Pharmacist

Role Information:

To work in partnership with the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) to maintain the pharmacy services provided to patients and specialities. To assist in the provision of a patient-focused clinical pharmacy and dispensing service. To support the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) in managing the work of the pharmacy team helping to co-ordinate operational deployment of staff. Be responsible for and initiate liaison with staff including other Centre Directors / Nursing staff and Consultants concerning prescriptions and medicine management issues. To provide pharmaceutical advice ensuring safe, effective, economical and timely pharmaceutical care for the patients and ensuring compliance with medicines legislation and policies. The post holder will support the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) in all aspects of running a smooth and efficient day-to-day pharmacy service, including acting as the Responsible Pharmacist and supervising pharmacy staff to maintain legal and professional standards as necessary. The post holder will participate in the Saturday duty cover, if required..

1. Closing Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024
2. Salary: Competitive
3. Location: OneWelbeck Surgery Centre, 1 Welbeck Street, London, W1G 0AR
4. Full Time

About OneWelbeck:

OneWelbeck was founded by a group of leading clinicians whose objective is to develop a state-of-the-art private day-case centre in the greater London area.

OneWelbeck offers outpatient procedural and daycase intervention work in a unique dedicated setting to include procedures such as Ear, Nose & Throat, Permanent Pacemaker Implantation, Cryo AF Ablation, Orthopaedic, Gynaecological and Gastro-Intestinal procedures.

WHP is developing several other day centres across the UK in addition to the flagship centre at 1 Welbeck Street. Further centres are also planned internationally.

Key Relationships & Stakeholders:

•    Patients
•    Consultants
•    Joint Venture Boards
•    Partner doctor groups
•    Clinical leads
•    Centre Managers

Key Responsibilities:

