Lead Pharmacist, Medicine 8b in Surrey

Site: Epsom & St Helier Hospitals - Trust wide

Town: Epsom & Carshalton

Salary: £38.93 - £62.32 (Hourly)

Closing Date: 31/12/2026 23:59

As an NHS Trust, we strongly encourage and support vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against COVID-19. At Epsom and St Helier Hospitals, we value respect and put it at the heart of all we do, by living up to our shared behaviours of kindness, professionalism, positivity, and teamwork. This enables us to provide great patient care and make ESTH a great place to work. We welcome applicants who share our values.

Job Overview:

• Delivering safe and effective care across our sites.
• Creating a positive experience that meets the expectations of our patients, their families, and carers.
• Providing responsive care that delivers the right treatment, in the right place at the right time.
• Being financially sustainable.
• Working in partnership with our patients, commissioners, other health and care providers, local authorities, the voluntary sector, NHS England, and Monitor in the interests of our patients and a sustainable local health and social care economy.

Main Duties of the Job:

• Strategically lead, develop, and implement a high-quality clinical pharmacy service as part of the multidisciplinary teams within planned care.
• Work closely with the division Clinical Director and Director of Operations to align clinical pharmacy services with wider Trust patient and business needs.
• Act as the interface between Clinical Service Managers within the division and Pharmacy teams.
• Act as a leader, expert clinical practitioner, and role model within pharmacy for the specialist clinical area.
• Provide support and advice to other health care professionals through participation in relevant professional groups and appropriate working groups, attendance at conferences and educational events, and practice development.
• Demonstrate an advanced level of professional reasoning, judgement, and accountability and manage difficult and ambiguous problems, making decisions in situations where there is limited information.
• Demonstrate expert practice in the planning and delivery of pharmaceutical care for patients in the specialist clinical area across the Trust.
• Liaise with the senior pharmacy leadership team, Clinical Director for the specialist clinical area, senior clinical nurses, consultants, other members of the multidisciplinary team, and relevant Trust committees to ensure that treatment plans, policies, procedures, and guidelines are appropriately agreed, implemented, monitored, evaluated, and reviewed in order to optimise patient benefit.
• Apply advanced level clinical reasoning and decision-making to ensure that national guidance and research evidence is integrated into medicines optimisation for the relevant patient population.
• Liaise with the Principal pharmacist Formulary and Medicines Management in updating relevant sections of formulary and lead on the introduction of new medicines into clinical practice.
• Contribute to any relevant multidisciplinary policies within the speciality and support the work of the Trust-wide Medicines Management and Clinical Guidelines Committee.
• Implement relevant local and national guidelines within specialist areas.
• Report incidents using the appropriate Trust systems and contribute to the identification and lead the investigation of drug-related incidents, medication errors, patient concerns and complaints, and serious incidents within the specialist clinical area; liaising with the Principal Pharmacist for Medication Safety and Deputy Chief Pharmacist(s), as appropriate, providing feedback and identifying learning for the individual, pharmacy, specialist area, or across the Trust.

Working for Our Organisation:

• Work within agreed Trust and departmental policies and procedures and to accepted standards of practice.
• Work in other areas and on other sites in the Trust to cover for service needs.
• Undertake such other duties as may be required from time to time, as are consistent with the responsibilities of the grade.
• Ensure confidentiality at all times, only releasing confidential information obtained during the course of employment to those acting in an official capacity.
• Comply with the Code of Ethics of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
• Treat patients and customers with dignity and courtesy.
• Ensure that medicines do not fall into unauthorised hands.
• Participate in the weekend, bank holiday, late duty, and senior on-call rotas.
• Have responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare for self and others and to comply with the requirements of the Health and Safety regulations, including COSHH.
• Promote Equal Opportunities and comply with the requirements of the legislation and the Trust’s policies.

Person Specification:

Qualifications / Education:

• Registered Pharmacist with General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Pharmacy degree – MPharm.
• Pre-registration training.
• Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy or equivalent.
• MSc in Clinical Pharmacy Practice or equivalent.

Experience:

• Post registration UK hospital experience.
• Demonstrate evidence of excellent clinical knowledge and skills.
• Experience of providing services to a broad variety of patients.
• Medicines Information.
• Staff management.
• Staff appraisal/assessment.

Skills / Abilities:

• Good organisational skills – self and others.
• Good time management.
• Excellent communication skills – verbal and written.
• Ability to work under pressure and prioritise work.
• Ability to motivate self and others.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Good negotiation skills.
• Ability to implement and manage change.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Good presentation skills.
• Proven teaching ability.
• Appreciation of audit methods.
• Team player.
• Ability to be a role model for clinical and dispensary pharmacy practice.
• Knowledge of CMM, electronic prescribing, and dispensing systems.
• Delivery of pharmaceutical care to a defined speciality.
• Previous experience in delivering education and training.
• Rota management.

General:

• Professional.
• Enthusiastic.
• Sets high standards.
• Acts as an excellent ambassador for pharmacy.
• Reliable work record.
• Commitment to CPD.
• Work flexible hours.
• Live within reasonable distance from hospital for on-call.
• Own transport.
• Participate in late duty, weekend, and Bank Holiday rotas to provide a 7-day service.
• Current issues relevant to the rotations.
• Demonstrate initiative.
• Ability to implement and manage change.
• Ability to plan and develop.
• Customer care.
• Good IT skills.
• Project/practice research.

Our mission: ‘to put the patient first by delivering great care to every patient, every day.’ There’s never been a better time to join the Epsom and St Helier team. Our hospitals are facing a bright and busy future, and our staff have a proven track record in providing high quality, compassionate care for our patients. We offer all employees some fantastic staff benefits, and are the only hospitals in Surrey to offer staff the London high cost area supplement. Our hospitals also benefit from great locations, so whether you're attracted to the bright lights of the city or the countryside of Epsom Downs, both are within easy reach.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS POSITION MAY CLOSE EARLIER THAN THE STATED CLOSING DATE IF A SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS ARE RECEIVED. IF YOU WISH TO APPLY FOR THIS POSITION, YOU ARE ADVISED TO SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CONTACT ALL APPLICANTS VIA EMAIL AND NOT BY POST. YOU ARE ADVISED TO CHECK YOUR RECRUITMENT SYSTEM ACCOUNT ON A REGULAR BASIS.

ESTH values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, and candidates with disabilities. As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.