Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
NHS Scotland is committed to encouraging equality and diversity among our workforce and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. To this end, NHS Scotland welcomes applications from all sections of society.
NHS Lothian Pharmacy & Medicines Service
Band 6 Pharmacists
Permanent, 36 hours per week
(including evening, weekend and public holiday commitments)
Join our Team of Band 6's
Are you enthusiastic, motivated and keen to develop your pharmacy career? Come and join our friendly, diverse, supportive and dynamic NHS Lothian team as a Band 6 pharmacist.
Our pharmacy service is rapidly developing and its an exciting time to join our team. We are recruiting Band 6 pharmacists across the following areas:
1. Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (includes the Royal Hospital for Children & Young People, Edinburgh)
2. St John's Hospital, Livingston
3. Western General Hospital, Edinburgh (includes Edinburgh Cancer Centre)
4. Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Edinburgh
Our Band 6 training programmes are aligned with the new NHS Education for Scotland (NES) post- registration foundation programme and provide a structured and supportive environment for you to develop your clinical and non-clinical skills. You will deliver increasingly complex person-centred care across a range of settings, develop your prescribing capabilities, integrate with our pharmacy and wider multiprofessional teams, and for posts that include hospital rotations, work within our core department (technical) areas. You will be supported by an educational supervisor throughout your training along with our experienced pharmacy teams. You will find more details about our training bases in the Band 6 training base information document.
Our Band 6 training programmes support your professional growth, build your networks, and ensure we have well-rounded pharmacists with the mindset and skills to continually improve patient care and service delivery. Please see site specific information below for more information.
The NES post-registration foundation programme includes entry onto an independent prescribing course delivered by one of the universities in Scotland. For more information click here
About NHS Lothian
We are the second largest health system in NHS Scotland and one of only four teaching Boards. We have strategic partnerships with local Universities, Local Authorities and our four Integration Joint Boards. We serve a population of 900,000, providing a range of primary, community based and acute hospital services. We also provide regional and national services across a range of clinical specialties. We have electronic prescribing in place across most wards and embrace innovation and development.
The vision for our Pharmacy & Medicines service is to deliver clinically led, person-centered services to ensure patients across Lothian get the best from their medicines and pharmacy services. We are focused on creating an environment where each person in the team can flourish, develop and make best use of their skills.
Colleagues across the organisation have developed the NHS Lothian Values and you should
demonstrate that your personal values are aligned.
Next Steps
This is a rolling advert for Band 6 Pharmacist recruitment opportunities across all sites listed above. Please indicate your preferred training base(s) within your application; if you are interested in posts on multiple sites / areas of practice please rank these clearly in your order of preference. Successful candidates will be matched against available vacancies considering service need, individual preference, skills and development needs. Although posts will be based in one of our hospital pharmacy departments there will be a requirement to work at any site to meet the needs of the service.
To apply you should be a pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council but applications are also welcomed from trainee pharmacists (in any sector) due to qualify in 2026.
NHS Lothian offers an opportunity to explore flexible working which encompasses a range of options, which allow staff more flexibility in shaping their own working pattern while delivering the needs of the service across our teams.
For further information please contact the following via e-mail:
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As from 1st April 2026, the Agenda for Change full-time working week will be reducing from 37 to 36 hours per week. Part time hours will be reduced pro-rata. However, there will be a corresponding increase in the hourly rate so that pay will not be affected.
Please note: we anticipate a high level of interest in this position and may close the vacancy early once a sufficient amount of applications are received. Therefore, please make sure you complete and submit your application at an early stage.
We cannot accept late applications so please ensure your application is submitted early.
The email address you provide will be used for notifications. Please check your Junk and Spam inboxes as notifications may go directly to these.
We will fully support disabled candidates, and candidates with long-term conditions or who are neurodivergent by making reasonable adjustments to our recruitment policy and practices.
To work in the United Kingdom, there is a legal requirement for an individual to demonstrate that they have the relevant permission to work in the country. This permission is, without exception, granted by the UK Visa and Immigrations Service. Further information on what NHS Scotland Boards are required to do to check this as well as what your responsibilities include can be found in the further information for this vacancy.
This post requires the post holder to have a PVG Scheme membership/record. If the post holder is not a current PVG member for the required regulatory group (child and/or adult) then an application will need to be made to Disclosure Scotland and deemed satisfactory before they can begin in post.
Due to legislative changes from 1 April 2025, this post may require a different level of criminal records check done than is currently the case. If the post is assessed as a 'regulated role', your appointment will be subject to joining the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme. If there is any change to what is currently required, this will be confirmed by either the Hiring Manager or the Recruitment Team. For more details on these changes please visit: Disclosure Scotland Changes.
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