Clinical Pharmacist

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; Havant; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in Portsmouth area is looking for a Clinical Pharmacist to join their team. This role involves delivering clinical pharmacy services to mental health and physical health wards, ensuring high standards of care, and participating in quality improvement initiatives. Candidates need a Master's degree in Pharmacy and registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Experience in mental health or community health is advantageous. Competitive salary offered.

Qualifications

• Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council is required.
• Experience in mental health and/or community health services is preferred.
• Ability to manage own time and work as part of a team.

Responsibilities

• Deliver a clinical pharmacy service to mental health and physical health wards.
• Ensure safe and appropriate use of medicines for patients.
• Monitor patients for potential and actual adverse effects of their medicines.

Skills

Clinical pharmacy expertise

Communication skills

Empathy towards patients

Time management

Education

Masters Degree in Pharmacy

Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy Practice

Job description

Go back Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical Pharmacist

The closing date is 05 October 2025

We are seeking a Clinical Pharmacist to join our our well-established, friendly team of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who provide clinical support to mental health units, community hospitals and community teams across Hampshire.

The post is based at Elmleigh Mental Health Unit in Havant and the successful applicant will provide regular clinical pharmacist support here and at Hollybank AMH rehabilitation unit, in our Secure, Acute and Crisis division. You will also work closely with the Portsmouth and Southeast Division pharmacy team to provide clinical cover to Older Persons Mental Health and community rehabilitation wards.

As part of the role you will be able to gain experience in other specialities such as Learning Disabilities, CAMHS, adult, LD and CAMHS forensic services and End of Life.

The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring the clinical service is of high quality and patient focused, help to identify gaps and problem areas in the service and use appropriate methods including quality improvement. The post holder will deliver an efficient, high quality, professional and well-coordinated clinical pharmacy service. This will include the provision of prescribing advice to medical teams and medicines management to the multidisciplinary teams and patients at ward/clinic level.

For further information or to arrange an informal visit, please contact:

Dom Milbourn Secure, Acute and Crisis Divisional Lead Pharmacist [e-mail]

Main duties of the job

Your work will focus on enhancing patient safety in medicines practice including medicines reconciliation, providing clinical professional advice to prescribers as part of a multi-disciplinary team, discharge planning, clinical audit, and teaching.

Key areas of practice will be to:

Utilise pharmaceutical expertise, working in partnership with patients, carers and healthcare professionals to minimise medicines-related harm and facilitating medicines optimisation.

Provide clinical pharmacy advice and participate in the pharmaceutical services to the Portsmouth and Southeast Hampshire Divisional area.

Monitor drug usage and promote cost effective prescribing.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a newly established organisation, bringing together expertise from across mental health, learning disabilities, community, and physical health services. We are dedicated to delivering compassionate, high-quality, and accessible care to the diverse communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

With over 13,000 dedicated staff working across more than 300 sites, we place patients and staff at the centre of everything we do. Our goal is to create an integrated healthcare system that improves accessibility and ensures more consistent care for patients. By working together, we aim to improve patient outcomes, drive innovation, and meet the unique needs of the populations we serve.

Our Trust unites services from Southern Health, Solent NHS Trust, Isle of Wight NHS Trusts community and mental health teams, as well as Hampshire CAMHS, originally part of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. This transformation enables us to deliver more seamless care across the region, ensuring that patients receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

Join us as we embark on this exciting journey to shape the future of healthcare across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We are deeply committed to our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect, and excellence, and offer outstanding opportunities for career development, training, and collaborative working.

Job responsibilities

*To deliver a clinical pharmacy and medicine management service to designated physical and mental health wards and ensure patients receive a high standard of pharmaceutical care.

*Ensure safe and appropriate use of medicines in order to maximise benefit and minimise risk to patients.

*Undertake medicines reconciliation and to support Medicines Management (MM) technicians in medicines reconciliation.

*Ensure the effective supply of medicines suitable for use as an inpatient and appropriately labelled for discharge.

*Monitor patients for potential and actual adverse effects of their medicines.

*Take steps to ensure patients understand the purpose of their medicines and deal with any practical issues that may prevent the optimal use of their medicines.

