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Detailed job description and main responsibilities

KEY DUTIES 

• Taking drug histories on admission and informing medical staff of any discrepancies with medication prescribed to ensure continuity of treatment.
• Review medication to ensure safe and effective use.
• Annotate patients’ medicines kardex with details of any allergies and specific instructions relating to administration of medicines to ensure safe and effective therapy.
• Formulate individual pharmaceutical care plans and implement appropriate monitoring of therapy to ensure safe and effective therapy.
• Review and update care plans depending on response, results of investigations and adverse effects to ensure safe and effective therapy.
• Educate patients on their drug therapy to enable concordance.
• Liaise with nursing and medical staff on issues relating to patient’s drug therapy to ensure safe and effective therapy.
• Checking patients’ own drugs for suitability to reuse to ensure safe and effective therapy and achieve medication cost containment.
• Therapeutic drug monitoring for specific drugs with a narrow therapeutic window to ensure safe and effective therapy.

To provide professional and legal clinical supervision in the dispensary as allocated: Duties will include,

• Professional checking of inpatient requisitions, outpatient, Accident and Emergency, and To Take Out (TTO) prescriptions to ensure safe and effective therapy.
• Ensuring all prescriptions comply with the Medicines Act, and the Misuse of Drugs Act where appropriate.
• Final checking of prescriptions for accuracy prior to release including extemporaneously dispensed items
• Labelling and dispensing of medication as required including extemporaneously dispensed items to ensure compliance with relevant legislation.
• Providing advice to patients on how to take their medicines and potential side effects to ensure safe and effective therapy.
• Advice to Doctors, nurses and other professionals as required.
• Receive and dispense controlled drugs in accordance with the Misuse of Drugs Act
• Dispense extemporaneously on call when required to do so.
• Liaise with medical staff on the availability of medicinal products.

To rotate through Medicines Information and undertake training and achieve competence in answering a wide variety of complex enquiries:

• Enquiries will include all grades of doctor, pharmacists, nurses, patients and members of the public and will mainly but not exclusively originate from within the Trust and local healthcare community.
• Enquiries will include requests for advice/information on the administration of medicines, their availability, adverse effects, use in pregnancy/breastfeeding, drug interactions, identification of unlabelled/foreign medicines, poisoning and toxicology.
• To communicate complex information effectively with all grades of staff and users of the Medicines Information service using a wide variety of communication including verbal, written and electronic

To rotate through antibiotics and gain experience and achieve competence in the following under the supervision of the Antibiotic Medicines Management Pharmacist:

• Identify areas for audit.
• Design and conduct appropriate audits.
• Analyse and present results
• Make recommendations.
• Monitor the use of non-formulary antibiotics and provide feedback to the Medicines Management Committee and Hospital Control of Infection Committee
• Receive and interpret drug levels for those antibiotics which require intensive monitoring. Advise on adjustment of dosages as necessary.
• Participate in regional antibiotic audits

Rotate through the Aseptic Dispensing Unit and gain experience and achieve competence in:

• Clinical checking of prescriptions for cytotoxic chemotherapy and Hospital at Home for correct drug, dose, route and rate of administration, to make any necessary annotations to kardexes that arise from this and to contact medical and nursing staff if appropriate, to perform any releasing calculations arising from the clinical check.
• Preparation and final checking of intravenous antibiotics
• Preparation and final checking of Total Parental Nutrition
• Preparation and final checking of cytotoxic chemotherapy
• To assist other pharmacists in ensuring that work carried out in the departments at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals is performed in accordance with the recommendation contained in the Guide to Good Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Practice and its supplements, and the safe systems of work documentation.
• Liaise with appropriate healthcare professionals within Primary Care Trusts to ensure the effective and efficient use of resources across the primary/secondary care interface and where necessary develop shared care protocols.
• Record regularly clinical interventions and activities in line with departmental policy.
• After appropriate training participate in the departmental therapeutic drug monitoring service, interpreting drug levels and recommending appropriate dosage adjustments to medical staff.
• To undertake the 3 monthly ward-controlled drugs checks in line with departmental policy.
• Return unwanted or patients own controlled drugs from wards in accordance with departmental policy and the Misuse of Drugs Act
• To assist medical staff in undertaking of such clinical trials as have been approved by the Ethical Committee and to arrange under the direction of senior members of staff of the Pharmacy department the necessary supplies and aspects of clinical trials protocol affecting the pharmaceutical service.
• To attend appropriate training courses for pharmacists and to encourage other staff to undertake further training.
• To undertake a diploma/MSc in clinical Pharmacy under supervision of a senior Clinical Pharmacist
• To participate in the training of pre- registration pharmacists and Student Pharmacy Technicians
• To co-operate with the Head of Pharmacy and other pharmacists in the training of health service staff
• To participate in individual performance review and the use of personal development plans
• To participate in clinical audit and practice research as instructed by senior pharmacists within the department including presentation of results where appropriate.
• To comply with legal and other requirements related to the purchase, supply, use, safe custody, and destruction of drugs within the pharmacy and other areas of the hospital.
• To participate in a rota that enables the department to provide a full 7-day service.
• To participate as necessary in the on call, Saturday, Sunday, Bank Holiday and emergency duty rotas
• To ensure the security of the in-patient and out-patient dispensaries as allocated on the locking up rota
• To participate in Continuing Professional Development as per department policy and national guidelines from the General Pharmaceutical Council
• To comply with Regulations in respect of the Health and Safety at Work Act, COSSH , Data Protection Act and other appropriate legislation
• To undertake any other related duties which may be required.

CLINICAL & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• To observe the provisions of and adhere to all Trust policies and procedures.
• To actively participate in the annual performance review to identify personal development needs.
• To attend Trust Statutory and Mandatory training sessions as required and any other training courses relevant to the post.
• To be aware of the confidential aspects of the post. Breaches of confidentiality will result in disciplinary action that may involve dismissal.  The post holder should also be aware that, regardless of any action taken by the employing authority, breaches of confidentiality could result in civil action for damages.
• All employees must fully comply with the relevant sections of the Health and Safety at Work.  They must also understand and implement St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Hospitals Trust “Statement of Policy on Health and Safety at Work” and the Trust corporate “Health and Safety Policies and Procedures”.  You are required to follow all applicable rules and procedures relating to Health and Safety at Work and to take all responsible precautions to avoid actions.
• All staff will be treated with respect by management, colleagues, patients, and visitors and equally staff will treat management, colleagues, patients and visitors with the same level of respect. Staff will be supported to challenge any discriminatory behaviour that may be based on differences in race, disability, language, culture, religion, sexuality, age, gender, or employment status.
• St. Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has a ‘No Smoking’ Policy and smoking is not permitted in Trust buildings or vehicles.
• All employees are individually responsible for the prevention and control of infection within their own area. The employee must attend Infection Control Induction training and mandatory Infection control training. The employee must follow all Trust policies, procedures and guidelines relating to Infection Control.
• To adhere to relevant Code of Practice of the General Pharmaceutical Council
• To maintain registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• The duties contained in this job description are not intended to be exhaustive.  The tasks and responsibilities of this post are likely to evolve in line with the Trust’s continued organisational development.
• The post holder must be flexible in the duties performed and it is expected that similar duties, not specifically listed above, will be carried out as required and may be cross site. Any such variation will be agreed in advance between the postholder and their manager as part of the continuing process of management review and development.
• The employee shares with the employer the responsibility for suggestions to alter the scope of duties to improve the working situation. This document is intended to be a guide to the general scope of duties and not an inflexible specification