypharmacy. Ensuring seamless transfer of pharmaceutical care across interfaces will also be a key part of the role. If you are a motivated, autonomous individual who enjoys direct working with patients and being part of an MDT then this is the role for you.

Main duties of the job

• To provide a specialist clinical pharmacy service to the frailty unit or a SDHC Community Hospital ward.
• Providing a well-integrated, comprehensive, patient-oriented specialist clinical pharmacy service at ward level throughout the frailty unit or SDHC Community Hospital site.
• To provide advice and day to day clinical supervision for the pharmacy team working in the frailty unit or a community hospital ward, promoting evidence-based, cost-effective use of medicines
• To promote safe, responsible, cost effective prescribing and usage of medicines, in line with the formulary, to optimise clinical outcomes and minimise adverse reactions and errors.
• To liaise with appropriate MDT colleagues to ensure the implementation of National/Local guidelines related to medicines to optimise patient care and promote best practice.
• Combining pharmaceutical expertise and technical skills to proactively support patient centred medicine
• Undertaking high-quality patient medication reviews to maximise the therapeutic effects of medicines, minimise the risk of harm and improve patient adherence to medication regimens.
• Participating in Clinical audit, service and quality improvement where appropriate to aid shared learning and improvement.
• Promoting the safer use of medicines through identification, reporting and investigation of medicines related incidents and sharing the learning from incidents with the wider team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached supporting job description and person specification document which contains more information about the role and requirements. Please ensure your application refers to the job description and person specification.

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.