Consultant Pharmacist – Frailty

The Consultant Pharmacist is the expert in frailty care, providing a vital link between advanced clinical practice and service development. The postholder will lead the design and delivery of innovative pharmaceutical care models to optimise medicines use and improve outcomes for frail patients, ensuring full compliance with medicines legislation and governance. This senior role provides expert pharmaceutical leadership across the frailty pathway, including acute frailty services and wards, and patients transitioning to Hospital @ Home and virtual ward models.

Core focus will be the management of polypharmacy, leading complex medication reviews, deprescribing and optimisation of medicines, and delivering holistic, person‑centred pharmaceutical care aligned to patient goals. The Consultant Pharmacist will also lead, undertake, supervise and publish research within frailty pharmacy practice, contributing to evidence-based service transformation. Strategic leadership, education and training across multidisciplinary teams, workforce development and embedding best practice in frailty medicine are central. The role combines approximately 60% clinical practice and 40% strategic leadership, research and teaching, and is based mainly at Southport Hospital while operating across Southport and Whiston Hospitals.

Main duties of the job:

• Provide a specialist clinical pharmacy service in frailty care as an independent non‑medicinal prescriber, optimising patient outcomes and experience across established frailty pathways and organisational boundaries.
• Deliver face‑to‑face care with patients in ED and ward settings.
• Contribute to improved health outcomes through a holistic approach to frailty care, ensuring the safe, effective and appropriate use of medicines.
• Support the development, competence and capability of pharmacy staff and frailty MDT colleagues via education, supervision, mentorship and professional leadership.
• Accept and manage case referrals for medicines optimisation within frailty care.
• Lead and deliver education and training in frailty care for pharmacy staff and other healthcare professionals across the health economy.
• Provide professional leadership and role‑modeling in frailty pharmacy practice locally, regionally and nationally.

Detailed Job Description and Main Responsibilities:

The role operates at consultant level within a complex, dual‑site hospital environment, providing senior pharmaceutical leadership for frailty services at Southport and Whiston Hospitals. It spans acute admission avoidance, same‑day emergency care, inpatient frailty wards and step‑down models, including Hospital @ Home and virtual wards, ensuring continuity of medicines optimisation across transitions of care. The postholder has direct responsibility for managing medicines‑related risk in frail older people with multiple comorbidities and high levels of polypharmacy, making complex decisions around deprescribing, treatment prioritisation, capacity, consent and end‑of‑life considerations.

The role also shapes the design and implementation of frailty‑focused pharmaceutical services across both hospital sites and the acute‑community interface, influencing multidisciplinary practice, supporting governance and quality improvement, and aligning with national and local priorities for frailty and medicines safety. In addition to advanced clinical practice, the postholder leads and supervises research activity, service evaluation and innovation within frailty pharmacy practice. A key dimension is the development of professional capability across pharmacy and the wider multidisciplinary workforce through teaching, mentorship and expert advisory input. Delivery across a multi‑site, multi‑professional setting requires advanced leadership, negotiation and influencing skills to maintain consistent, high‑quality pharmaceutical care for frail patients within a rapidly evolving NHS.

Person specification:

Values: We are kind, We are open, We are inclusive.

Qualifications:

• Vocational Master’s degree in Pharmacy or equivalent.
• Pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Membership of The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) accredited at Advanced level 2* or Fellowship of RPS faculty or equivalent in line with Department of Health 2005 Guidance for the Development of Consultant Pharmacist Posts.
• Completion of, and accreditation by the RPSGB of the mandatory credentialing process.
• Post‑graduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy.
• Accredited Independent non‑medical prescriber.
• Meets or exceeds Department of Health Consultant Pharmacist Framework competencies.

Desirable Criteria:

• Accredited Tutor for post‑graduate clinical diploma.

Knowledge & Experience:

• Experience of managing a team.
• Appropriate and current clinical experience in Clinical Pharmacy relating to the care of older people.
• Line management experience.
• Proven experience of working at a strategic level with senior clinicians and managers and experience of working in an integrated directorate team.
• Proven experience of working at a strategic level across the wider health community.
• Proven budget management or monitoring ability and demonstrable success in achieving savings.
• Provision of drug usage and expenditure reports and use of financial reports to influence business cases and clinical practice.
• Recognition as an expert nationally through publications / presentations or officer in a national group.
• Previous experience teaching/training/mentoring.
• Proven medicines related policy development and implementation.
• Broad clinical or directorate pharmacy provision in a number of different clinical areas.
• Proven experience of managing and developing a service within limited resources.
• Formal teaching / training/ mentoring training.
• Proven facilitative leadership skills.
• Understanding of NHS finances.

Skills:

• Ability to express written information concisely and accurately.
• Able to motivate self and others.
• Ability to work alone and as part of a team in a challenging environment.
• Completer/finisher.
• Able to work in a multi-disciplinary setting.
• Able to prioritise and delegate.
• Ability to achieve demanding tasks and objectives against deadlines.
• Able to take difficult decisions and manage the consequences.

Other:

• To be able to travel across sites.
• Influential and able to work across professional boundaries.
• Flexibility.
• Manage complex and competing issues staying calm under pressure.
• Lead through empowerment.
• Able to cope with and diffuse stressful situations.
• Inspire others.
• Able to command respect of multi-disciplinary teams.
• Able to evaluate and benchmark quality care.
• Tenacious with good attention to detail.
• Ability to manage own ongoing personal and professional development.
• Track record of delivering high standards of care.
• Patient‑centred approach to care.
• Demonstrate personal & professional pride in pharmacy and the NHS.
• Resilient – able to deal effectively with stressful working environment without affecting performance.