South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond. We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’. We launched our five-year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers. The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust. Our Values We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is at the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special. As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working. Job overview An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced mental health pharmacist to join our dynamic, innovative team who are dedicated to improving our services across the Trust, by leading the Bethlem Royal Hospital (BRH) pharmacist team across both inpatient and community services. We are looking for someone with experience and with natural leadership qualities. Your role will involve delivering best outcomes for patients with a focus on preventing hospital admissions both for mental and physical ill health, improved medicines management and communication, particularly during transfer of care and high quality, evidence-based medicines use. You must have excellent communication skills and be able to influence prescribing and medicines practice at a high level. You must be able to collect, analyse and report on data in a meaningful way to gain co-operation from stakeholders and present your work at Trust meetings in a confident, friendly and enthusiastic manner. Advert As the principal pharmacist and site lead for BRH you will be working closely with experienced and novice clinicians to ensure safe, effective and cost-effective use of medicines. You will be providing line-management and supervision to a team of pharmacists across the boroughs. You will make recommendations for initiating, changing and stopping medications, including where appropriate, that clozapine and antipsychotic long-acting injections are offered early in the treatment journey. You will consult with patients and their carers to ensure they receive expert advice on their medicines and are supported to manage their medicines. You will work closely with teams, managers, and service directors to implement sustainable processes to ensure positive outcomes for patients and their carers. We expect you to have a good knowledge of psychotropic medications and the ability to independently make appropriate decisions about treatment options. You should be able to communicate clinical information effectively and be able to influence prescribing practices in your boroughs. We expect that you would manage your own time and work schedule effectively. Working for our organisation South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provides the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK. We are a world leading Trust in research, working closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London. We are also part of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre. We are a large pharmacy department providing mental health pharmacy s ervices to the Maudsley, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Bethlem Royal Hospitals and to psychiatric liaison, Home Treatment and community teams in the areas we serve in South London. We are the national medicines information centre for psychotropic medicines and have an established clinical trials unit. We provide training for undergraduate, pre-registration and post graduate pharmacists. Career Progression pathways and development opportunities: We are committed to get the very best out of our staff and support staff in their career aspirations. We have career pathways available, where you will be able to develop your skills and build on your experience to progress into other roles across different specialties. This role will help you in your development towards advanced clinical practice and consultant pharmacist potential. There are opportunities to become involved in research and quality improvement. Detailed job description and main responsibilities 1. To lead, develop and evaluate clinical pharmacy services provided by South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) in the London Borough of Croydon. 2. To professionally manage pharmacists in the inpatient services at BRH and the community mental health teams in Croydon. 3. To provide expert level advice on pharmaceutical matters to SLAM, Kings Health Partners and local ICBs. 4. To represent pharmacy at the SLAM Croydon directorate meetings. 5. To provide an analysis of medicines spend for Croydon services. 6. To be a role model in pharmacy mental health services. 7. To deputise for the Director of Pharmacy. 8. To be willing to participate in weekend, Bank Holiday and on call rotas if required. The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by: Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity Please note: That all applications for this post will need to be made online That you read and understand the Job Description and Person Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria That the closing date listed is a guide only and that the vacancy may close earlier should sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible That once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e-recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful That priority consideration for applications may be given to at-risk NHS employees That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process That we are a smoke-free Trust SLaM is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe’ Helpful Resource: How to Use TRAC for Job Applications If you're preparing to apply for a role, this guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to use TRAC effectively throughout the application process : Using TRAC to apply