Lead Pharmacist for Antipsychotics in Plymouth

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and visionary pharmacist to lead the optimisation of oral antipsychotic medicines across Livewell Southwest and our wider system partners.

As Lead Pharmacist for Antipsychotics, you will provide advanced clinical, professional and strategic leadership across shared care pathways, working closely with primary care, neighbourhood teams and multidisciplinary colleagues to deliver safe, effective and person centred care . This is a highly influential role, shaping how antipsychotic medicines are used, reviewed and monitored across the system.

You will hold professional accountability for the annual shared care review programme for all individuals prescribed oral antipsychotics, ensuring robust governance, high quality monitoring, personalised care planning and appropriate deprescribing where indicated.

You will also design and lead an accessible advice and guidance service , offering expert support to primary care and neighbourhood MDTs on complex clinical and shared care issues.

The post holder will lead audit, quality improvement and workforce development , and act as a senior clinical specialist contributing to policy, pathway development and neighbourhood based models of care.

This role is ideal for a pharmacist with strong clinical credibility, system leadership skills and a passion for improving outcomes for people prescribed antipsychotic medicines.

Join us and make a systemwide difference.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will provide senior, system level clinical leadership for the safe, effective and person centred use of oral antipsychotics across LSW, primary care partners and neighbourhood teams.

Acting as the organisational expert in antipsychotic prescribing, medicines optimisation and shared care, they will lead the development, delivery and governance of high quality pathways aligned with integrated, neighbourhood based models of care.

Working with a high degree of autonomy, they will design and maintain an accessible advice and guidance service , providing expert support to primary care and neighbourhood MDTs on complex clinical queries, shared care responsibilities, high risk medicines, therapeutic monitoring and optimisation challenges.

The role includes professional oversight of the annual shared care review programme for those prescribed oral antipsychotics, working collaboratively with partners to ensure consistent, evidence based reviews, personalised care planning, safe prescribing and appropriate deprescribing.

The post holder will lead audit, evaluation and QI activity , analyse prescribing patterns, identify unwarranted variation and work with MDTs and clinical leads to implement system improvements.

This role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route.

Please note that we may close the job advertisement earlier than the specified deadline.

All staff are expected to be able and willing to work across a 7 day service.

