Advanced pharmacist – Clinical Services

NHS; Dartford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading health service provider in Dartford is seeking an Advanced Pharmacist to enhance clinical pharmacy services in Community Mental Health Teams. Responsibilities include leading clozapine clinics and ensuring effective medicine use. Candidates should possess a Master's degree in pharmacy and substantial experience in clinical settings, especially mental health. This role offers the opportunity to influence patient care significantly.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 6 years post-registration experience is required.
• At least 4 years' experience as a clinical pharmacist in a relevant healthcare setting.
• Experience with mental health patients is necessary.

Responsibilities

• Deliver advanced clinical pharmacy services to CMHTs.
• Lead on clozapine and depot clinics.
• Support ward-based services, including patient counselling.

Skills

Expert clinical knowledge of drug use

Ability to communicate complex medicine-related information

Ability to work independently and manage workload

Medicines information skills

Advanced IT and data handling skills

Education

Masters degree (MSc or MPharm) in pharmacy

Registered with the GPhC

Postgraduate accreditation/qualification in pharmacy

Registered independent prescriber or ability to train

Job description

This Band 8a Advanced Pharmacist role supports the delivery of advanced clinical pharmacy and medicines optimisation services across Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs) within Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust. The postholder will lead on clozapine and depot clinics, contribute to clinical governance, and support safe, effective, and value-based use of medicines.

Main duties of the job

• Deliver advanced clinical pharmacy services to CMHTs.
• Act as lead pharmacist for clozapine and depot clinics.
• Support ward-based services, including consultant-led rounds and patient counselling.
• Participate in dispensary, medicines information, and emergency on-call rotas.
• Provide education and training to staff and service users.
• Contribute to clinical audits and quality improvement initiatives.

About us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We Listen
• We Care

Job responsibilities

The postholder will lead on improving patient experience with medicines, ensure compliance with governance standards, and support cost-effective prescribing. They will work independently in specialist clinics, supervise pharmacy technicians, and liaise with multidisciplinary teams. The role includes non-medical prescribing (where appropriate), medicines information provision, and active participation in service development and clinical meetings.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

• Masters degree (MSc or MPharm) in pharmacy or equivalent.
• Registered with the GPhC.
• Postgraduate accreditation/qualification in pharmacy, preferably in psychiatry
• Registered independent prescriber or ability to train and register as an IP

Experience

• Minimum of 6 years post-registration experience
• Minimum of 4 years' experience as a clinical pharmacist, ideally in a relevant healthcare setting.
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems
• Postgraduate accreditation or qualification in pharmacy
• Registered independent prescriber or the ability to train and register as one.

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge

• Expert clinical knowledge of drug use, especially in mental health
• Ability to communicate highly complex medicine-related information to a range of audiences including prescribers, patients, and carers.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team, managing workload under pressure and using initiative to problem-solve.
• Medicines information skills, including the ability to analyse incomplete or conflicting data to provide specialist advice.
• Understanding of national and local priorities, including clinical governance frameworks.
• Advanced IT and data handling skills, including use of pharmacy systems and Microsoft Office tools.

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.