Clinical Primary Care Pharmacist - LIMOS

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.

As a patient facing role, the role offers a great opportunity to utilise and further develop strong clinical skills as an independent prescriber as part of a Neighbourhood team approach to care.

Being supported by a network of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, this post is an exciting opportunity to work in the primary care and interface setting. but maintain strong links with pharmacy colleagues in both secondary and community settings. This close working also includes the ability to access continuing professional development via peer learning events with pharmacy professionals within both secondary care and community settings.

The postholder would work across the Borough, delivering care to an allocated neighbourhood and be based at either South Lewisham Health Centre or University hospital Lewisham.

As a patient facing role, regular home working is not included within this role. However some hybrid working may be required when working in the community setting.

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. To participate in clinical audit and collect appropriate outcome data.

4. 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.

5. To work with primary care healthcare professionals to ensure agreed changes in medication are implemented and sustained.

6. To provide expertise and clinical leadership on medicines optimisation as part of a team member within the community setting.

7.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.

8. To provide medicines management support to, and training for patients, carers and members of the multi-disciplinary community and general practice team.

9. 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

1. To work with community staff to promote and embed the role pharmacists in the community setting and raise awareness of services available to patient

2. To provide recommendations and plan actions to proactively improve the quality of systems and processes to improve medicines optimisation across the primary care setting.

3. 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. To provide operational and clinical support to medicines optimisation developments and prescribing initiatives as dictated by GP practice, ICB, and hospital Trust and service objectives.

5. To collate and feedback on electronic discharge related information to ensure continuing improvement of the hospital computerised discharge letter and process of communication.

6. To assist with the implementation of policies and guidelines to improve medicines optimisation across primary/ secondary care interface and into the general practice setting.

7. To provide training to staff across health and social care to promote medicines optimisation in practice.

Clinical Services & Patient Care

1. To provide medication review and optimisation of identified groups of patients to maximise the gain from medicines and provision of safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of drugs.

2. To provide information in medicines related issues to doctors, nurses and other members of the multidisciplinary team in general practice and where appropriate across primary and secondary care interfaces including to community pharmacies within the Borough.

3. To develop skills including management of both minor ailments and specified long term conditions as required to practice as a part of the multidisciplinary team so as to ensure clinically effective and cost efficient use of drugs.

4. To reconcile information related to medicines across the interface setting, liaising with community and hospital colleagues to support the safe transfer of care for vulnerable patients with complex medicines management needs.

5. To work as an independent prescriber in line with competency and agreed area of practice as approved by the relevant Trust governance process through the non-medical prescribing committee with ratification by the MMC.

6. Provide patient facing and telephone support to patients those with questions, queries and concerns about their medicines.

Information & Data Management

1. To accurately record clinical activity within patient notes and the relevant electronic clinical systems such as EMIS and iCARE or EPIC.

Please refer to the Applicant Guide via the link below for key information:- Applying to LGT Guide - Key Information for Applicants

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