1. Undertake the duties of a dispensary pharmacist:
•    To dispense prescriptions with accuracy.
•    To check prescriptions and ward orders dispensed by others for example pharmacy technicians, pharmacists, and assistants.
•    To liaise with prescribers when prescriptions require clarification.
•    To issue medication to patients and carers with appropriate counselling.
•    To support an efficient ordering and stock control system in the pharmacy, ensuring system stock levels are correct, and orders are processed in line with local procedures.
•    To facilitate regular stock and controlled drug checks and ensure that the storage requirements for controlled drugs and “named patient” drugs are being adhered to, ensuring compliance with appropriate medicines legislation.
•    Act as responsible pharmacist and professional lead in dispensary services as required. Ensure safety and security of staff and drugs within the pharmacy department.
•    Ensure compliance with current legislation under the Medicines Act for dispensing, supply and sale of medicines. Monitor for fraudulent prescriptions and ensure that prescription charges are taken, where appropriate.
•    Manage and prioritise workload within the dispensary. Assist in organisation of the rotas within the department.
•    Perform clinical checks on prescriptions. Ensure that medicines are prescribed in accordance with formulary. Ensure that relevant patient monitoring is undertaken where required for certain drugs, e.g. immunosuppressant drugs.
•    Perform accuracy checks on dispensed medicines. Dispense prescriptions when necessary.
•    Counsel patients on appropriate use of their medicines – provide advice on drug doses, possible side effects and how to obtain further supplies, if required.
•    Deal with complaints from patients, carers and other healthcare professionals.
•    Ensure accurate record keeping, e.g. for Controlled Drugs and “Named Patient” drugs. Be responsible for regular Controlled Drug checks and ensure that the storage and record keeping standards for all drugs are always adhered to.
•    Report medication incidents and pharmacy interventions on RADAR, the incident reporting system.
•    Collect money for prescriptions (where applicable) and reconcile the cash register money collection at the end of the day, and sale non-prescription items.
•    Communicate with other healthcare professionals’ queries and continuation supply, as required.
2. Provide information and support:
•    To support other pharmacy staff with advice and decision making to enable them to proceed with their tasks.
•    To receive and document medicines related enquiries from patients and healthcare professionals and either respond to their requests or refer to appropriate staff or department.
3. To provide a clinical pharmacy service as necessary:
•    To work in accordance with local policy and procedures to ensure that medicines are used in line with clinical governance principles.
•    Ensure that medicines optimisation is provided as safely, efficiently, economically, and effectively as possible, within the available resources and in accordance with procedures and guidance.
•    Perform medicines reconciliation and medication review, as necessary.
•    To take responsibility for providing evaluated information on medicines to patients, their carers and staff.
•    Record and report all pharmacy interventions.
•    To contribute to safe pharmaceutical use of medicines for all patients and promote optimal and appropriate drug use and high-quality prescribing in line with policies.
•    To review the use of medication regarding clinical protocols and the prescribing formulary.
•    To prioritise workload to ensure that most demanding tasks are addressed first within the time available.
•    To utilise Clinical knowledge to:
o    Demonstrate appropriate clinical reasoning and judgement, and where applicable, clinical pharmacy knowledge in core areas to plan, manage, monitor, and review therapeutic programmes for patients allocated, thereby ensuring the quality of patient care.
o    Be readily available and keen to answer any general ‘medicine related’ pharmaceutical queries from patients, pharmacists, and other members of staff within pharmacy as well as from other health care professionals including medical and nursing staff.
o    Proactively provide professional and specialised evidence-based clinical advice and recommendations on all aspects of drug therapy to trust staff and patients, local healthcare staff, to aid seamless care, tailored to the patient’s medical, social, and cultural needs. 
4. Communication:
•    To liaise effectively with local staff and colleagues within OneWelbeck regarding any pharmaceutical-related issue.
•    To counsel patients sensitively and effectively, ensuring confidentiality is maintained.
•    To follow all local policies including communicating near-misses and incident reporting processes.
•    To promote rational and effective use of medication and adherence to local medicines management policy.
•    Maintain and develop links with multidisciplinary teams to improve the quality of pharmaceutical care for patients.
5. Service Management and Development:
•    To support the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) on all legal, professional, and clinical dispensary issues on a day-to-day basis.  This includes legal supervision of registered pharmacy premises in accordance with the standards set forth by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
•    Be accountable in making independent clinical decisions to deal with arising issues and making optimal use of resources available and ensuring delivery of required performance standards and patient safety. Be proactive in anticipating potential problems in the dispensary and take measures to rectify them.
•    Develop, write, and implement clinical and standard operating procedures within the dispensary and support implementing changes locally together with the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist)
•    Ensure that delivery of the pharmacy service and medicines management complies with current medicines management policies and dispensing procedures, and operates within guidance of the General Pharmaceutical Council, and standards including Department of Health.
•    Document the workload and quality of pharmacy services, carry out any audits and project work under the supervision of the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) as necessary.
•    Contribute to the strategic development of pharmacy services and the annual plan for pharmacy services.
•    Ensure errors, complaints and incidents related to medicines are managed and reported within the Centre’s guidelines.
6. Financial Management:
•    Be responsible for ensuring the correct collection of prescription charges and medicines, and that local processes are complied with respect of the handling of, and accountability of monies taken.
•    Adhere to systems in place for economical purchasing, and appropriate storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals in accordance with good medicines management practice.
•    Support the Pharmacy Director in any work related to the pharmacy budget such as any work related to reports for monitoring drug usage and expenditure.
•    Contribute to the control of entry of new drugs and suppliers.
•    Promote to medical and non-medical prescribers the principles of safe prescribing and adherence to the Centre’s Formulary and Prescribing Policy.
•    Identify to the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) possible cost reductions and/or efficiency initiatives in medicine usage without adversely affecting the quality of service provided.
•    Identify and advise on the management of any cost pressures within the pharmacy service or issues linked to medicines management.
7. Staff Management:
•    Support the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) in maintaining the staffing rota to always ensure adequate cover, to embrace and implement the principles of skill mix to ensure appropriate utilisation of staff and improve their skills and be flexible to ensure suitable staffing at any one time.  Assist in the supervision of all aspects of work by junior staff.
•    Support the staff induction training, staff on-going development, and maintain personal 1 to 1 meetings and performance review (appraisal) processes.
•    Report any concerns about personal performance to perform well and contribute towards improvements to the pharmaceutical service.
•    Suggest and contribute to implementing changes under the direction of the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) to improve pharmaceutical services.
•    Adopt and encourage an open attitude to performance and ensure a no-blame culture to enable review of past performance and implementing change.
•    Ensure adherence to the Centre’s sickness policy, absence monitoring system and conduct return to work interviews.
•    Assist the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist) in the day-to-day management of staff.
8. Education and Training:
•    Seek personal opportunities for education and training, maintaining professional CPD as required by the GPhC and associated requirements, and act as a role model.
•    Supervise and train staff as necessary with regards to pharmacy services, under the direction of the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist)
9. Personal development:
•    Keep professionally updated at all times and be aware of national, local and community policy, and Centre-wide issues and trends.
•    Be professionally, ethically, and legally responsible and be accountable for all aspects of own work.
•    Maintain a personal development plan and identify training needs as required.
•    Keep a record of CPD as required by the General Pharmaceutical Council.
10. Audit, research, and development:
•    Participate in audit of aspects of pharmacy service when required.
•    Support the Pharmacy Director in developing and carrying out audits of service to monitor performance and efficiency of the service.
•    Plans and carries out research in partnership with others when required.
•    Evaluates and draws conclusions and adapts practice accordingly when required.
11. Management of Controlled Drugs (where applicable):
•    Responsible for signing for receipt of controlled drugs, checking, unpacking and completion of legal records within the dispensary. Ensure delivery notes are dealt with appropriately ready for invoicing.
•    Ensure the quarterly controlled drug checks for allocated clinical areas and departments including those for dispensary are completed in a timely manner and in accordance with local CD procedures.
•    Promptly report and support investigations and preparations of a report on stock discrepancies of pharmacy-controlled drugs.
•    Maintain a log of expired pharmacy-controlled drug stock and ensure that all expired stock is booked off the pharmacy computer system appropriately. Also ensure this stock is stored separately from non-expired stock and is destroyed at appropriate time intervals.
•    Support the legal destruction of controlled drugs in accordance with the local procedures as necessary. 
12. Security: 
•    Be a signatory for the departmental keys. Take responsibility for always maintaining the security of the Pharmacy department, this includes opening and locking the department.
•    Authorised holder of the controlled drug cupboard keys (where applicable).
•    Responsible for adhering to the pharmacy department and local security procedures for maintaining the security of the pharmacy department and patients, staff, and visitors.
•    Responsible for having a working knowledge of the dispensary panic alarm system.
•    Responsible for the safe and secure handling of medicinal products. 
13. Resource Management and Stock Control: 
•    Sign for the delivery of drugs and ensure delivery notes and invoices are dealt with appropriately.
•    Assist with the ordering of pharmaceuticals by manually requesting out-of-stock medicines or urgent items as needed. 
•    Assist with the receiving and putting away of stock into the pharmacy, including liaising with suppliers, delivery drivers, the Procurement and/or finance team as required.
•    Assist with the processing of invoices and returns as required.
•    Ensure medicines are stored appropriately and secure, and that processes including temperature monitoring are adhered to.
•    Propose changes to pharmacy or clinical stock levels of drugs, as necessary. Perform a stock list review for clinical areas, as necessary.
•    Regularly run drug expenditure reports as necessary and provide feedback on trends to monitor prescribing and adherence to Formulary.
•    Where applicable, stock manage prescriptions and issues of prescriptions and medicines including direct sale items.
14. Distribution of Pharmaceuticals: 
•    Liaise with staff such as clinical areas to ensure timely supply of medications to patients. This includes advising on pharmacy service cut-off times as necessary.
•    Review and sign off changes to stock lists for clinical areas as appropriate.
•    Responsible for enforcing cut off times within the pharmacy and ensure all dispensed items meet deadlines.
•    Assist in the distribution of medicines to patients, and clinical areas as necessary.

