Deputy Chief Pharmacist and lead for clinical pharmacy services

Integrated Care System; Carlisle; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization is seeking a Deputy Chief Pharmacist to oversee clinical pharmacy services. This senior leadership role requires strong management skills and substantial pharmacy experience, offering the opportunity to lead and innovate in a dynamic healthcare environment in North Cumbria. The successful candidate will play a critical role in shaping the future of pharmacy services, ensuring high-quality patient care.

Benefits

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

Access to NHS discounts

Employee Assistance Programme

Qualifications

• Masters Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent required.
• Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Postgraduate diploma in management or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead for Clinical Pharmacy Services, ensuring adequate staffing.
• Develop and implement strategic pharmacy plans.
• Oversee day-to-day operations of the pharmacy department.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Organisational Skills

Team Management

Time Management

Education

Masters Degree in Pharmacy

Post graduate certificate in clinical pharmacy

Postgraduate diploma in management

Job description

Go back North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Deputy Chief Pharmacist and lead for clinical pharmacy services

The closing date is 08 August 2025

Deputy Chief Pharmacist and lead for clinical pharmacy services (8c, Subject to Job matching)

This is a senior leadership role within the Pharmacy department and Trust and requires the post holder to have strong leadership and management skills and broad experience in the delivery of high quality, safe and effective pharmacy services.

The post holder will deputise for and support the Chief Pharmacist to develop and implement strategic and business plans for the clinical pharmacy services.

The Deputy Chief Pharmacist and lead for Clinical Pharmacy Services will lead on pharmacy strategic, clinical and operational matters, workforce planning and recruitment and will oversee the day to day smooth running of the department and its staff during the absence of the Chief Pharmacist.

They will be responsible for the development of clinical and pharmacy services across all collaboratives, in line with Trust's Clinical Strategy and the newly launched ICB Medicines strategy.

Main duties of the job

The post holder's main responsibility is to be the strategic and operational lead for the Clinical Pharmacy Services with responsibility for ensuring that there is adequate staff to cover wards/clinics and future proofing the clinical pharmacy services to meet current and future needs.

This also includes:

• Supporting the Chief Pharmacist to develop and implement strategic and business plans for the clinical and wider pharmacy services.
• Providing visible and strong professional leadership and management of pharmacy staff.
• Leading the identification and dissemination of appropriate performance standards to measure the effectiveness and quality and safety relating to the clinical pharmacy services.
• Ensuring the implementation of financial management arrangements within the clinical pharmacy services where the post holder is the budget holder and work within standing financial instructions.
• In collaboration with the pharmacy Senior Management Team, developing and implementing improvements in clinical pharmacy services and ensuring the workforce strategy meets the strategic goals of the pharmacy team and the Trust objectives.
• Deputising in the absence of the Chief Pharmacist and be managerially accountable for the pharmacy department along with the Deputy Chief Pharmacist and lead for Medicines Optimisation and Governance.
• Participate in the 'front-line' provision of pharmacy services as appropriate and when required.

About us

At NCIC, we have an ambition to deliver outstanding healthcare services to the population of North Cumbria. The Trust is committed to creating a centre of excellence in providing rural and remote healthcare and provides a wide range of community and acute services throughout our county.

Our 5 key principles demonstrate our belief in the delivery of 'safe, high quality care every time':

• Being a clinically led organisation
• Quality and safety at the heart of our Trust
• A positive patient experience every time
• A great place to work
• Managing our money well

As an organisation we are serious about supporting a diverse workforce that reflects our local community and are very much focused on being an inclusive and compassionate place to work.

Across the North East and North Cumbria we are working together to deliver our ambition to be the greenest region in England by 2030. All staff are expected to support sustainability.

Job responsibilities

Please see attached job description and person specification for further information regarding the role and the essential and desirable criteria required to be met by applicants.

