STEP Pharmacist - UHL & QE

Job overview

STEP Pharmacist – Band 6 - Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust

This vacancy is for registered pharmacists who can start by January 2025

An exciting opportunity has arisen at Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust for pharmacists with drive and ability to become part of the dynamic pharmacy team. You will work in a supportive environment with training opportunities, to build your foundation skills and develop your expertise.

We have positions available at University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth, Woolwich,  some positions are to start from January 2025 and others from March 2025 at the latest.

STEP pharmacists must be able to travel to ALL of the base site South East London Hospitals that participate in the STEP programme. See the STEP Programme Handbook for more details. If you cannot commit to this travel then please do not apply.

You will have the opportunity to rotate through a variety of specialties within Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital and be offered opportunities to apply for placements as part of the STEP programme at other hospitals in South East London. Rotations span across clinical, medicines information and aseptics services (Lewisham only).

Main duties of the job

The programme provides competency based training, education and experience to equip pharmacists with the skills and knowledge to provide the highest quality professional care and progress their careers. The post requires a highly motivated pharmacist with excellent communication, interpersonal and time management skills.

The clinical pharmacy service to the wards is well established and provides high quality care across a variety of specialties. Joining a team of experienced pharmacists and technicians you will work as part of the multidisciplinary team to deliver a patient focused clinical pharmacy service to the wards. The pharmacy department supports development through having a work place educational supervisor, undertaking work place based learning and weekly teaching sessions.

This job is for pharmacists who can be registered by the GPhC by January 2025

Throughout the STEP programme pharmacists are employed by one of the Trusts in South East London, and will work from one of the seven hospitals henceforth referred to as the “base hospital”. This advert is for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust and the base hospitals are University Lewisham Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

STEP pharmacists gain experience by completing 6 month placements at different base sites and should anticipate travelling to work anywhere within the STEP region, details of these are within the STEP Programme Handbook. Placements with other Trusts are managed through honorary contracts.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Job Summary:

To assist in the delivery of a comprehensive pharmacy service and to provide operational support to the department as agreed in the rotational programme.

To undertake the Postgraduate Diploma in General Practice Pharmacy at University College London (UCL)  or equivalent Post Registration Foundation Pharmacist Development Programme, in order to meet the requirements of the NHS to be “fit for practice” and provide consistently high quality patient care. To work towards completion of The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Foundation Pharmacy Framework for pharmacists in their first 1000 days of practice. Meet all of our professional, fitness to practise and ethical standards as set out by the GPhC.

Detailed Duties:

Dispensary services (where applicable)

• To follow procedures relating to good dispensing practice, and to maintain high standards and orderly methods of working.
• To be the Responsible Pharmacist.

• To comply with the formulary and dispensary policies.
• To dispense and check Outpatients and Inpatients scripts, including clinical trials and chemotherapy.
• To effectively clinically screen prescriptions and professionally resolve any problems or refer when appropriate.
• To effectively and efficiently counsel patients on the needs relating to their medicines.
• To deal with requests from members of staff and patients in a professional manner.
• To be aware of the overall dispensary workload, and by liaising with dispensary leads, to prioritise and effectively manage the workflow.
• To participate in dispensary audits and contribute to quality service assurance initiatives.
• To update dispensary protocols and standard operating procedures as required.

• Technical services (where applicable)

• To assist in the provision of a comprehensive preparative service to the Trust and external customers. This can include aseptic dispensing and manufacturing, TPN, CIVAS, clinical trial preparation, non-sterile and sterile manufacturing and QC / QA activities, according to the service at the base hospital.  The post holder may work in the following areas on a rotational basis depending on base hospital working arrangements and rotas: aseptic services; the oncology suites or satellites; general manufacturing services (sterile and non-sterile production); quality assurance and control departments.
• To ensure that activities undertaken within the units meet current legislation such as GMP/GDP, GCP, Health and Safety, COSHH, and that all work is documented according to these procedures.
• To undertake when required preparation of all products following adequate training.
• To be aware of and follow standard operating procedures at all times.
• To be aware of and follow all quality assurance procedures and make the section manager aware of any deficiencies.
• To undertake, where relevant, clinical screening of prescriptions and to provide pharmaceutical advice on the use of medicines prepared during the rotation.
• To undertake the final check of dispensed and batch prepared products after appropriate training.

Additionally in some base hospitals:

• To record, cost and report the activities of the unit.

• To participate in education and training programs to develop skills as part of a commitment to CPD.

• Medicines Information (MI) services (where applicable)

• To participate in the medicines enquiry answering service by the provision of accurate, evaluated and impartial up to date and helpful information & advice about medicines to ensure safe, clinically effective and cost efficient use of medicines in patients.
• To assist Senior MI pharmacists in providing training in medicines information skills and knowledge to trainee pharmacists, visiting trainees and students, and in some base hospitals, pharmacy technicians.
• To participate in the maintenance and development of systems for the collection, storage retrieval and dissemination of information.

Additionally in some base hospitals:

• To be responsible for organising the educational drug lunches provided by Pharmaceutical Representatives for the pharmacy department.
• To participate in Journal Club meetings, this involves critically appraising trial data for discussion at the meeting.

• Ward based pharmacy services

• To participate in the medicines management programme / clinical pharmacy services involving any of the following: ensuring accurate drug histories are taken and documented; patients own drug are reconciled; dispensing for discharge is facilitated; dispensing of medicines on the ward for patients to take home; communicate effectively with patients to improve adherence.
• To identify patients with complex pharmaceutical problems, propose solutions and refer these to more senior staff.
• To identify drug interactions, prioritise and take appropriate action (which may include referral to a more senior member of staff) to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines.
• To monitor patients’ responses to drug treatments for efficacy and toxicity, prioritise these and take appropriate action (which may include referral to a more senior member of staff) to ensure the safe and effective use of medicines.
• To identify errors on clerking including medication histories and allergies documentation, TTOs or on prescriptions initiated during the patient’s admission. Appropriately prioritise these and take best course of action (which may include referral to a more senior member of staff) to ensure patient safety.

• To identify deviations from guidelines, prioritise these and take appropriate action (which may include referral to a more senior member of staff).

• To complete all documentation according to Trust and departmental policies.

• To work effectively as part of a team in a multi-disciplinary and pharmacy environment, and maintain rapport with medical and other colleagues.
• To undertake clinical audit and drug use evaluations (DUEs) in the clinical areas assigned.
• To undertake peer review (e.g. MRCF, mini-pat) to assess communication and decision making skills, obtain feedback and amend practice where necessary.

• Out of hours pharmacy services

• To participate in the resident or on-call pharmacists’ rota.
• To provide an out of hours pharmacy service to the base hospital(s), in accordance with local out of hours guidelines and policies.
• To participate in the weekend and Bank holiday rotas of the base hospital.
• To undertake dispensing duties as required and to the appropriate standard.
• To answer medicines information and other queries as required. (This may include production services if provided out of hours at the base site).
• To work within the limitations of ones own competence, referring more complex queries to appropriate pharmacists as required.
• To complete all documentation in line with department policy.

• Placements

• Each rotation will have specific criteria which will be available to the postholder when selecting the rotation.
• The postholder should consider these as part of the job description during the period of the placement

There is an expectation that at least one of these placements will be at a site other than the base hospital. STEP pharmacists must be able to travel to ALL of the base sites that participate in the STEP programme.