An opportunity has arisen to join our established, friendly, and dynamic clinical pharmacy team at South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

The post will be based at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Ladywell Unit, and offers the opportunity to rotate between the two hospital sites.

We are looking for a pharmacist whose career has demonstrated broad-based clinical knowledge and excellent communication skills, and who is interested in specialising in psychiatry.

Main duties of the job

You will be involved in both dispensary- and ward-based pharmacy services.

As part of the MDT, you will advise on treatments for both mental health and physical health conditions, and provide information about medication to both staff and patients to improve understanding and contribute to evidence based care.

You will have the opportunity to lead on quality improvement projects and be involved in research and drug evaluation projects.

The Bethlem Royal Hospital provides the dispensary services for Croydon and Lewisham community, the acute and rehabilitation wards at Bethlem and Ladywell, and the national and specialist inpatient wards at Bethlem.

The post is rotational and you will gain experience in all areas over the first few years.

About us

About the team:

South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK. We are a world leading Trust in research, working closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. Our services include the Maudsley Hospital, Lambeth Hospital and Bethlem Royal Hospital. We are also part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.

The pharmacy department provides a clinical and dispensing service to wards and community teams in Croydon, Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth across four hospital sites and a wide variety of community mental health teams.

About the location:

Bethlem Royal Hospital is based in a beautiful setting in over 200 acres of green space in the London Borough of Bromley, South East London. The hospital has easy access to nearby main roads and have offers free parking. The site is within walking distance from of Eden Park and West Wickham overland stations.

Lewisham Hospital is based in south east London, zone 3 and is close to the beautiful green open spaces of Ladywell fields park and Lewisham park. It is within walking distance to the vibrant high-street with shops and restaurants and located within walking distance from Ladywell, Hither Green, Catford and Crofton Park overland stations. The site does offer parking and is not located within the congestion charge zone. For further information please visit our website.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

• To deliver a comprehensive clinical pharmacy service to inpatient wards and community mental health teams in line with Trust policies, procedures and standards.
• To support patients to gain maximum benefit from their medicines, through medicines related consultations with patients and carers, involving patients in treatment decisions, and improving patient and carer satisfaction with information they receive about medicines
• To support the multidisciplinary inpatient teams to use medicines safely and effectively and reduce medicines wastage through medicines optimisation and quality improvement programmes, and by providing medicines related training
• To act as a practice supervisor in the training and education of trainee pharmacists and junior pharmacists
• To prescribe medicines within competence and scope of practice, once qualified to do so by completing the post-graduate certificate in Independent Prescribing
• To partake in the pharmacy on-call service (Emergency Duty Cover, bank holiday rotas) and a Saturday service.

Key Responsibilities:

To ensure safe and effective use of medicines at ward, team and dispensary level. This includes adhering to Trust policies, pharmacy procedures, local and national guidelines, and legal requirements.

To be responsible for providing clinical pharmacy input as part of the multidisciplinary team (MDT). This will include providing advice to clinicians on medicines, including the use of unlicensed medicines use and areas of practice where the evidence base is lacking, liaising with the medicines information pharmacists where appropriate.

To be responsible for providing a clinical pharmacy service to groups of patients

• Ensure effective outcomes of treatment with medicines
• Monitor patients for potential and actual adverse effects of their medicines
• Ensure the effective, timely and accurate supply of medicines suitable for use as an inpatient and appropriately labelled for discharge if applicable.
• Support planning for discharge, including liaising with community team pharmacists for follow-up appointments where appropriate
• Undertake medicines-related consultations to inpatients during their admission and run medication groups on the ward.
• Take steps to ensure patients understand the purpose of their medicines and deal with any practical issues that may prevent the optimal use of their medicines.

To assess medicine regimes both during enquiry answering and/or routine ward visits, providing highly specific advice to other clinical team members on the management of often complex medicine related issues, such as complex drug interactions, high dose antipsychotic prescribing, unlicensed use of medicines etc.

To prescribe medicines within their scope of practice and in line with Trust policy if qualified and registered with the GPhC as an independent pharmacist prescriber.

To be able to present information in a suitable format (e.g. written and/or verbal) and style for the target audience. Barriers to effective communication may include learning disability, mental impairment, non-consenting/noncompliant patients, and patients detained under the mental health act who may be violent/aggressive.

To provide information in a timely manner, to the appropriate individual (in accordance with the degree of urgency of the request or issue identified).

To assist the principal pharmacist in communicating relevant SLaM Trust decisions and policy relating to medicines to local clinical areas.

To prepare and deliver training for clinical staff (e.g. nurses, support workers, junior doctors) on a wide range of medicines-related issues. To provide clinical supervision to a team of pharmacists, and to act as a practice supervisor to pre-registration training pharmacists and junior pharmacists.

To support local implementation of Trust Medicines Management Policies within own clinical area, and ensure medicines are handled safely and securely within designated clinical areas.

To participate in and develop quality improvement initiatives, undertake local and national audits, and engage in research and medicines evaluation as required by the Chief Pharmacist

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• MPharm or equivalent
• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), with mandatory CPD

Desirable

• Postgraduate certificate/diploma in mental health or pharmacy practice or equivalent
• Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society or Member / associate member of the CMHP
• Independent prescriber

Skills

Essential

• Good written and verbal communication
• Ability to work without close supervision, making decisions and acting upon them within the limitations and understanding of the job responsibilities, or to refer appropriately
• Good time management with ability to prioritise workload and meet deadlines
• Empathy and understanding of medication issues facing people with mental health problems and their carers

Desirable

• Ability to collect and analyse outcome data for service evaluation purposes
• Ability to direct own learning and adapt quickly to new and challenging situations

Experience

Essential

• Relevant experience in patient-facing pharmacist roles
• Relevant experience in NHS hospital pharmacy
• Interest and desire to work in mental health

Desirable

• Previous experience in providing clinical mental health services
• Previous experience in working in primary care networks or GP practices

Employer details

Employer name

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Bethlem Royal Hospital and Ladywell Unit

London

SE13 6LW

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