Principal Pharmacist, SWLEOC
The closing date is 19 March 2026
We are looking for someone with proven clinical skills, initiative and excellent communication skills to join our team to provide a high quality specialist service to intensive care and support the perioperative care of our patients in the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC).
You will spend a considerable portion of the day on wards, working closely with the multidisciplinary team, attending the multidisciplinary ward round and providing pharmacy support and advice. You will also be involved in the development of Trustwide treatment guidelines and protocols, divisional reporting, clinical audit, risk management and multi-professional teaching.
As the 7/8a for SWLEOC, based at Epsom, you will line manage the rotational pharmacists and the pharmacy team. You will work closely with the Lead Pharmacist Planned and Critical Care to lead on dissemination of clinical pharmacy issues across the Trust.
The post includes participation in the late duty, weekend, bank holiday and on-call (EDC) rotas.
Main duties of the job
* To provide a specialist clinical pharmacy service to SWLEOC in conjunction with other Clinical and pharmacy staff as appropriate.
* To evaluate the clinical appropriateness, safety and legality of prescriptions based on the patients' disease, co-morbidities and other medication and treatment taken, contacting the prescriber to make changes as appropriate.
* To participate in the ward/clinical pharmacy service to monitor prescriptions and to provide pharmaceutical advice/drug information (on choice of medicines/dosage/side effects etc.) as appropriate, to health care professionals and patients/carers, to promote the safe, effective and economic use of medicines.
* To actively participate in multidisciplinary clinical ward rounds, teaching prescribers good prescribing practices according to legal and Trust requirements to minimise clinical risk to patients.
To promote safe, rational and cost-effective use of medicines in accordance with SWL Joint Formulary and Surrey Heartlands APC, and the recommendations and other evidence based guidelines and frameworks e.g. NICE, Patient Safety Alerts.
About us
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust provides a range of medical services to approximately 490,000 people living across southwest London and northeast Surrey. In addition, we provide more specialist services, in particular renal and neonatal intensive care, to a wider area, covering parts of Sussex and Hampshire. We serve an area that is rich in diversity, with a mix of urban and rural areas, and differing levels of quality of life. We cover some of the most prosperous postcodes in the country, as well as some poorer areas. Together with our colleagues at NHS Surrey and NHS Sutton and Merton, we work to make sure that we deliver the best possible care to the communities we serve. The Trust employs approximately 5,000 staff across its hospitals and is supported by over 500 volunteers.
Job responsibilities
Please see the attached supporting job description and person specification document which contains more information about the role and requirements. Please ensure your application refers to the job description and person specification.
Person Specification
Qualifications and Training
* Masters in Pharmacy Degree - MPharm
* Certificate in clinical pharmacy (at least 12 months complete and working towards 18 month exam)
* Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy or equivalent
* Membership of Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
* Member of the faculty of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (or working towards) at Faculty Advanced Stage II or Advanced level practice against the Core Advanced Curriculum
Experience & Knowledge
* Demonstrates evidence of excellent clinical knowledge and skills
* Have a minimum of 18 months experience working on medical/surgical wards in an acute hospital Trust setting
* Significant and relevant clinical experience working in areas linked to orthopaedic surgery (Essential for b8a)
* Understanding of current national standards, guidelines and service developments linked to areas covered to elective orthopaedic surgery (Essential for b8a)
* Previous management experience with responsibility for pharmacy staff (Essential for b8a)
* Understanding of the Principles of Clinical Governance, and experience of participation with, and contributions to relevant groups. (Essential for b8a)
* Extensive post registration hospital experience at least Band 7 level (Essential for b8a)
* Knowledge of CMM (formerly JAC) pharmacy computer system
* Risk management and assessment
* Providing a clinical pharmacy service to a variety of specialties
* An understanding of how digital tools / EPR functionality can improve clinical practice in the hospital setting.
* Demonstrates a whole system patient focused approach to work
* Experience of leading service and quality improvement projects (Desirable for b8a)
* Experience of working with level 2 and 3 patients (HDU & Critical Care). (Desirable for b8a)
* Experience in protocol/guidance development (Desirable for b8a)
* Experience of developing service and quality improvement projects development (Desirable for b8a)
* Previous experience in delivering education and training (Desirable for b8a)
Skills/abilities
* Excellent organisational and time management skills-self and others.
* Computer literate including familiarity with electronic prescribing systems
* Demonstrates initiative and problem solving skills
* Able to influence and negotiate with all grades of staff
* Up to date on changes to pharmacy and hospital standards
* Ability to implement and manage change
* In-depth understanding of the principles of Quality Improvement
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.
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
£53,751 to £60,651 a yearPro-rata pa inc HCAS (Outer London)
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