A Clinical Pharmacist works in primary care as part of a multidisciplinary team in a patient facing role to clinically assess and treat patients using expert knowledge of medicines for specific disease areas.
Clinical pharmacists work with the general practice team, taking responsibility for patients with chronic diseases and undertaking clinical medication reviews to proactively manage people with complex polypharmacy, especially for the elderly, people in care homes and those with multiple comorbidities.
Watch the animation which explains the role of a Clinical pharmacist within the primary care team.
All Clinical Pharmacists will be part of a professional clinical network and will always be clinically supervised by a senior Clinical Pharmacist and GP clinical supervisor. Clinical Pharmacists employed through the Network Contract DES will either be enrolled in, or been granted exemption from, the 18-month Primary Care Pharmacy Education Pathway (PCPEP). This pathway equips the pharmacist to be able to practice and prescribe safely and effectively in a primary care setting.
Download Clinical Pharmacist job role, job descriptions and case studies
Training
Training to become a pharmacist takes a minimum of five years and includes the successful completion of a General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) accredited Master of Pharmacy degree, one year’s pre-registration training and the GPhC’s registration assessment.
Funding
The payband for a Clinical Pharmacist is usually AfC Band 7/8a.
From April 2020, this role will be reimbursed at 100% of actual salary plus defined on costs, up to the maximum reimbursable amount of £55,670 over 12 months.