The above list indicates the main areas of responsibility and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job description will be subject to review by agreement between the post holder and the Centre Director (Superintendent Pharmacist), according to the changing needs of the service.  The role description gives a general outline of the duties of the post and is not intended to be an inflexible or finite list of tasks.  It may be varied, from time to time, after consultation with the post holder.

Safety:

•    Implements best practices and regulations adopted, to provide safety in the workplace
•    Monitors the Centre’s physical environment and initiates methods for maintaining safety, comfort, cleanliness, and efficiencies                    
•    Monitors the care, cleaning, and required maintenance of equipment to maintain proper working conditions.  Identifies and evaluates need for items relative to trends, centre personnel requests, and positive patient outcomes                    
•    Works with the Safety Officer to resolve observed or suspected safety violations and hazards to ensure policy/procedure compliance                    
•    Submits information to licensed (as state required) healthcare risk manager, for preparation of risk management reports            
•    Ensures COSSH regulations are met, clinical staff are educated, and supplies are readily available

Quality Care & Governance: 

•    Remains current on applicable local and national laws, rules and regulations, and professional and accrediting-body standards.                    
•    Submits required reports on a timely basis.                    
•    Develops, interprets, and implements policies, procedures, regulations, programs, and recommended practices to meet requirements of regulatory and accrediting organisations.
•    Reviews policies/procedures to ensure continued compliance with national and accrediting-body rules, regulations, and standards.
•    Assists in the implementation and maintenance of the Centre’s adopted quality assessment, performance improvement program.                    
•    Assists in the maintenance, education, and implementation of the Centre’s policies and procedures to the Governing Board, the QAPI committee (as required) and the wider Healthcare team.    
•    Assists in the implementation and maintenance of the Centre’s adopted compliance programme.
•    Actively contributes to the QAPI process and identifies his or her own role and contributions.
•    Ability to analyse data from performance improvement program, prepare reports, and develop action plans for presentation to the QAPI Committee.                
•    Serves on the Quality Assessment, Performance Improvement (QAPI) committee.

