Band 8a Senior specialist pharmacist - Renal Services

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Our trust has around 10,000 staff serving 1.6 million patients. It comprises Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital and more than 30 services in the community. This larger scale organisation provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue our pioneering work, particularly in finding ways to deliver even better care to our patients.

Our mission is to deliver world class care and expertise in our clinical services, underpinned by world class teaching and research and we will continue to measure our progress against our five governing objectives: excellent outcomes, excellent patient and staff experience, excellent value for taxpayers' money, being safe and meeting our external duties, and building a strong organisation.

Everyone is welcome at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. We're proud of our diversity and we continue to undertake new initiatives to advance equality for LGBT+, BME, gender equality, staff carers and people with disabilities and lived experiences to promote good relations and understanding between our staff.

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Job overview

Job title: Senior Pharmacist - Renal 8a (Fixed term maternity leave cover 12 months)

Do you have an interest in renal pharmacy? Then we have an exciting opportunity for you as we have a vacancy for a pharmacist to join our renal pharmacy team.

The role will be varied, incorporating many different aspects of renal pharmacy including working on the renal wards, attending consultant ward rounds, visiting off-site dialysis units and after a period of training, working in the renal transplant clinics prescribing and optimising transplant medicines. You will also play a role in the training and development of junior pharmacists within the team, including setting objectives.

Potential candidates will have experience working as a band 7 pharmacist, with some experience of working in renal. You will be comfortable working with nursing and medical staff at ward level and be able to contribute to optimising medicines for this complex set of patients. Experience of clinics and independent prescribing would be an advantage but not essential as training will be given. Previous experience of high-cost drug processes and writing of drug reviews and clinical guidelines would also be beneficial.

Main duties of the job

• Act as a deputy for Principal Pharmacist when necessary
• Regular active participation in speciality ward rounds to support safe and effective use of medicines with these areas
• Prescribing and optimisation of transplant medicines in clinics
• To act as a clinical role model, and support training and supervision of junior members of the pharmacy team
• Development and implementation of clinical guidelines
• Effective control of drug expenditure and management of processes regarding high-cost drugs
• To participate in audits and practice research
• To work with the clinical risk team to minimise the risk of medicines

Working for our organisation

The Royal Free London NHS Trust is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the UK with many specialties including kidney and liver transplantation, haemophilia, amyloidosis and scleroderma with the newly opened Pears Building being at the forefront of medical research.

The trust has around 10,000 staff serving 1.6 million patients. It comprises Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, the Royal Free Hospital and more than 30 services in the community. This large-scale organisation provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to continue our pioneering work, particularly in finding ways to deliver even better care to our patients.

The Pharmacy department is a friendly, progressive and expanding unit dedicated to providing the highest standards of pharmaceutical care and service. Providing a variety of pharmacy services across all three sites, the pharmacy department have recently played a pivotal role in the implementation of electronic prescribing system and have strategic plans for the development of more consultant and independent prescribing pharmacists. The pharmacy renal team consists of a team of pharmacists and technicians working across all the renal and urology wards to provide a safe, cost-effective and timely service to patients. The team are well-respected both at ward and clinic level, providing advice to both nursing and medical staff on the use of medicines for this complex set of patients.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

1. CLINICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
• Provision of a high-quality clinical pharmacy service as part of the multidisciplinary team to all patients within the renal unit, to ensure maximum efficacy, safety and economic drug use and to demonstrate professional accountability to enhance patient care. The responsibilities will include regular attendance of consultant ward rounds and daily registrar ward rounds
• Delivery of a high quality, specialist ward-based pharmacy service, including medicines reconciliation, expert review of complex drug regimens, drug history taking, drug interaction monitoring, dose reduction and ensuring timely and efficient drug supply and discharge planning within the Renal Unit.
• Delivery of a high-quality, comprehensive clinical pharmacy service to the five satellite haemodialysis units and two kidney care centres.
• Management of the self-medication programme for renal transplant patients on the acute renal wards.
• Act as a supplementary or independent prescriber within agreed protocols, and prescribe all required immunosuppression medication for transplant patients for delivery by the homecare service.
• Demonstrate a high level of expert knowledge in the field of nephrology, dialysis and transplantation.
• Communication of complex pharmaceutical information, according to the level of understanding, direct to patients/carers and healthcare professionals.
• Make evidence-based decisions, in partnership with patients and other professionals within the specialist area.
• Development and review of Patient Group Directions
• Development and review of Shared Care guidelines.
• Develop and implementation of relevant local and national guidelines within the renal speciality.
• Identify, initiate and evaluate Drug Usage Reviews and audits and implement changes in prescribing practice accordingly.
• Develop relevant patient information leaflets which complement licensed product information
• Provide support on concordance related issues to patients
• Provide clinical screening and dispensing support to the renal technicians for the accurate and timely dispensing of renal prescriptions.
• Provide expert medicines information to clinicians and healthcare professionals and ensure that this information is utilised in a systematic and appropriate way to optimise patient care.
• To liaise and work with other specialist pharmacists to share the best practice, to strengthen patient focused pharmaceutical care.