*Support the planning of patient discharge with respect to medicines.

*Facilitate seamless transfer of care for patients in respect of their medicines across all interfaces.

*Actively promote self-medication on the rehabilitation wards in alignment with Trust policy.

*Reduce risk associated with medicines use by contributing to the safe medication practice agenda.

*Develop and demonstrate expert clinical knowledge in appropriate areas.

*Act as a clinical role model and demonstrate the ability to provide safe, clinically effective, and cost-efficient use of medicines.

*Provide advice to health care professionals or patients who have been so far unable to access either information/advice, or require help where information is conflicting or difficult to interpret in the management of either individual patients, or groups of patients.

*Ensure advice is accurate, evaluated, impartial and up to date to ensure the safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of medicines.

*Assess medicine regimens both during enquiry answering and/or routine ward visits providing highly specific advice to other clinical teams' members on the management of often complex medicine related issues, such as complex drug interactions, medicine use in pregnancy, unlicensed use of medicines etc.

*Facilitate the implementation of specified standards and policies, within current legal frameworks, regulations and best practice.

*Support the implementation of local and national recommendations, including local formularies, Medicines Management Group, NICE, MHRA and NHS England actions.

*Provide advice to ensure the safe and cost-effective use of medicines.

*Act as an authorised witness for the disposal of controlled drugs in accordance with relevant legislation and Trust policy, regulations and guidance when required.

*To provide representation at relevant committees and groups where and when appropriate.

*To participate in training and supervision of undergraduate pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, junior pharmacists, medicines management technicians and induction of new staff including nurses and doctors as required.

*To provide co-ordinated medicines information to patients during their inpatient stay and as part of the discharge-planning process.

*To liaise with members of clinical team and external agencies as part of discharge planning and to undertake needs assessment for individual patients e.g. compliance aid requirement.

*To document clinical pharmacy contacts, interventions, and records such as drug histories and treatment plans in the patient's record.

*Ensure medicines related incidents are reported through the appropriate incident reporting systems and that any learning from incidents is shared and implemented.

*Assist the Principal Pharmacist in planning and delivery of medicines education and training to practitioners.

*Participate in clinical audit through data collection, setting objectives, analysing results, and report writing to ensure guidelines are implemented.

*Provide support to the Principal Pharmacist in reviewing and monitoring medicines related incidents; provide support in reporting back trends to clinical teams.

*Provide support to the Principal Pharmacist with ensuring that appropriate Trust policies, guidelines, PGDs and SOPs are kept up to date, safe and relevant.

*Be able to provide support to colleagues in the wider Medicines Management Team as needed, for example by being able to help provide cover to other wards, advice and support if required.

*To act as second professional for patients requiring assessment under the Mental Health Act 1983 (post section 118).

*The post holder will take responsibility for identifying own training and development needs and continually update their skills and knowledge as part of Continuing Professional Development.

*As applicable, to undertake duties as a non-medical, independent prescriber within competencies and as agreed within the Division.

Education

*Undertake training and mentoring of staff and other groups as needed.

*To make suggestions for improvements to the service and policy changes to the Principal Pharmacist.

*To provide support to Senior Pharmacists in delivering Medicines Management support and training to other areas of the community services.

Research and Development and quality improvement:

*To participate in the Trust wide medicines clinical audit programme.

*Promote and facilitate pharmacy practice related research within pharmacy services.

*To support the Principal Pharmacist for research and development as needed.

People Management

*Be responsible for cascading highly complex and sensitive information to staff using highly developed interpersonal skills to manage anxiety or hostility.

*Be involved in the recruitment process for staff as required.

Administrative

*To maintain up to date, accurate and complete patient records which reflect the work carried out by the post holder.

*To maintain records of work carried out in this post to provide feedback for commissioners and to support future development of services.

*To contribute to clinical audits.

*To participate in the assessment of patient experience of the Medicines Management Service.

Non-medical prescribing

*To work as an independent non-medical prescriber within areas of work as required, taking responsibility for the clinical assessment of the patient, establishing a diagnosis and the clinical management required, as well as responsibility for prescribing where necessary and the appropriateness of any prescription issued.