• Job Share considered
• Job responsibilities
• The post holder will
• Be accountable for workforce capacity, capability, and development within the antipsychotic shared care service across the organisation and system partners
• Provide clinical supervision for other team members working with the shared care antipsychotic workstream
• Assist in the development, delivery and audit of medicines related education and training programmes for healthcare staff
• Lead on the development and implementation of workforce models to support services sustainability and expansion across neighbourhood teams and primary care
• As an expert, act as a role model and mentor for all staff, supporting the personal and professional development of pharmacy team members, and advise pharmacists of all grades in the area of expert knowledge
• Supervise pharmacy technicians, trainee and diploma pharmacists from acute trust hospitals and PCNs who come to LSW for experience of working in mental health
• Participate in the service planning, organisation, workload allocation and management of the clinical pharmacy and medicines optimisation services
• Work autonomously with access to support when required
• Support neighbourhood teams in upskilling and building confidence in safe prescribing, deprescribing, and monitoring of antipsychotics
• Be accountable for contributing to and influencing significant areas of medicines expenditure related to antipsychotics across the system
• Responsible for identifying, planning, and delivering cost improvement programmes and value-based prescribing initiatives within the service
• Provide strategic financial advice influencing commissioning decisions and investment in medicines optimisation initiatives
• Contribute to business case development and service investment proposals
• Prepare reports, monitor and control formulary and non-formulary prescribing of oral antipsychotics to ensure compliance against local, regional, and national formularies, and lead on the application for any new oral antipsychotics both internally and externally
• Contribute to decisions on investment in new therapies, monitoring technologies, or optimisation initiatives through specialist clinical and financial advice
• Contribute to the development, maintenance and review of administrative systems and digital tools that support monitoring, reporting, and clinical workflow
• Develop reports, and audit outcomes of agreed content for the pharmacy Performance and Quality Management Group, Medicines Governance Group and Medicines Safety Forum
• Ensure accurate entry, maintenance and verification of prescribing and monitoring data, supporting organisational performance dashboards and safety audits
• Uphold the principles of evidence-based medicine and make recommendations in line with the formulary, LSW prescribing guidelines and other local/ national guidelines (Including NICE recommendations) and national evidence base
• Provide an advanced, expert level of clinical reasoning and judgment when advising staff on complex clinical situations where there are conflicting opinions, where data are lacking or interpretation of clinical trials data is required
• Ensure that in the absence of available data, decisions made will withstand public scrutiny and legal challenge
• Develop and refine standard operating procedures and administrative pathways to ensure efficient and consistent service delivery
• Ensure clinical documentation, monitoring data, and shared-care information is communicated effectively across neighbourhood teams and primary care to support continuity of care
• Promote a person-centred, recovery-focused approach to antipsychotic treatment and shared care
• Ensure shared care pathways prioritise safety, autonomy, shared decision-making and clear communication between LSW, primary care and the person receiving treatment
• Develop accessible information resources for service users, carers and primary care clinicians
• Provide timely responses to complex medication enquiries and concerns raised by service users and primary care teams.
• Champion equitable access to safe and effective antipsychotic care and reduction of health inequalities
• Ensure that annual antipsychotic reviews incorporate patient goals, preferences and personalised care planning
• Work collaboratively with neighbourhood teams to ensure that annual antipsychotic reviews incorporate personalised care planning, proactive follow-up, and holistic support delivered within a neighbourhood model
• Strengthen neighbourhood-based approaches to reducing health inequalities in antipsychotic prescribing and monitoring.
• Lead and be accountable for the development, implementation and evaluation of policies, clinical pathways, and service models relating to antipsychotic use across the organisation and system
• Translate national strategy, guidance, regulatory requirements, and emerging evidence into clear, operationally deliverable local policy and practice ensuring full system implementation and compliance
• Lead large-scale service redesign and transformation programmes impacting multiple teams and organisations
• Work autonomously as a clinical specialist for antipsychotic therapy, the post holder will lead the review, and updating of shared care protocols for LSW, clinical governance frameworks, and monitoring requirements
• Ensure policies remain up to date, person centred, and aligned with best practice, supporting safe prescribing, effective deprescribing, and prevention of medicine related harm
• Lead the design and implementation of an advice and guidance service for primary care, ensuring timely expert support for complex clinical queries and optimisation challenges
• Drive standardisation and reduction of variation across the system through service leadership and performance management
• Ensure continuous improvement of the annual 12-month shared care review process, ensuring reliable and equitable delivery across the system
• Work collaboratively with MDTs, commissioners, digital and data leads, and primary care partners to embed new ways of working, identify system-level improvement opportunities, and support workforce development
• Evaluate the impact of policy and service changes through audit, quality improvement, and outcome measurement, providing strategic recommendations to strengthen safety, governance, and person centred outcomes in the management of antipsychotic therapy
• Ensure adherence to the standards of the Medicines Policy and other medicines optimisation documents and report any deviations to the wider team and MSO, reporting via the organisation risk management system
• Review all medicines incidents reported via the organisations risk management system for oral antipsychotic shared care each month and contribute to patient safety incident reviews
• Attend governance meetings to ensure that risk areas related to oral antipsychotic shared care are addressed and implement changes to practice where necessary
• Lead the integration of antipsychotic shared-care pathways with neighbourhood-based service models, ensuring alignment with the Community Mental Health Framework and local transformation plans
• Embed medicines-optimisation processes within neighbourhood MDT working, supporting shared clinical responsibility and collaborative risk management
• Lead medium to long term strategic planning for antipsychotic medicines optimisation services across LSW and system partners
• Represent the organisation at system (ICS), regional, and national forums as the clinical lead for antipsychotic optimisation
• Identify areas for audit, participate in audits within the oral antipsychotic shared care pathway in accordance with the LSW organisation wide audit programme
• Regularly support practice research within specialist area, this includes identifying areas for research, supervising research or acting as a research mentor
• Liaise with relevant clinical teams to negotiate and provide support for the service project as roll out progresses
• Act as a Designated Prescribing Practitioner, Educational Supervisor or Practice supervisor for members of the team undertaking independent prescribing or other training courses
• Act as a senior clinical point of contact for all matters relating to oral antipsychotic medicines within shared care pathways, requiring highly developed and persuasive communication skills
• Provide expert advice, accessible advice to GPs, practice pharmacists, mental health clinicians, and wider MDTs, ensuring understanding of complex clinical guidance, monitoring requirements, and optimisation strategies
• Build strong, collaborative relationships across LSW, primary care, commissioning bodies, and system partners to support cohesive approaches to safe antipsychotic prescribing
• Facilitate effective cross-sector communication to resolve shared care issues, address risk promptly, and ensure consistent application of pathways and protocols
• Communicate highly complex, sensitive, or contentious information, such as risk-benefit decisions, deprescribing recommendations, and governance requirements, using advanced negotiation, motivational, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ensure that communication with service users and carers is person-centred, clear, and compassionate, supporting shared decision making and promoting understanding of treatment options, monitoring, and safety considerations to enable shared decision making.
• Contribute to system-wide learning by presenting audit findings, QI outcomes and emerging evidence at clinical forums, governance groups and professional networks
• Engage clinical teams in the development of the advice and guidance service, supporting them through the change process to achieve successful outcomes

