Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Medicines Optimisation (Homecare Services)

• Act as a deputy to the Principal Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist.
• Manage all pharmacy related aspects of the homecare services with support from the Principal Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist.
• Maintain, monitor, and update the trust’s homecare strategy in line with national standards.
• Develop and monitor homecare performance indicators to ensure that compliance with these indicators is maintained and action plans for improvement agreed as necessary.
• Contribute nationally to the development of homecare medicines optimisation guidance and policy and attend the National Medicines Homecare Committee and Regional homecare procurement meetings as appropriate.
• Ensure that all homecare procurement activity meets the Trust’s Standing Financial Instructions and European procurement legislation.
• Identify areas for audit which contribute to improving patient care, safety and experience in relation to homecare medicines use and provision.
• Lead the development and review of homecare scheme SLAs, protocols, treatment guidelines, service specifications, prescription forms and patient information both within the clinical pharmacy service and Christie@Home team and other external providers.
• Manage services for the homecare specialist area through liaison with external providers.
•  To liaise with clinical pharmacy team leaders, lead pharmacists, outpatient dispensary managers, and other pharmacy staff to identify, plan, and develop new opportunities for homecare services.
• Work in partnership with the clinical service manager for SACT and Outreach, including preparation of business cases, KPI reports for presentation to SACT committee, finance or external providers including third party providers.
• Manage and develop homecare medicines optimisation services by providing a specialist pharmacist service to the Christie at Home team and Outreach Services.
• To lead and actively participate and co-ordinate the service review meetings for homecare medicines optimisation working closely with homecare providers, pharmacists, nurses, doctors, other healthcare staff, and patients.
• To produce quarterly reports on quality and financial indicators on all homecare medicine services.
• Gain an understanding of the principle and practice of the Trust's budgeting system and support the management of drug expenditure by clinicians and senior managers.
• To support the Principal Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist, and the cancer disease groups, to forecast required budgets for the expansion of the homecare service and identify drug expenditure / potential savings. To identify any changes in prescribing practices that may potentially impact on the drugs budget.
• Maintain support for the Lead Procurement and Homecare Technician in relation to homecare services.
• To be responsible for and co-ordinate the development, implementation and management of training initiatives and competency frameworks within the homecare pharmacy service and assist in the delivery of training to all members of the pharmacy and homecare team as required.
• Manage all outsourced homecare related incidents in conjunction with the homecare providers and the third party dispensary.
• Manage medicine related incidents occurring within the Christie@Home service including those relating to the third party courier.
• To attend and contribute to meetings relevant to the disease group regarding new homecare initiatives as appropriate and represent the pharmacy service at appropriate clinical unit and divisional meetings on request.
• To develop and implement procedures for clinical screening of homecare prescriptions including document approval and control.
• To provide training for specialist clinical pharmacists in the clinical screening of prescriptions for medicines supplied via Homecare.
• To support with the Optimisation of the Trust electronic healthcare record system for areas relating to Homecare.

To support the principal pharmacist Medicines Optimisation to:

• Develop initiatives to provide care closer to home, including Outreach and Homecare services, by working collaboratively with relevant stakeholders (managers for SACT and Outreach Services, clinical teams, homecare providers, finance commissioners, patient groups).
• Develop and implement projects which will support redesign of the services provided where necessary.
• Tender for homecare services in line with National and European standards.

Medicines Optimisation (Medicines Value)

• To support the Principal Pharmacist Medicines Optimisation in the Trust Medicines Value Improvement Programme (VIP) through the identification, prediction, assessment and reporting of savings as a result of medicines procurement and supply chain activities.
• Support the pharmacy procurement team and relevant clinical/medicines optimisation colleagues to ensure appropriate clinical and commissioning input into medicines procurement decisions including the management of medicines shortages for use in hospital, outpatient or homecare setting as appropriate.
• To support with the implementation of national and regional procurement guidance to support the management of drug shortages and maximise savings for the NHS.
• To conduct risk assessments related to procured medicines in conjunction with relevant clinical colleagues.
• To provide clinical input into the medicine’s shortage information compiled and circulated to the wider pharmacy team and clinical colleagues.
• To support the senior pharmacy team in relation to the managed entry of new medicines into the Trust in line with National and Local commissioner guidance and associated Drug &Therapeutics Committee (DTC) implementation considerations.
• To work with the procurement team to ensure that appropriate actions are taken following new drug approval decisions made by DTC.
• To support the Principal Pharmacist Medicines Optimisation to develop and support the implementation of initiatives designed to maximise savings for commissioners.
• To provide commissioning support to clinical teams, to assist in understanding and implementing commissioning policies and protocols.
• To support the production, co-ordination and management of the horizon scanning information for new medicines, liaising with senior clinical pharmacists and clinicians.
• Use of expert clinical and commissioning knowledge to identify appropriate routes of approval for individual patients.
• To support the provision of reports to DTC regarding medicines value (e.g., biosimilar uptake and PAS schemes uptake) and compliance with NICE TA and Commissioning statements.
• To develop, validate and monitor reporting for the effective management of medicines usage and financial budgets.

Clinical duties

• To practise as an Independent Prescriber and prescribe to appropriate patients in agreement with relevant consultants.
• To support prescribing at the individual patient level, contributing to the optimisation of patients’ drug therapy with due consideration to risk/benefit issues.
• To deliver a clinical pharmacy service to designated patient groups, promoting best practice for all areas of pharmaceutical care in accordance with all local, Trust and national guidelines.
• To use specialist knowledge to identify and resolve complex pharmaceutical issues, taking into consideration other co-morbidity factors associated with the patient and liaise with medical and nursing staff.
• In conjunction with the Principal Pharmacist in Clinical Services, to establish processes for the setting of standards of care, identifying the risks involved and implement changes that need to occur to achieve these.
• To undertake clinical audit and practice research as part of the multi-disciplinary audit process within clinical pharmacy service.
• To identify and report any systemic or preventable errors associated with medicines within the Trust and facilitate learning.
• To demonstrate safe and effective screening / review of prescriptions for chemotherapy regimens, clinical trials and treatment strategies in use at the Christie including full awareness of the intrathecal chemotherapy policy.
• To support the development and delivery of clinical pharmacy services to clinical areas in order to advance the safe, clinically effective and cost-effective use of medicines.
• To ensure appropriate and timely supply of medicines to patients in conjunction with dispensary staff and commercial providers.

Leadership

• To manage the homecare team on a day-to-day basis in conjunction with the Lead Procurement and Homecare Technician
• To manage, plan and direct the work of the team.
• To ensure the timely and effective recruitment of staff within the Pharmacy Homecare team in conjunction with the Principal Pharmacist Medicines Optimisation
• To ensure the team is appraised regularly and mandatory training is up to date.
• To be responsible for planning and implementing strategic goals for the Pharmacy Homecare team.
• To undertake and implement informal and formal trust HR procedures as necessary.