Polypharmacy, defined as the concurrent use of five or more medicines, is often appropriate for people with multiple long-term conditions. However, it can increase the risk of adverse drug interactions, complications, and avoidable harm. Inappropriate polypharmacy also places a substantial financial burden on the health service when medicines with little or no clinical benefit continue to be prescribed long term. This challenge is increasing alongside Edinburgh's ageing population.

In order to do achieve this aim you will work within Primary Care, supporting pharmacy teams in GP practices to increase capacity for polypharmacy reviews, while also undertaking reviews for patients on the reablement team caseload.

Who You Are

You are a dynamic, highly motivated and enthusiastic, GPhC registered pharmacist.

You may have a community or hospital pharmacy background or already be working within a GP Practice as a pharmacist. Candidates will have gained postgraduate experience working in a patient focused clinical environment, using their knowledge and skills to improve patient care and promote optimal outcomes from medicines and have progressed through the post registration foundation training (PRFT) to the stage of being signed off as ready to prescribe. Candidates must have a Master of Pharmacy Degree or equivalent, be registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), and should have completed or have equivalent competence mapped to the Post-registration foundation pharmacist curriculum - Royal College of Pharmacy. Evidence of this will be requested prior to interview for candidates who have not had the opportunity to enrol in PRFT or equivalent.

You should have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and demonstrate leadership and innovation consistent with NHS Lothian's values of quality, teamwork, care and compassion, dignity and respect, and openness, honesty and responsibility. You will have experience of involvement in the development and education of others.

The ideal candidate will be able to work autonomously as well as part of a team.

What We Offer

We are creating innovative career pathways to develop clinical leaders.

These posts will give you the opportunity to continue to develop your clinical skills at a range of medical practices across a particular geographical area of Edinburgh, to provide holistic, patient-centred individualised care to improve the safety and effectiveness of individual’s medicines. There are also opportunities to become involved in joint projects/initiatives within the HSCP as required in accordance with identified local and national priorities.

If not already completed, there will be opportunities and support for successful applicants to complete the General Practice Clinical Pharmacist Competency & Capability Framework, a post graduate clinical diploma and the independent prescribing qualification. You will receive support from senior pharmacists, as well as peer support from the wider pharmacy team. You will have ringfenced development time during your working week.

You will have access to a full range of benefits including generous holiday allowance, NHS pension and parental leave.

For further information, or an informal chat about this opportunity, please contact Paul Schloegl on 0131 536 7865 or paul.schloegl@nhs.scot

Please note that all interviews for this post will be conducted in person. Remote or virtual interviews will not be available.

Important Information

To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigration Service. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.

Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.

We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.

This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (i.e. child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.