Person Specification

• Additional requirements
• Computer literacy including Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Power Point, Email and the Internet.
• Experience of using databases.
• Knowledge
• Evidence of significant post registration Pharmacy practice, knowledge and experience to demonstrate the competency in mental health, specifically oral antipsychotic prescribing and shared care:
• Broad clinical and pharmaceutical knowledge, with an understanding of national policies and issues impacting on prescribing and medicines optimisation services.
• Specialist knowledge acquired by postgraduate diploma or equivalent evidence of specialist knowledge, competence and achievements in practice in mental health.
• Knowledge and understanding of antimicrobial stewardship
• Understanding of non-medical prescribing, patient group directions and other alternatives to medical prescribing
• Aware of current healthcare targets, NICE guidance and other national directives and the implications for implementation in primary and secondary care
• Willingness to obtain further qualifications in mental health or pharmacy practice as identified through the post holders personal development plan.
• Knowledge of relevant health legislation and awareness of current issues in mental health and learning disability services
• Undertake relevant training to maintain competencies and further develop clinical or technical specialist knowledge to meet the needs of this post
• Willingness to undertake leadership qualification as determined through PDP

Skills

• Excellent, communication and interpersonal skills, including presentation skills for a wide variety of audiences.
• The ability to negotiate, facilitate and influence change
• Critical appraisal and analytical skills, with an understanding of evidence based medicine.
• The ability to deal with complex situations and bring to a satisfactory resolution.
• The ability to be flexible and adjust to a rapidly changing environment.
• Ability to analyse and interpret a wide range of data, including prescribing data.
• The ability to present complex information to a variety of audiences, including service-users and carers, in an understandable way.
• The ability to plan and organise broad range of complex specialist service activities, as well as dealing with day to day issues this includes managing longer term service redesign and development ideas e. g. planning audit and expanding community services.
• The ability to work on own initiative, organise self and prioritise own workload, including resolution of conflicting priorities.
• The ability to work under pressure and complete work to tight deadlines.
• Logical approach to new situations and problem solving.
• Ability to frequently travel independently and in a timely manner between Livewell Southwest sites and community locations including areas not served by public transport.
• Ability to manage change
• Access to own transport
• Able to resolve conflict and disagreement

Qualifications

• Current registration as a Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPh C) UK.
• Evidence of Continuing Professional Development.
• Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma or Masters in Psychiatric Pharmacy practice or equivalent clinical experience
• Postgraduate diploma/certificate in clinical pharmacy / therapeutics or equivalent clinical experience
• Member of the College of Mental Health Pharmacy.

Experience

• Experience of prescribing in practice within the speciality of mental health and reviewing patients in clinic environment.
• Experience of working within a multidisciplinary healthcare team / environment.
• Experience to supervise activities of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and assistants.
• Experience of networking with other healthcare professionals across the full range of disciplines at all levels
• Experience of review and development of pharmacy / medication related policies procedures and prescribing guidelines
• Experience of audit work
• Experience of delivering education to healthcare staff and patients / carers via workshops, informal discussion or formal lectures
• Experience of preparing documents for clinical governance groups and presenting these to a committee
• Experience of leading on audit and producing reports
• Experience of mentoring, supervision and line management
• The ability to work under pressure, to deadlines where there are conflicting priorities.
• Experience of delivering training programmes
• Experience of influencing, negotiating and implementing change in practice
• Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

• Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working
• #J-18808-Ljbffr