Other duties: 

•    To assist in the supervision of all aspects of work by pharmacy staff to ensure that procedures are carried out according to local policy and with due regard to cleanliness, tidiness and good pharmaceutical practice as required by the Code of Ethics of the General Pharmaceutical Council.
•    To participate in clinic service rosters including late duty, Weekend, Bank holiday and on-call rotas as required by the Director of Pharmacy. 
•    To participate in a Pharmacy stocktake as required.

Physical, mental, and emotional effort required: 

•    Need to be physically active in the pharmacy and clinical areas.
•    Need to access drug cupboards and storage areas.
•    From time to time, it may be necessary to communicate with distressed relatives and patients, abusive and confused patients, and respond to difficult requests and queries from other professional staff.
•    Occasional exposure to harassment when dealing with verbal complaints.
•    Chair staff and clinical meetings where appropriate.
•    Daily concentration for reviewing prescriptions, calculations, reports, policy documents; interrupted by urgent requests for advice.

Outline of working conditions:

•    Exposure to unpleasant working conditions is rare, occasionally may require handling verbal complaints from angry patients and resolve emergency requests for medicines.
•    Occasional work in clinical areas may be subject to unpleasant odours.

Infection Prevention & Control:

All Welbeck Health Partners employees, whether involved directly or indirectly in the provision of healthcare, have a duty to co-operate with and implement Business policies and procedures in preventing and controlling infection. This includes co-operation with colleagues and contractors also involved in the provision of healthcare so far as is necessary to enable the Business to meet its obligations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Safeguarding:

Welbeck Health Partners is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and adults at risk and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment and ensure they work in accordance with the Welbeck Health Partners Safeguarding Child and Adult at Risks Policies and Procedures.

Staff should ensure that they remain up to date with safeguarding training requirements and know how to report safeguarding concerns or allegations against staff and should follow safeguarding policy and procedures and the allegations against staff policy.

Confidentiality:

Maintain confidentiality in relation to personal data held for colleagues and patients, ensuring that it is processed lawfully; for no purpose other than that for which it was obtained; is relevant to that purpose; is retained for no longer than is necessary; is processed in accordance with the rights of the subject to access and accuracy; and is protected from accidental loss or damage in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act (as amended), and records management guidance.

Maintain confidentiality of patient-identifiable personal data using a non-identifiable alternative, where practicable, and limiting access on a strictly need to know basis in accordance with the responsibilities of the Business’s Caldicott Guardian.

Risk:

Accept personal responsibility for contributing to the Welbeck Health Partners management of risk, including the reasonable avoidance of any action which would knowingly cause unacceptable risk to self, others, or to the Business.

As far as is reasonably practicable attempt to prevent other people from undertaking tasks or actions which would knowingly cause risks to self, others, or to the Business, in accordance with the Business policy and training.

Identify and report actual or potential hazards/ risks in the work environment in accordance with Business policies and take immediate action to minimise risks where it is reasonably practicable to do so.

Identify and report to the appropriate authority incidents of risk, neglect, abuse or endangerment to vulnerable adults and children.

Follow Welbeck Health Partners policy on use of Personal Protective Equipment e.g., Masks, Gloves, Visors etc.

Awareness of and compliance with Health and Safety Regulations.

Equality & Diversity:  

The Business recognises the benefits of a diverse workforce reflective of the communities that we serve and is committed to equal opportunities in employment with a devotion to eliminate all forms of unlawful discrimination.  The Business aims to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between staff and patients (including volunteers, contractors, and bank staff).  All individuals have a duty to adhere to the Business Diversity and Equality Opportunity policy and an individual responsibility towards the application and understanding of the Equality Act 2010.  Inequitable behaviour will not be tolerated, and every person has a responsibility to highlight discriminatory practice.

Health and Safety at work:

In addition to the Business responsibilities under the Health and Safety legislation, you are reminded of your responsibilities for health and safety at work under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (as amended) and associated legislation. These include the duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of yourself and others in your work activities and to co-operate with your employer in the discharge of its statutory duties. You must adhere strictly to the Business policies and procedures on health and safety and report all accidents, dangerous occurrences, unsafe practices, or damage to your manager promptly using the Business incident reporting system. You must make use of appropriate training, safety equipment, protective clothing and footwear and attend training. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in disciplinary action.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

If the post you are undertaking requires you to complete a DBS disclosure, this will be managed and processed in line with the DBS Policy, and you will be required to sign up and maintain your subscription to the DBS Update Service.

Person Specification: 

•    To apply, please email your current CV and cover letter to craig.murphy@welbeckhealth.com