*Independent prescribers will be responsible for prescribing a range of drugs within their competence in accordance with Trust protocols and British National Formulary.

*To write prescriptions in accordance with Trust policy, taking full responsibility for the patient as well as for the medicines prescribed

*Ensure the appropriate records are made in the patient's case notes which identify the post holder as the independent prescriber.

*To ensure that contemporaneous records which are unambiguous and legible are maintained and kept in accordance with Trust policy and professional codes of Conduct.

*To ensure that the GP is notified when a patient is seen as an outpatient, following discharge from hospital or in the event that the prescription is changed.

*To take responsibility for ensuring that the non-medical prescribing is recorded on the Trust Patient Administration system for outpatients.

*To communicate fully with those patients who are unable to communicate or give consent ensuring that the benefits of non-medical prescribing are documented fully, and to provide reassurance to both the patient and the carer that you are fulfilling the role of the doctor.

*Where it is recognised that a patient's needs are outside the post holder's clinical and professional experience, to take responsibility and make referrals to a specialist doctor, the multidisciplinary team or other agency.

*Assist with the development of policies and inform development of non-medical prescribing across the Trust.

*Take the lead on policy, procedural development and patient information relating to non-medical prescribing in designated areas of practice.

*In accordance with Trust policy, submit monthly records of drugs prescribed to the Trust's Education and Training department non-medical prescribing lead.

*To undertake auditing and monitoring of prescribing in the post holder's own designated areas of practice.

*To be responsible for ensuring the security and safe handling of inpatient, out-patient and FP10 prescription forms and to report any loss or theft accordingly.

*In the event of adverse drug reaction, to be accountable for ensuring that the

*GP/Consultant is advised accordingly and that the incident reporting process is followed

*To participate in patient satisfaction survey design and obtain feedback on patient views of non-medical prescribing

*Act as a mentor and guide for supplementary non-medical prescribers and to provide clinical supervision, ensuring that any shortfalls form part of the CPD

*To access regular clinical supervision from a doctor in the team

*To be accountable for ensuring that training, CPD and clinical supervision sustains the post holder's independent prescribing status

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Masters Degree in Pharmacy plus pre-registration/ foundation year training.Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Postgraduate Diploma (or MSc) in Clinical Pharmacy Practice or equivalent experience (or willing to work towards this).Postgraduate Certificate in Psychiatric Therapeutics (or willing to work towards this)Independent prescriber qualification.

Experience

• Post registration experience working as a pharmacist.Demonstrate the ability to recommend, substantiate and communicate medicine related information appropriately to mental health patients, carers, and clinical staff, as well as those in physical inpatient wards.Experience of delivering training and education.Experience of working in a constantly changing environment.
• Post-registration experience working in mental health and/or community health services.Experience of ward based clinical pharmacy.Experience of working with older persons.Monitoring and advising on drug expenditureTo have undertaken clinical audit.

Additional Criteria

• Able to manage own time.Able to work both alone and as part of a team.Good oral and written communication.Aware and able to respond to customer needs.Shows empathy towards patients' needs.Able to cope with stressful situations.Demonstrates assertiveness in difficult situations.Good IT skills.Able to be flexible.The ability to identify and prioritise work.Communicates with medical, nursing and pharmacy staff in clear precise and appropriate manner.The ability to identify and manage risksAbility to evaluate own work.Shows empathy towards patients' needsProblem solving skills.Methodical approach and attention to detail.Proven communication and interpersonal skills.Up to date and familiar with evidence-based medicine, medicines information and medicines knowledge.Knowledge and understanding of prescribing and drug costs and how they relate to the local health economy.Knowledge and understanding of the national agenda for prescribing, pharmacy services and medicines management.
• Teaching and presentation skills.Demonstrates awareness of the clinical governance agenda.To have an awareness of national and local priorities.Understanding of local trust priorities.Aware of effect of political changes on healthcare.Sound knowledge of drug management of Mental Health disorders as well as physical health disorders including national guidance.Clinical and critical appraisal skillsAble to influence all grades of medical staffEvidence of writing procedures, clinical guidelines, and policy/protocols.

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.

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

£47,810 to £54,710 a yearBased on full time hours