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Job summary

Main area
Pharmacy
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8a
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week (Monday - Friday 9am-5.30pm, plus Sat/Sun/BHol, evenings and on-call duties according to rota pattern)
Job ref
196-LIS9736
Employer
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
St Thomas' Hospital
Town
London
Salary
£64,156 - £71,148 per annum inclusive of Inner London HCAS rate
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
03/08/2025 23:59

Employer heading

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust logo

Highly Specialist Pharmacist - General Medicine

NHS AfC: Band 8a

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is among the UK’s busiest and most successful NHS foundation trusts. We provide a full range of hospital and community services for people in south London and as well as specialist care for patients from further afield including cancer, renal, orthopaedic, respiratory and cardiovascular services.

Guy’s is home to the largest dental school in Europe and a £160 million Cancer Centre opened in 2016. As part of our commitment to provide care closer to home, in 2017 we also opened a cancer centre and a kidney treatment centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup. St Thomas’ has one of the largest critical care units in the UK and one of the busiest emergency departments in London. It is also home to Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

Evelina London cares for local children in Lambeth and Southwark and provides specialist services across south east England including cardiac, renal and critical care services. We lead a number of specialist service networks aiming to ensure children are treated locally where possible, but have access to specialist expertise when they need it. Our community services include health visiting, school nursing and support for families of children with long-term conditions. 

Our adult community services teams deliver care at the heart of the local communities we serve, working in partnership with GPs, local authorities and other healthcare and voluntary sector organisations. Working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we are focusing on new ways of working to improve care for local patients.

In February 2021 the Royal Brompton and Harefield joined Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, bringing together world-leading expertise in the care and research of heart and lung disease. Our merger provides a once in a generation opportunity to build a lasting, world-renowned heart and lung centre, providing the highest quality care for patients and conducting world-leading research.

We have a reputation for clinical excellence and high quality teaching and research. We are part of King’s Health Partners, one of eight accredited UK academic health sciences centres. In partnership with King’s College London we have dedicated clinical research facilities including an MHRA accredited Phase I clinical trials unit.

Patients are at the heart of everything we do and we pride ourselves on ensuring the best possible patient experience as well as safe, high quality care. We are proud to have one of the lowest mortality rates in the NHS. Following a comprehensive Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection in 2019 we maintained our overall rating of ‘good’. Our adult community services achieved a rating of ‘outstanding’.

The commitment of our 23,500 staff is key to our success. We are one of the largest local employers and we aim to develop and support all our staff so they are able to deliver high quality, safe and efficient care. The 2019 NHS staff survey results show that we have one of the most engaged and motivated workforces in the NHS. We know this has a positive impact on the care provided to our patients.

We have one of the most ambitious capital investment programmes anywhere in the NHS.



Job overview

We have a rare and exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic and experienced clinical pharmacist to join the Acute & General Medicine pharmacy team, leading on service provision to the General Medical wards at St Thomas' Hospital. 

As a Highly Specialist Pharmacist supported by a sizeable and experienced multi-disciplinary team, you will benefit from advancing your clinical knowledge whilst developing broad ranging skills in areas such as leadership and service development.

We encourage applications from both internal and external candidates.

Main duties of the job

Some of the key responsibilities of the role include:

  • To lead and be responsible for the provision of clinical pharmacy services to patients admitted to the General Medical wards in order to ensure safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of medicines
  • To meet regularly with the General Medicine multi-disciplinary team (MDT) and work collaboratively to set, agree and achieve objectives for service improvement
  • To organise, manage and motivate a team of clinical pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical care to the General Medical wards and a community rehabilitation ward and ensure standards of service are maintained
  • To identify and manage risks in relation to medicines use
  • To evaluate the contributions of the General Medicine ward pharmacy team to the Acute and General Medicine (AGM) directorate in line with staffing levels, patient turnover and Trust priorities to ensure departmental standards are met
  • To develop, implement, monitor and evaluate protocols and guidelines in General Medicine
  • To participate in clinical pharmacy and MDT teaching as appropriate

Some of the key skills expected of the successful candidate include:

  • Able to demonstrate advanced clinical knowledge and skills in managing acute pharmaceutical care needs
  • Able to identify, prioritise and appropriately delegate clinical workload
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills
  • Able to initiate and implement change
  • Able to identify and manage medicines related risk

Working for our organisation

St Thomas' Pharmacy Department is one of the largest in the UK and has a strong focus on individual patient care. Our pharmacists work across multi-disciplinary teams both in the hospital and community setting, to deliver advice, guidance, and support within a culture of medicine safety. The focus is on patient-centred care and this is achieved through providing optimised pharmaceutical care for patients as part of a ward-based and clinical pharmacy service and extending pharmaceutical services beyond traditional boundaries. This includes attendance on consultant-led ward rounds and contributing to multi-disciplinary meetings.

The acute and general medicine clinical pharmacy service provides a 7 days a week service to key specialties and is supported by the resident (on site) pharmacy service which acts as the first point of contact for the pharmaceutical care needs of patients out of hours.

As an organisation we are committed to developing our services in ways that best suit the needs of our patients. This means that some staff groups will increasingly be asked to work a more flexible shift pattern so that we can offer services in the evenings or at weekends. We also have a positive approach to corporate social responsibility and are keen to engage our staff in an agenda that ranges from promoting environmental sustainability to the creation of local employment opportunities.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To lead, deliver, develop and evaluate clinical pharmacy services to the General Medicine wards, a community rehabilitation ward and the wider  Acute and General Medicine (AGM) directorate in accordance with the objectives agreed with the Principal Pharmacist for Acute and General Medicine. To act as a role model in the General Medicine pharmacy field and provide a consistently high pharmaceutical service for the General Medicine wards and a community rehabilitation ward, in line with Directorate and Trust objectives and other major drivers for service standards.

See attached job description for full details of this role.

Person specification

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • MPharm degree
  • Registration with GPhC
  • Higher degree / Postgraduate diploma in clinical pharmacy practice or equivalent
Desirable criteria
  • Independent Prescribing qualification
  • Recognised leadership qualification or equivalent

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Minimum of 4 years post qualification pharmacy experience
  • Provision of a ward based clinical pharmacy service
  • Experience of multidisciplinary team working
  • Line management and/or supervision of junior pharmacy staff
  • Evidence of previous quality improvement in ward based area e.g. audit or service evaluation
Desirable criteria
  • Provision of a ward based clinical pharmacy service to inpatients within acute and general medical ward areas
  • Development of clinical guidelines or equivalent activities to improve patient safety

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Able to identify, prioritise and appropriately delegate clinical workload
  • Able to demonstrate advanced clinical knowledge and skills in managing acute pharmaceutical care needs
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills
  • Able to initiate and implement change
  • Able to critically appraise the evidence base and apply in practice
  • Able to identify and manage medicines related risk
Desirable criteria
  • Able to educate and influence medical and nursing staff
  • Able to monitor drug expenditure and identify opportunities for efficiency savings

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Timewise helps businesses to attract and develop the best talent through flexible working.Care quality commission - GoodDisability confident employer

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Louise Condon
Job title
Principal Pharmacist, Acute and General Medicine
Email address
[email protected]
Additional information

For further details / informal visits please contact:

Louise Condon ([email protected]), Principal Pharmacist, Acute and General Medicine

Suzanne Patton ([email protected]), existing postholder.

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