Band 8b Divisional Lead Pharmacist - Bath, Somerset & Wiltshire

We are looking for an exceptional pharmacy leader with a strong mental health clinical background to join our senior pharmacy leadership team. This is a pivotal leadership role offering the opportunity to shape clinical pharmacy and medicines optimisation services across our mental health and community services. Working closely with the Chief Pharmacist, Deputy Chief Pharmacists and senior multidisciplinary colleagues, you will provide leadership to Clinical Pharmacists across Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire (BSW) and further develop a skilled and adaptable workforce through coaching, mentorship and professional development.

You will lead the development and delivery of innovative clinical pharmacy services and drive service improvement, support transformation programmes and promote high standards of clinical care and governance. We are seeking an inspiring pharmacy leader with strong clinical credibility, a commitment to innovation and service development, and a passion for improving outcomes for people accessing mental health services. As a senior leadership role, regular visibility within services and engagement with colleagues across BSW will be an important part of the post, but we are happy to consider flexible approaches that support both service delivery and work-life balance.

Main duties of the job:

• Participate in the pharmacy's provision of safe, effective, and responsive clinical and pharmaceutical supply services to Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and any contracted services.
• Contribute to the strategic planning of the pharmacy service and the implementation of service objectives.
• Lead the development, delivery, and evaluation of clinical pharmacy services across the Trust, in line with the Trust and national medicines optimisation agendas.
• Develop a competent, motivated, and versatile clinical pharmacy workforce across the service, managed within the existing budget and underpinned by technology, robust governance, and risk management.
• Work with the Chief Pharmacist, Deputy Chief Pharmacists, and other Clinical Lead Pharmacists to ensure strategic plans are delivered and resources are utilised safely, efficiently, and effectively to improve financial management of treatments and medicines expenditure, patient experience, and outcomes.
• Manage the Locality Lead Pharmacists and Specialist Pharmacists working in BSW, to deliver clinical services and medicines optimisation, including audit and monitoring.
• Lead on the delivery and development of robust and progressive medicines optimisation, working with the multidisciplinary team to ensure medicines optimisation is embedded in the organisation at operational and practice level.

About us:

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy. Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200 miles, to more than 1.8 million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Job responsibilities:

• Provide leadership, expertise, and management of clinical pharmacy services across the Trust to ensure compliance with legal statutory requirements, national standards, and best practice by all team members.
• Be an active member of the Pharmacy Senior Management Team (SMT) in the overall development of all Trust pharmacy services, promoting multidisciplinary engagement and ownership.
• Develop a strategic clinical pharmacy services plan in line with NHS/national priorities, pharmacy service objectives, and Trust objectives.
• Lead, manage, and develop the provision of clinical pharmacy services to ensure the safe, effective, and patient-centred use of medicines for all patients in the Trust.
• Develop, review, and audit standards for clinical pharmacy services across the Trust in line with local and national recommendations and patient needs.
• Support Trust and commissioner-led teams with service development, including quality standards, CQUINs, and clinical audit programmes.
• Provide the Chief Pharmacist with evaluated clinical pharmacy metrics/KPIs and clinical interventions at specified time intervals in an agreed format.
• Support the Chief Pharmacist in the strategic management of pharmacy services, including strategy development, service planning, budgeting, and financial management.
• Assist in the development and implementation of Trust medicines-related policies, procedures, and guidelines, and ensure their regular review.

Person Specification:

Qualifications:

• Essential: Masters degree in Pharmacy (or equivalent), Registered with GPhC, Post-graduate diploma in psychiatric pharmacy or equivalent experience.
• Desirable: Masters in Clinical Pharmacy, Registered Independent Non-medical Prescriber, Other postgraduate qualifications relevant to pharmacy practice, such as leadership, management or education and training qualifications, Full (Credentialed) Membership of the College of Mental Health Pharmacists (CMHP) or willingness to work towards this.

Previous experience:

• Essential: Significant experience of working within hospital pharmacy, Significant experience of working in specialist mental health inpatient and community, Experience of delivering and developing teaching/training/education up to and including post-graduate level, Demonstrable experience of working with senior healthcare professionals outside of Pharmacy, Demonstrable experience of managing, developing and mentoring a large number of staff/teams, Experience in policy/procedure/guideline writing and implementation.
• Desirable: Experience in setting up, delivering and developing services, particularly with commissioners.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Essential: Excellent interpersonal communication and reporting skills, verbal and written, Ability to work under pressure, prioritise and meet deadlines, Ability to access, review and process complex clinical information from appropriate sources, Good time management, problem solving and prioritisation skills; ability to manage own time and workload.

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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications.

Applicants must have current UK professional registration.

Employer name: Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust

Address: TBC - located across the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, and Wiltshire (BSW) Division of AWP, Unit A1-A2 Redman Road, Calne, SN11 9PR, United Kingdom.