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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Emergency Department  and Front Door Services

Work with the lead consultants, Doctors, ACP and nursing teams ED, A&E obs, Ambulatory. To review, develop and maintain policies, guidelines and procedures to ensure safe and effective supply, storage, prescribing, administration and monitoring of medication. Ensure policies and procedures comply with existing legal requirements, best practice, national and local guidelines and Health Care Commission Requirements.

As an expert practitioner, provide support and advice trust-wide to medical staff initiating, maintaining and monitoring patients in ED, encouraging adherence to Trust acute medicine PGDs/guidelines/ policy.

Ensure accurate transfer of necessary information to GPs to enable continuation of treatment and prevent re-admission to hospital, including meeting all relevant requirements of the Area Prescribing Committee.

Proactively work with prescribers to ensure safe prescribing within the ED and practice is embedded across the Trust.

To the management of End of Life and Palliative patients which come through the ED to support the specialist palliative care team.

Lead, develop and deliver education and training to junior doctors, nurses and pharmacists regarding prescribing, administration and monitoring.

Audit and monitor practice against national standards and Trust guidance to provide assurance to the Medication Safety Committee with regards to safe use of medicine within ED setting across the Trust.

Educate and counsel patients regarding their therapies.

To develop and provide a comprehensive clinical pharmacy service for the patients in your areas a SWFT, attending ward rounds and multidisciplinary team meetings as required.

General Clinical Service

To liaise with hospital colleagues and contribute to the provision of clinical pharmacy services at SWFT.

To contribute to directorate work for all medical specialities.

To advise on / recommend / adapt clinical treatment guidelines that have been produced locally or by national bodies e.g. NICE, NSFs, National Prescribing Centre, for use in the specialty area.

To be a lead pharmacist in advising the Principal Pharmacist, and the Head of Pharmacy, on the strategic development of clinical pharmacy services to the designated specialist services.

Work with the ward based and dispensary pharmacy teams in the development of and maintenance of the Trust’s pharmacy services.

To ensure that safe systems of handling medicines are in place and that national guidelines and local protocols relating to medicines management are adhered to.

To advise medical, nursing, other professional staff, managers and patients on any aspect of drug therapy or drug control as required or when considered necessary.

To maintain an awareness of current developments in pharmacy practice pertinent to the services, by liaising with relevant bodies, outside agencies, special interest groups and other pharmacists. To inform and advise senior pharmacy staff as appropriate.

Governance

To work directly with the medicine Safety officer and principle pharmacist in addressing the pharmacy and medicines management governance agenda within the Trust relevant to their designated specialty.

To represent Pharmacy on the Audit and Operational Governance group of the relevant division, in the postholder’s own right, or as alternate.

To undertake the reporting of medication incidents when necessary, according to the Trust’s Incident Reporting Policy, to assist other pharmacists in reporting, to investigate medication incidents as necessary, to provide senior pharmacist input to incident report forms and root cause analyses, and to recommend improvements and implement agreed actions.

As a registered practising Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council, the post-holder must undertake Continuing Professional Development CPD and meet the mandatory requirements.

Operational Pharmacy

To contribute to duties as a clinical pharmacist to other wards in the Trust when necessary.

Supporting the assessment of medicines management competencies.

To deputize for senior pharmacy managers as required.

To liaise with the Senior Pharmacists for the allocation of staff, notably to negotiate staffing resource to provide cover of the specialist services in the postholder’s absence.

To participate in the provision of the total pharmaceutical service, including a contribution to dispensary rotas on weekdays, late duties, and public holidays. The department provides a 7 day pharmacy service and the post holder will be expected to work weekends on a regular basis.

To participate in oncall service depending on service needs.

To undertake routine duties within the dispensary as required, including supervising the work of junior pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and (senior) ATOs.

To assure the standards of pharmaceutical care provided to patients on designated wards, ensuring that a satisfactory level of pharmacy service is provided within the resources available.

Education and Training

The post holder will support the pharmacy department’s aspirations in achieving and maintaining the highest possible standards of clinical pharmacy excellence.

If agreed, to act as a Pre-Registration Pharmacist tutor, or as a clinical coordinator for a post-graduate diploma student.

To provide clinical education and training to medical, nursing and pharmacy staff, both undergraduate and postgraduate, including tutoring and mentoring.

To supervise, contribute to and undertake research and audit projects in the specialty areas, particularly those concerned with the clinical and cost effective use of drugs, compliance with safer prescribing and drug administration policies, procedures and guidelines, and implementation of pharmacy service developments. To provide reports and present the audit findings within the Trust or to outside organizations or regional or national meetings where appropriate.

To support the Education and Training Lead Pharmacist to develop and maintain a training Programme for clinical pharmacists allocated to the specialty, and to develop and administer a competency assessment process to ensure the appropriate standards are achieved. To provide clinical pharmacy training for undergraduate pharmacy students, post-grad. diploma students, vacation students, pre-registration pharmacists (hospital and community-based) and hospital clinical pharmacists.

Research

The post holder may undertake practice research and will support research and audit by students and others within the department.

Managerial Responsibilities

To provide short-term cover for colleagues during periods of leave.

To ensure that all Trust standards are maintained and monitored to improve the quality of care to all whom come into contact with services provided by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Every employee has a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of him/her and of other persons who may be affected by his/her acts or omissions at work, and to co-operate with the South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust to ensure that statutory and Trust regulations are complied with.

To participate in appraisals and personal reviews and work to achieve agreed set objectives.

To participate in appropriate training and development activities.

To participate in team, professional and personal development activities and promote commitment to continuous development and improvement.

Ensure that all staff consciously review mistakes, complaints and incidents/near misses as well as successes to improve performance and the level of customer care.

All employees will have an organizational and individual responsibility towards safeguarding vulnerable adults, young people and children. Where employees are working with children, young people and families they have a responsibility to cooperate in national safeguarding policy around early intervention activities appropriate to improving health outcomes.

As a major provider of health care, South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust operate a Smoke Free Policy by providing a totally smoke free environment to help aid patients’ recovery, promote health and wellbeing and minimize the risks of complications attributed to smoking tobacco and second hand smoke.

To abide by Infection Prevention and Control policies relevant to their area of work, and undertake the necessary level of training. This will be appraised through the KSF review process or other relevant professional review process.

To accept responsibility for the provision of effective infection prevention and control within the Trust in liaison with the Trust's Infection Control Team. 

To act as a role model in applying good infection control practice and ensures compliance with all Infection Control policies.

To promote and demonstrate implementation of the Trust's Carbon Management strategy and policy, ensuring team members are fully aware of the policy and are contributing to this.

For full details on duties associated with this role please see attached Job Description.