2. RESPONSIBILITY FOR PATIENTS
• To assist in identifying and managing changes necessary to maintain a high-quality service responsive to patients needs and to consider the implications of changes for other areas/personnel.
• To assist in the planning and organising of a clinical pharmacy service to renal patients in both the inpatient and outpatient settings.
• To deal effectively with situations where medication errors have occurred, including liaising directly with patients and staff concerned.
• Assist in responding to complaints from patients and the public in relation to medicines management issues as required.
• Ensure that all renal patients are counselled on all aspects of their medication in order to maximise their understanding of their treatment.
• To deliver a high quality and comprehensive medicines counselling service to patients and/or their relatives on all aspects of their pharmaceutical care including specialist and unlicensed drugs. To overcome communication barriers through the use of interpreters or other forms of communication.

3. RESPONSIBILITY FOR POLICY AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
• To assist the Lead Pharmacist, Renal Services in the production and implementation of business plans for the development of the pharmacy service provided to the renal and urology units.
• To assist in the formulation, prioritisation and implementation of long-term strategic plans for clinical pharmacy services in line with local, network and national objectives
• Contribute to the development of and ensure adherence to evidence based prescribing guidelines
• Ensuring compliance with CQC medicines related outcomes, NICE appraisals and other government related initiatives
• To ensure that all pharmacy activities, procedures and documentation within the speciality are carried out in accordance with standard operating procedures and relevant medicines legislation
• To assist in the Implementation of the Trusts Clinical Governance agenda within Renal Medicine
• To identify the risks of medicines' use in the directorate and implement strategies to minimise them, working closely with the specialities clinical risk management committee
• To participate in the audit of clinical incidents and the changes in practice resulting from this
• To assist in the auditing of services provided with the aim of improving the services provided by the renal pharmacy team

4. RESPONSIBILITY FOR FINANCIAL AND PHYSICAL RESOURCES

• Provision of detailed evaluated reports on drug expenditure to the Divisional Finance Manager, General Manager, and Clinical Head of Service
• Identify options for reducing drug expenditure.
• Forecasting new drug developments, and identify changes in prescribing practice that may impact on the drugs budget.
• Contributing to the annual pharmacy department drug cost pressure document
• Interpreting published data on new drugs for use within nephrology, dialysis, transplantation and urology, and to prepare evaluations and present applications to the Drugs, Therapeutics Committee. To communicate relevant decisions back to the specialty care group.

• Liaising with the key decision makers (senior managers, CCG's, commissioners) to ensure provision of funding for high-cost drugs i.e. Immunosuppression and treatment of renal anaemia and CKD-MBD within the Directorate.

5. RESPONSIBILITY FOR LEADING AND MANAGING
• To share expertise with healthcare professionals on a nationwide level through professional conferences, forum and bodies.
• To motivate and inspire others in order to create and maintain a good working environment and facilitate staff retention
• To plan and organise the provision of the clinical pharmacy service to the renal wards and units, including the day-to-day allocation of the workload
• To support and facilitate the development of junior pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
• To deputise for the Lead Pharmacist, Renal Services in his/her absence
• To support the Lead Pharmacist, Renal Services in the recruitment of staff
• To manage difficult and ambiguous situations and be aware of ethical dilemmas that may present in patient care and provide support and guidance to colleagues in any decision-making process.
• To attend and be active participant in relevant clinical and managerial groups divisionally, corporately and externally, in order to ensure the delivery of best care to patients.
• To represent pharmacy and act as link person at relevant meetings and conferences and disseminate knowledge of developments to other staff. eg. London Renal Pharmacy Group, UK Renal Pharmacy Group, BTS, BRS.

6. RESPONSIBILITY FOR INFORMATION RESOURCES
• To prepare reports in response to freedom of information act enquiries.
• To prepare drug expenditure reports
• To be competent in the use of JAC pharmacy system, Cerner and other relevant hospital IT systems
• To be compliant with Trust Data Protection and Patient Confidentiality policies
• Responsible to keep all relevant databases (eg high cost drugs) up to date.
• To assist in the implementation and be competent in the use of the electronic prescribing and administration system (EPMA) within the specialist areas.

7. RESPONSIBILITY FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

• To support relevant medical, nursing and pharmacy staff to ensure that nephrology, dialysis, transplantation and urology trials are run efficiently and effectively.
• To undertake and co-ordinate clinical research and audit projects and publish or present these findings. To supervise and advise other members of the pharmacy team research projects.
• To develop a personal research portfolio.
• To implement findings of research into clinical practice.

8. EDUCATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
• To act as a resource for renal pharmacy issues across the trust and community where appropriate.
• To contribute to the education and training of junior doctors in the safe and effective use of medicines in patients with renal impairment.
• To develop, implement and maintain a renal drugs knowledge and competency learning package for nurses working on the renal unit.

• To participate in the development of clinical based pharmacy training programmes
• To contribute to the departmental appraisal and development programme for junior pharmacists and technicians.
• To contribute to the education and training of pharmacy, medical, nursing staff and other healthcare workers.

Please refer to the attachment for more details.

Person specification

Education & professional Qualifications

Essential criteria

• MPharm or equivalent
• GPhC registration
• Diploma in Pharmacy
• Practice or equivalent
• Registered Independent Prescriber

Experience

Essential criteria

• At least 4 years working in hospital pharmacy and at least 2 years experience as a specialist clinical pharmacist and some experience working with renal patients
• Experience of managing and analysing drug expenditure
• Evidence of multidisciplinary working
• Evidence of a comprehensive B6&7 rotation
• Evidence of clinical audit/practice research and the promotion of evidence based practice
• Experience in education and training
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Good interpersonal skills
• Good management skills
• Demonstration of advanced clinical knowledge and pharmaceutical skills
• Demonstrates a whole system patient-focussed approach to work
• Ability to manage time effectively
• Ability to manage risks
• Ability to implement best practice
• Ability to communicate with patients and staff of all levels
• Ability to organise and prioritise work
• Ability to work alone and as part of a team
• Ability to work under pressure
• Ability to undertake clinical audit
• Ability to evaluate quality of service provided
• Understanding of current national standards and guidelines
• Understanding of clinical risk and clinical governance
• Demonstrates Critical Appraisal skills
• Computer literate
• Ability to identify own training needs
• Maintains a portfolio of practice

Personal Qualities & attributes

Essential criteria

• Enthusiastic, well motivated, hardworking
• Demonstrate initiative particularly in relation to problem solving
• Reliable to work weekends, bank holidays & late nights.
• Reliable with good attendance record

• Covid-19 Vaccination

  Getting vaccinated, and getting a booster, remains the best defence against COVID-19.
  We encourage and support staff to get COVID-19 vaccine and a booster dose as and when they are eligible.

• AT* - Apprenticeship Training. Where AT* is entered next to the job title indicates that this vacancy is for an apprenticeship role.
• By applying for this role, you accept if successful, that your personal data may be transferred from the Trust to another NHS organisation where your employment transfers within the NHS. This is in accordance with the streamlining programme which aims at saving you time and improving efficiencies within the NHS when your employment transfers. Therefore we require you to complete your stat and Man e-learning modules prior to joining our organisation.
• If you are an EU/EEA citizen who does not have EU Settlement or Pre-Settled status, you will require a visa to work in the UK.
• Applications from job seekers who require sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. Before submitting your application and to avoid disappointment please check that you are eligible under the UKVI points based system.
• If you are offered a role with one of the NLPSS partner trusts, as part of pre-employment checks your identity and right to work documentation will be verified remotely (in most circumstances), using a certified identity verification service provider TrustID. You will be asked to capture an image of the relevant documents as well as a "selfie" using your smartphone/tablet (if available) for facial matching. TrustID will also perform a digital address check using Trunarrative and Equifax, which is a soft check and does not leave a footprint on your credit rating. For more information, visit www.trustid.co.uk
• The Trust uses electronic new starter forms on Trac to collect personal details. Information collected is securely stored and used to set up the employee record on the ESR HR system.
• The Trust will request a DBS (CRB) if post involves regulated activities. The Trust is compliant with the Disclosure and Barring Service Codes of practice and the Rehabilitation of offenders act.
• By applying for this post you are agreeing to Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.
• Please be aware of scams - unless specified above, we will only communicate with you via @recruit.trac.jobs or nhs.net e-mails and we will never ask you for any payments.

Applications are welcome from people wishing to job share or work flexible patterns. We are committed to equal opportunities.

Please note:

• Due to the high number of applications that are received for some posts we may close this vacancy before the advertised closing date. Therefore please apply for this post as soon as you can, if you are interested and you meet the requirements of the Person Specification
• Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification will be shortlisted for this job.
• Interview arrangements will be communicated via email so please check your email regularly following the closing date.

Please be advised that due to exceptionally high demand, all Royal Free accommodation is at full capacity and waiting lists are being held. Average waiting times are 12 months. Please do not rely on Trust accommodation when you commence your role and ensure you investigate alternative accommodation for your arrival.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• Senior Specialist Pharmacist - Renal Services JD (1) (PDF, 640.3KB)
• Senior Specialist Pharmacist - Renal Services PS (PDF, 320.6KB)
• Functional Requirements Form (PDF, 144.6KB)