Advanced Pharmacist, Frailty/Elderly and Stroke

Job overview

We are seeking an innovative and driven Advanced Pharmacist with a passion for Frailty, Elderly, and Stroke medicine to join our forward thinking and friendly clinical pharmacy team. The successful candidate will play a crucial role within the stroke and geriatric multidisciplinary teams to lead, develop and improve the pathways for our acute frailty, elderly and stroke patients. Your expertise will transform the approach to care and improve the outcomes for some of our most vulnerable patients.

As the Advanced Frailty, Elderly and Stroke Pharmacist will work alongside the enthusiastic specialist pharmacists to elevate the clinical service to the Frailty, Elderly and Stroke wards. You will support and mentor junior pharmacists rotating through the speciality, sharing your knowledge and expertise to aid their professional development. You will be able to use your prescribing skills along side our MDT

Main duties of the job

To lead the Pharmacy Service to the Geriatric medical wards, Stroke wards and the Acute Frailty Pathway, alongside the Specialist Pharmacists.

To operate as an Advanced Pharmacist for Elderly, Stroke, and Frailty patients.  To develop the dedicated pharmacy service (DWP) with the priority on frail patients.

To communicate highly complex information relating to medicines with clinicians, nurses, independent prescribers, carers, and patients.

To lead, develop and evaluate the delivery of a responsive, proactive, patient-focused Clinical Pharmacy Service to the Elderly, Stroke and Frailty wards.

To lead the strategic planning of pharmaceutical issues relating to the Elderly, Stroke and Frailty wards e.g., consideration of medicines management post stroke.

Facilitate achievement of clinical standards for 7-day Pharmacy Services.

To supervise and train Pharmacy staff rotating through the clinical specialities within the Medicine and Urgent Care Group.

To play a lead Trust role in promoting and developing the optimum use of medicines as per Primary and Secondary policy use of medicines.

To contribute to the delivery of the Trust Medicines Optimisation Strategy.

To undertake/support projects or developments within the speciality (eg. Quaility Improvements, Audits and Research.

To contribute towards the development and maintenance of guidelines and PGDs within the speciality.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical Services Lead and continue to develop aspects of the delivery of clinical pharmacy and medicines management services to the Frailty and Stroke Pathway under the auspices of the Principal Pharmacist for Medicine, and in liaison with the Specialist Clinical  Pharmacists in DWP.

To proactively promote safe and evidence-based prescribing with all grades of doctors, prescribers, and nursing staff in admission areas by communicating and providing highly complex information on medication and challenging poor practice.

To implement high quality specialist prescribing and effective use of medicines in patients presenting in the Acute Frailty Unit, Stroke and Elderly wards, either as a defined cohort of patients or as part of the flow of management of patients with clinicians.

To prescribe safely in the interests of the patients and in line with the formulary, policy,  procedures, or guidance.

To provide general and specialist pharmaceutical advice and support to the Stroke, Elderly and Frailty Team staff, to enhance the quality of patient care which will include all patient aged groups and of many morbidities.

To liaise closely with medical, pharmacy and nursing staff to develop and implement complex therapeutic guidelines eg, Antimicrobial Guidelines, standard operating procedures and medicines-related policies in Elderly and Stroke, to provide advice  where information is lacking, or medical opinions may differ.

To manage and participate in the delivery and development of the Clinical Pharmacy Service eg, proactive participation in ward rounds, input into medicines management review, acting as a clinical pharmacy role model being accountable for your own  professional actions.

To develop standards of clinical pharmacy practice which align with national frameworks and performance management measures with Principal Pharmacists.

Maintain an up-to-date clinical expert knowledge in clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice to ensure a broad base of pharmaceutical knowledge and an advanced level of clinical reasoning and judgement.

To optimise medicines management by reconciling drug histories, performing medication reviews, and using patients’ own medicines.

To promote and develop strategies for effective, safe, and timely discharges from Urgent Care settings with close liaison with community health professionals, to ensure complex medication is reconciled in Primary Care and patients have access to medicines eg, linking with external agents, care homes.

To detect, record and report adverse drug reactions during admissions to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and via Datix as per Trust Policy.

To record your clinical activity and to monitor the outcome of your advice.

To fulfil the requirements of the Code of Ethics and Standards of Good Professional Practice.

To implement the Duty of Candour.

Please see Job Description for further information.