Specialist Clinical Pharmacist in Mental Health

Job overview

To ensure patients receive seamless pharmaceutical care both throughout their admission to hospital and following discharge into assigned community mental health teams. This post involves being part of a team of specialist clinical pharmacists in mental health, playing an active role in inpatient multidisciplinary teams and a significant amount of patient/carer contact.

Providing an inpatient clinical pharmacist service to nominated wards at St Georges Hospital within Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MPFT). This will require working across a range of mental health services including; older people services, mental health adults of working age, learning disabilities, specialist and forensic services.

As this is a specialist clinical post in mental health the post-holder will have, or is willing to study for, a postgraduate qualification in Psychiatric Therapeutics in order to be able to provide a specialist clinical pharmacist service. This post involves playing an active role in inpatient and community multidisciplinary teams and a significant amount of patient/carer  contact.

In addition the post carries shared responsibility for supporting local education and training plans, clinical audit around medicines use, provision of Medicines Information Service, advice to community based teams.

Main duties of the job

Primarily a Specialist mental health clinical role:

• Providing an inpatient clinical pharmacist service to nominated wards within Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.  This will require working across a range of mental health services including; older people services, mental health adults of working age, learning disabilities, specialist and forensic  services.
• Visiting allocated wards to regularly review medicines cards and professionally check prescriptions, ensuring compliance with UK and European medicines legislation, SPCs, national guidance, MPFT policies, procedures, formulary and guidelines.
• Providing pharmaceutical input at multidisciplinary inpatient and community team meetings and rapid review meetings, ensuring follow up and accurate completion of technician-led medicines reconciliation and where necessary liaising with relevant inpatient and community teams to undertake patient medication histories and devise pharmaceutical care plans.
• Providing practical, high quality, evidence based information on medicines to staff and ensuring medicines information provided to patients and carers is meaningful.
• Supporting the Self-Administration of Medicines scheme on designated wards, ensuring it operates both safely and effectively.
• Providing pharmacist support to the dispensary for professionally checking prescriptions, responding to medicines information queries and supporting accuracy checking technicians in accuracy checking dispensed medicines as required.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical service delivery

• Deliver a high quality, patient-centred clinical pharmacist service to inpatient MH wards within  MPFT.
• Ensure patients receive seamless pharmaceutical care through transitions of MPFT care.
• Visit allocated wards and community team bases to regularly review medicines cards and professionally check prescriptions, thereby ensuring compliance with UK and European medicines legislation, SPCs, national guidance, MPFT policies, procedures, formulary and guidelines.
• Provide specialist advice and information about medicines and their use to medical, nursing and other healthcare professionals, thereby contributing to their safe, effective and economical use.
• Provide pharmaceutical input at multi-disciplinary team meetings, rapid review meetings and community team meetings where necessary undertaking patient medication histories and devising pharmaceutical care plans.
• Provide specialist advice and information about medicines and their use to patients, carers and the public.
• Conduct regular 1:1 consultations about medicines with patients and carers.
• Promote the concept of ‘shared decision making’ and patient choice at all times.
• Ensure the follow up and accurate completion of technician-led medicines reconciliation in a timely manner following admission to hospital in line with the MPFT policy for Medicines Reconciliation.