Advanced Pharmacist - Neurosciences

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading NHS Trust in Liverpool seeks a dynamic pharmacist for maternity cover within the senior clinical pharmacy team. Responsibilities include providing clinical services to The Walton Centre, specializing in antimicrobial stewardship, conducting audits and supporting multidisciplinary teams in patient care. Applicants must be registered pharmacists with a postgraduate diploma and relevant experience in a specialist role. This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to high-quality patient care in a respected healthcare setting.

Benefits

Comprehensive training programs

Support for continuing professional development

Access to healthcare benefits

Qualifications

• Must be a registered pharmacist with a postgraduate clinical diploma.
• Experience working as a specialist pharmacist is essential.
• Current registration as a prescriber is required.

Responsibilities

• Provide a safe and effective specialist clinical pharmacy service.
• Support antimicrobial stewardship across the Trust.
• Conduct audits and develop medicines management.
• Participate in multidisciplinary meetings and ward rounds.

Skills

Clinical skills

Communication skills

Teamwork

Leadership

Antimicrobial stewardship

Education

Postgraduate clinical diploma or equivalent

Registered pharmacist with GPhC

Tools

Clinical management systems

Pharmacy management software

Job description

Overview

We are looking for a dynamic and forward-thinking pharmacist with excellent clinical skills to cover maternity leave within our senior clinical pharmacy team. You will work as part of the neurosciences pharmacy team to provide an advanced clinical pharmacy service to The Walton Centre, a specialist Trust providing tertiary neurology, neurosurgery, spinal and pain management services to a wide catchment area. The post includes a specific lead role in antimicrobial stewardship within the Trust, including participation in the weekly antimicrobial multidisciplinary board round and weekly Outpatient Antibiotic Therapy clinic, monitoring and audit of antimicrobial usage, and both proactive and reactive work to improve antimicrobial stewardship within the Trust. You will also participate in daily multidisciplinary neurosurgical ward rounds and in the pharmacist prescribing service for patients newly admitted on the morning of their elective neurosurgery. The Pharmacy Department in LUHFT (Aintree site) delivers a full pharmacy service to The Walton Centre (based on the same site) under a service level agreement with The Walton Centre.

Responsibilities

• Along with the Lead Pharmacist, Neurosciences, provide a safe and effective specialist clinical pharmacy service to The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust.
• Provide specialist antimicrobial stewardship advice and support to The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust.
• With support from the Lead Pharmacist, Neurosciences, audit, monitor and develop medicines management within The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust.
• Provide training and routine supervision for rotational band 6 pharmacists providing pharmacy services to the Walton Centre Clinical Trials Unit.
• Assist the Assistant Clinical Director of Pharmacy, Clinical Services and WCFT Lead, in providing clinical training and supervision of other departmental staff, to provide an advanced clinical service to The Walton Centre in accordance with professional, departmental and Trust policies.
• Provide highly specialist pharmaceutical information to medical and nursing staff and patients within The Walton Centre and to General Practitioners and other staff within the Trust where appropriate.
• Participate in consultant ward rounds and multidisciplinary meetings relevant to the designated ward(s).
• Provide specialist pharmacist input into weekly antimicrobial multidisciplinary team board rounds and weekly Outpatient Antibiotic Therapy clinics.
• Undertake regular monitoring of restricted or high risk antibiotics and audit of antimicrobial usage, and respond to national safety alerts regarding antimicrobials.
• Support antimicrobial stewardship at The Walton Centre including organising and co-chairing the Antimicrobial Stewardship group, producing reports and reviewing the formulary and strategy.
• Investigate any medicines related incidents or complaints from the designated clinical area and explore ways of minimising risk of future re-occurrence or risk to staff.
• Liaise with appropriate health care professionals within Primary Care Trusts to ensure the effective and efficient use of resources across the primary/secondary care interface and where necessary develop shared care protocols.
• Support The Walton Centre Lead Pharmacist in the development of relevant business cases/plans for service developments relevant to the pharmacy service provided to The Walton Centre.
• Provide clinical training for pharmacy undergraduates, pre-registration pharmacists, postgraduate pharmacists and technicians.
• Train and supervise band 6 and 7 rotational pharmacists in providing clinical pharmacy services within the designated directorate.
• Tutor pharmacists undertaking a postgraduate clinical diploma/M.Sc. in clinical pharmacy.
• Participate in the training of medical and nursing staff and other paramedical disciplines either within or external to the Trust as appropriate.
• Undertake individual appraisals for nominated pharmacists in the department.
• To report and deliver a full assessment of medicine costs both in use and horizon scanning for The Walton Centre.
• The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Baring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Qualifications

