Job overview
Are you a motivated Pharmacist with mental health experience wanting to progress your career?
Do you want to gain further qualifications in an ‘Outstanding’ Trust that prioritises staff wellbeing and professional development?
Join our Pharmacy team and enjoy a varied, interesting role delivering specialised services to mental health crisis teams and mental health inpatient wards.
Based at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading, you’ll work with the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team (CRHTT) for 2 days and with the Mental Health Inpatient wards for 3 days. We welcome full time applications or a part time application to cover either or both areas.
We are pleased to offer this role at Band 8a and as a development pathway for a Band 7 Pharmacist to progress into an 8a role. We’ll offer you support and funding to obtain your postgraduate psychiatric pharmacy diploma and Independent Prescriber qualification.
As a specialist psychiatric clinical pharmacist, you’ll deliver a high standard of clinical pharmaceutical care and be a key member of the multidisciplinary teams providing expertise in medicines related issues. The post holder will support the medicines optimisation agenda within own area of specialty.
You’d work our usual service hours of9am–5pm, Monday to Friday, with participation in our team emergency duty rota
Applications for this role will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. We encourage you to apply as soon as possible, as vacancies may close early.
Main duties of the job
1. To provide high quality, specialist clinical pharmacy service to the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team (CRHTT) and mental health inpatient wards to ensure the safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of drugs
2. To participate in MDT meetings to provide expert medicines advice and support the wider medicines optimisation agenda
3. To work closely with other community-based and inpatient clinical pharmacists to ensure seamless pharmaceutical care is provided throughout each patient’s journey
4. To provide education and training to healthcare professionals, service users and carers
5. To provide clinical pharmacy advice on the management of patients with mental illness in order to maximise benefit and minimise risk in relation to medicines
6. To be responsible for updating and reviewing relevant SOPs, guidelines, PGDs and ePACT analysis
Working for our organisation
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated ‘outstanding’ by the CQC, we’re committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we’re committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.
Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are:
7. Caring for and about you is our top priority
8. Committed to providing good quality, safe services
9. Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:
10. Flexible working options to support work-life balance.
11. 27 days’ annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
12. Generous NHS pension scheme
13. Excellent learning and career development opportunities
14. ‘Cycle to Work’ and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
15. Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
16. Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
17. Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
18. Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave.
19. Free parking across Trust sites
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The “must haves” for this role:
20. Pharmacy Honours degree (BPharm or MPharm)
21. Clinical or psychiatric postgraduate certificate (Band 7) or Clinical or psychiatric (preferred), postgraduate diploma (for Band 8a)
22. Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
23. Experience in mental health pharmacy (hospital or community mental health)
For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.
We’re committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.
Person specification
Education/Qualifications/Training
Essential criteria
24. Masters in pharmacy or equivalent from a British School of pharmacy or recognised equivalent
25. Statutory registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
26. Clinical or psychiatric postgraduate certificate
27. Clinical or Psychiatric postgraduate diploma (for Band 8a)
28. Independent prescriber (or willingness to work towards gaining the qualification)
Desirable criteria
29. Membership with RPS
30. Membership of the College of Mental Health Pharmacists
Continuous Professional Development
Essential criteria
31. Evidence of commitment to continuing professional development
32. Trust induction and mandatory training
Previous Experience
Essential criteria
33. Substantial post registration experience as a practicing pharmacist (for Band 8a)
34. Minimum of 2 years’ experience in mental health hospital pharmacy (for Band 8a)
35. Good working knowledge of mental health therapeutics and prescribing issues in mental health (for Band 8a)
36. Experience in clinical audit (for Band 8a)
37. Experience in project facilitation
38. Experience of collaborative working including MDT mental health team working
39. Experience of providing information to mental health patients
40. Experience in carrying out medicines information queries, providing both verbal and written specialist advice
41. Experience of managing unpredictable work patterns and to effectively manage situations where concentration may be frequently interrupted, for advice
Desirable criteria
42. Can demonstrate an understanding of the key stakeholders the post is likely to be supporting and how they will be expected to support them.
43. Experience of budget management
44. Experience of service development
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Essential criteria
45. Excellent written and verbal skills for communicating with pharmacy team members, public and other healthcare professionals
46. Ability to work well independently
47. Demonstrate initiative and problem-solving skills
48. Ability to demonstrate attention to detail, accuracy and numeracy/ calculation skills
49. Sound IT skills
50. Ability to evaluate quality of own work
51. Ability to critically appraise research and incorporate into practice
52. Demonstrates awareness of and commitment to the clinical governance agenda
53. Ability to prioritise and manage own workload
54. Effective organisation and time management skills
55. Ability to exercise own initiative within specialist area of mental health
56. Ability to plan/ organise new/future services
57. Ability to work under pressure, prioritise and meet deadlines
58. Ability and willingness to travel across all Trust sites within the Berkshire Health economy
59. Flexible approach to work patterns in line with the needs of the service
These are the values that we live by at Berkshire Healthcare:
60. Caring for and about you is our top priority
61. Committed to providing good quality, safe services
62. working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
We welcome people who share these values to come and work for us.
Please find attached the behaviour framework that underpins these values for this job role.
At Berkshire Healthcare, we foster an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs.
Watch our to learn more.
We welcome talent from all backgrounds and offer guaranteed interviews to disabled applicants and armed forces community members who meet the minimum criteria.