Job Description

Duties and Responsibilities Communication and Working Relationship Skills Communicate highly complex drug or medicines related information in an understandable format to people who use our services so that they can make informed contributions to treatment decisions and are able to use their medication safely and effectively. This information may be provided through face to face conversations, via a central medicines information telephone service, via tailored patient information leaflets or as face to face or group presentations for service users and carer groups. It may involve tactfully conveying sensitive or contentious information to people with mental health issues or learning disabilities, including those with challenging behavioural issues. Communicate highly complex information about medicines to prescribers and other health care professionals.

This will involve attending multi-disciplinary team meetings, delivering presentations, answering queries via a central medicines helpline telephone service and providing written guidance and briefings. It will sometimes involve challenging the decisions already made by the MDT. Document medication reviews and drug histories accurately and concisely to support care planning for individual patients Document all interventions you make in a persons care in their electronic patient record and highlight these interventions to prescribers via phone or email if necessary Document information provided through the Medicines Helpline service according to the relevant procedure. Maintain and develop communication links with local Trusts and Commissioners to improve systems and processes within the Trust.

Maintain and develop communication links with other Mental Health Trusts and special interest groups by participating in benchmarking exercises, meetings and participating in the College of Mental Health Pharmacists Forum Analytical and Judgemental Skills Review prescriptions for appropriateness in light of indication, individual presentation and concomitant medical conditions paying particular attention to specialist, complex regimens. Provide advice on treatment choices, dosages, legality of prescriptions e.g. in relation to the mental health act. Ensure all complex medication regimes are evidence-based and challenge prescribers when prescribing is outside current guidelines/best practice Advise prescribers on next steps to take when treating individuals with treatment-resistant presentations Discuss medication regimes with individuals paying particular attention to their understanding of their medicines and using language/leaflets appropriate to the individuals level of understanding Work with the data analyst to analyse local prescribing data to highlight any practice that needs investigating and act accordingly.

Planning and Organisational Skills You will work independently to provide advice and support to the learning disability service and to The Brook inpatient services you will need to plan and organise your work commitments to balance the requirements of this alongside the requirements of the wider MO team e.g. central medicines helpline phone service, development of procedures, carrying out audits, attending governance meetings Ensure that all staff in The Brook and wider learning disability service, know how to contact you and who to contact in your absence for advice Prioritise actions to ensure that relevant medicines optimisation performance KPIs are met Be responsible for own professional development by maintaining GPhC Continuing Professional Development records to professional standards supporting revalidation, and actively progressing DPT Personal Development Plans Responsibility for Patient/Client Care, Treatment and Therapy Provide a highly specialist, clinical pharmacy service to The Brook, the wider learning disability service and primary care by; o Identifying and minimising risks associated with the use of medicines. o Contributing to medication care plans and working as an integral member of the multi-professional team o Reviewing medication charts and prescription records to ensure that each prescription is appropriate for that person, legal, legible, safe and effective. o Identifying drug interactions and adverse effects and addressing issues as appropriate.

o Advising on the monitoring of medication regarding efficacy, safety and side effects and interpreting physical health monitoring and blood test results. o Undertaking medication reviews and drug history reports as required o Ensuring that all your interventions are documented in the electronic patient record and communicated according to Trust and/or PCN policy. o Educating people who use our services and their carers about medication. o Developing, implementing and supporting schemes which promote medicines adherence o Promoting seamless care by liaising with GPs, nurses, other specialties and community pharmacists to ensure clear treatment plans, safe and effective prescribing, continued prescribing/ supply arrangements, support with medicines adherence and medicines reconciliation.

o Providing a medicines information service for community staff (LD, Autism, CMHT and PCN) o Supporting PCNs with safe practice (e.g. through SOPs) for managing mental health medicines (e.g. depots, clozapine) Once qualified, practice as an independent pharmacist prescriber to provide timely access to treatment in accordance with Trust non-medical prescribing policies Responsibility for Policy and Service Development Implementation Recommends and contributes towards the development, implementation and review of medicines-related policies, clinical protocols, standard operating procedures, prescribing guidelines, practice standards and safety briefings. Ensure adherence to the standards of the Medicines Policy and other MO documentation and report any deviations to unit managers and Deputy Chief Pharmacists and report via the Trust Risk Management System where appropriate.

Review all medicines incidents reported via the Trust Risk Management System for your locality each month and contribute to incident reviews and root cause analyses where necessary. Exercise vigilance in the timely identification of risks relating to any aspect of medicine usage. Attend governance meetings (locality meetings and the MOSG) to ensure that risk areas related to medicines are addressed and implement changes to practice where necessary The post holder will support the Trust Medicines Safety Officer in their roles and ensure that specific medicines safety considerations are identified and addressed through the employing organisations medicine safety structure. Responsibility for Finance, Equipment and Other Resources Responsible for ensuring medicines are stored and used in accordance with trust medicines policy.

Assist the Medicines Optimisation Prescribing Analyst with the provision of timely and accessible prescribing reports detailing clinical and financial medicines information for clinicians and Trust managers. Advise on measures to improve cost effectiveness within your locality and contribute to Medicines Optimisation cost-improvement initiatives where relevant Provide support to Deputy Chief Pharmacists to present and interpret budgetary information to locality teams to ensure that significant trends and variances are highlighted together with proposals for remedial action Promote cost effective prescribing at an individual level by pointing out cost implications of prescribing decisions at MDTs and ensuring that their own prescribing practice meets these same standards Responsibility for Human Resources, e.g. Supervision, Training, HR Advice and Management They will be managed by the Deputy Chief Pharmacist Clinical Services, but will also report to the Deputy Chief Pharmacist Medicines Safety and Governance, the accountable officer for controlled drugs and the PCN lead for some of their wider team tasks They will deputise for the Deputy Chief Pharmacist where appropriate and attend locality meetings to ensure pharmaceutical issues are considered. They will provide line management for technicians (when delegated by Chief Pharmacy Technician) and pharmacists working within their workstream They will provide clinical supervision for technicians and pharmacists working within their workstream They will be expected to work autonomously with access to support when required.

They will delegate tasks to pharmacists, MO technicians, link practitioners and ward staff as appropriate, providing assistance to the technicians where required. They will assist in the development, delivery and audit of medicines related education and training programmes for healthcare staff, including inductions for new staff They will help supervise technicians, pre-registration and diploma pharmacists from acute trust hospitals who come to DPT for experience of working in mental health.