• Applicants must be Pharmacists registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council and have a postgraduate clinical diploma or equivalent experiential learning along with experience working as a specialist pharmacist, and current (or imminent) registration as a prescriber.
• Computer literate.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.
• Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team.
• Self-motivating and able to motivate/inspire others.

Desirable Criteria

• Ability to affect and manage change.
• Excellent clinical knowledge and practical clinical skills for the relevant specialist role.
• Good all-round clinical knowledge and practical clinical skills.
• Vocational master's degree in pharmacy.
• Membership of The General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Diploma in clinical pharmacy or equivalent documented clinical experience.
• NMP qualification (or within 3 months of registration).
• MRPharmS.
• Significant experience in a relevant specialist pharmacist role.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship experience.
• Demonstrable commitment to continuing professional development / education.
• Experience as a NMP.

Employer Overview

Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital. We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients. UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond. For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West. Aintree University Hospital is the single receiving site for adult major trauma patients in Cheshire and Merseyside and hosts a number of regional services including an award-winning stroke facility. Broadgreen Hospital is home to elective surgical, diagnostic and treatment services, together with specialist patient rehabilitation. Liverpool Women's Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK's largest single site maternity hospital each year. The Royal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.

Trust policy requires that the cost of submitting & processing the successful applicant/s DBS application be recovered via salary deduction following start in post. The amount of £23 (standard disclosure) or £43 (enhanced disclosure) will be deducted from salary, in manageable monthly instalments for up to 3 months following commencement of employment. Bank posts require upfront payment. DBS applications submitted from 2nd December will be subject to the new DBS fee of £26.50 (standard) and £54.50 (enhanced). From April 2017, Skilled visa applicants and their adult dependant(s) will be required to provide a criminal record certificate from each country they have lived in consecutively for 12 months or more in the past ten years. Applicants requiring sponsorship may wish to determine the likelihood of obtaining sponsorship for this position by assessing themselves against the criteria on the gov.uk website.

All staff must ensure they adhere to the organisation's safeguarding children and adults' policy and comply with the Local Safeguarding Children and Adult Board procedures. Staff should be mindful of their responsibility to safeguard children and adults in any activity performed on behalf of the organisation in line with statutory guidance and legislation.

Additional Information

Note: Under current Home Office Immigration Rules we are currently unable to offer right to work visa sponsorship for Band 2 and 3 roles with a salary of less than £25,000 pa as they do not meet the UK Visas & Immigration criteria. Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview. We reserve the right to close any vacancies from further applications when we have received a minimum number of applications from which to make a shortlist. Please ensure you apply without delay if you wish to be considered for this role. Candidates applying for the role of Healthcare Assistant on the staff bank should note that due to the nature of the role, workers must be aged 18 or above when commencing in post. Applicants are therefore welcome from those aged over 18 or within 3 months of their 18th birthday. Trust policy requires that the cost of submitting & processing the DBS application be recovered via salary deduction following start in post.

The Trust is committed to promoting equality and diversity; we value the contribution of individual talent, skills, knowledge and experience and aim for a workforce demography representative of the local community. We encourage applicants from the following groups that are currently under-represented in our workforce: Black, Asian and minority ethnic, lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQ+), disabled, male and age 16-24.