Harbour Unit Pharmacist

You will be a clinical pharmacist working within the Harbour Service which provides integrated acute assessment and treatments to older people living with frailty, as a safe and effective alternative to acute hospital admission. The service brings together specialist multidisciplinary healthcare professionals in one team to provide joined-up care for older people living with frailty.

Patients are referred from the ambulance service, primary care and community teams, and assessments occur in the community, either in the patient’s current place of residence under the Harbour at Home team (frailty virtual ward) or in our dedicated assessment unit (Harbour Same Day Emergency Care – SDEC) at Newton Abbot Hospital.

Patients can access acute treatments, diagnostic tests, and a holistic review of their health and care using a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA)

You will be able to drive the development and delivery of a high-quality clinical pharmacy service related to older adults within this exciting new integrated frailty service. The role will include visiting patients in the community, reviewing patients attending the same day emergency care unit at The Harbour, and inpatient patients located within the Newton abbot community hospital.

You will be a key partner in a holistic multidisciplinary team approach, with direct access to senior clinicians for decision making support and actioning medication decisions. Existing Non-medical prescribing qualifications would be welcomed and you would be supported to develop these within your scope of practice.

The post holder will provide expert information about medicines and medicines management to a range of audiences including service users, carers and wider trust staff. Ensuring services in their locality are patient centred and are delivered in a manner which meets the needs of patients and other stakeholders. Develop and support development of services in order to meet changing operational or clinical needs. This role is a key link between primary and secondary care, and acute and community care.

The Harbour Unit brings together specialist healthcare professionals in one team to provide joined-up care for older people living with frailty. This includes an assessment which considers all their needs, access to urgent tests and treatment and support from the Harbour at Home team (also known as a virtual ward) to support people in the comfort of their own home or care home.

The service, which is based at Newton Abbot Hospital, has received more than 850 referrals since it opened last November, with more than half of these patients (54%) supported to stay at home as a safe and effective alternative to admission to the acute hospital or Emergency Department.

The pharmacist will also be part of a community pharmacy team comprised of intermediate care pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and care home pharmacists. The team also provide a clinical pharmacy service to all five of the Trusts community hospital wards.

For further details / informal visits contact: Name: Victoria Coulson Job title: Lead Locality Pharmacist Email address: Vicky.dove@nhs.net Telephone number: 07557872889