Please note, due to changes implemented by the Government to the UK immigration policy, individuals who require a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa may no longer be eligible for sponsorship where the UKVI salary threshold is not met or if the occupation is not included in the updated Immigration Salary List (ISL). Applicants must check their eligibility to be employed in any role they are interested in applying for, prior to completing an application for employment.Any applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will not be progressed.

If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme or Armed Forces Covenant and you meet all the essential criteria for a post, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Relocation assistance may be available for successful applicants moving to the region for certain posts. Please see our Policy for eligible vacancies.

Please ensure that you document evidence of meeting all the essential criteria in the supporting information.

If sufficient response is received this post could be closed earlier than the specified closing date, please apply as soon as possible to ensure that your application is considered.

Candidates who have been successfully shortlisted for interview will be asked via an email notification to log on to their Trac account to select an interview time. This will usually be within 2 weeks of the closing date.

For candidates applying using a Hotmail account or have strict firewall settings please ensure the following:

• Junk Mail is checked regularly

Disclosure and Barring Service:

On 28 November 2020, the new Disclosure and Barring Service filtering rules will come into effect.

The changes mean that:

• youth cautions, reprimands and final warnings will no longer be subject to automatic disclosure
• the multiple conviction rule has been removed, meaning that if an individual has more than one conviction, regardless of offence type or time passed, each conviction will be considered against the remaining rules individually, rather than being automatically disclosed.

If you are unsure about whether you need to disclose certain criminal record information, free confidential advice may be sought from one of the charity bodies listed below. These bodies can advise you on what you are legally required to declare and may also be able to advise you on how you can disclose criminal record information to a prospective employer and your legal rights when doing so.

Unlock Tel: [phone], email [e-mail] or complete the online form on the Unlock website

Please note the cost of the DBS check is increasing from 2nd December and the new cost will be

Standard DBS check £21.50, Enhanced DBS check £49.50 + any admin costs.

The Trust is committed to safeguarding adults and children therefore if the post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended) the successful candidate(s) will be subject to a criminal records check with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The cost of the DBS must be met by the successful candidate(s) through salary deduction. DBS charges are as follows if applicable to the post:

Standard Check: £18 + Administration cost of £3.85 = £21.85. Deducted at £6.85 from 1st month salary and £5 deducted from salary over following 3 months.

Enhanced Check: £38 + administration cost of £3.90 = £41.90. Deducted at £11.90 from 1st month salary and £10 deducted from salary over following 3 months.

As part of the one of the largest employers in the UK NCIC future employees will have also access to the following benefits.

A lease car may be available for this position; further details will be provided upon appointment if applicable.

27-day holiday scheme rising to 33 after 10 years

Access to NHS discounts with retailers and leisure companies

EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) a free, confidential counselling and information service to assist with personal or work-related problems

These schemes are subject to availability

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Masters Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent
• Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council.
• Post graduate certificate in clinical pharmacy or equivalent experience.
• Leadership and Quality Improvement Training.
• Registered Prescriber
• Postgraduate diploma in management or equivalent experience at a senior level
• NHS approved Leadership course

Knowledge and Experience

• Relevant post-registration hospital experience comprising clinical experience and/or relevant clinical qualification, and substantial and relevant management experience (having had significant responsibility for human and/or financial resources) and/or relevant post graduate management qualification
• Can demonstrate successful management of change in a complex organisation and ability to manage resources effectively
• Working knowledge of pharmacy systems and processes.
• Experience of managing a team and service.
• Experience of leading on the incorporation of NHS priorities for pharmacy and medicines management in practice.
• Proven track record of service development and quality improvement
• Experience of training and supervising others
• Relevant post-registration employment in a hospital pharmacy department
• Recent practical pharmacy duties.
• Organisation & supervision of support staff / teams
• Significant clinical pharmacy experience while leading a service area
• Continuing professional development with portfolio.
• Clinical governance.
• Equality legislation and best practice
• Detailed knowledge and experience of the operation of NHS organisations
• Detailed awareness of the strategic influences affecting provision of pharmaceutical services
• Performance management; management/development of staff
• Experience of working at a high level within an NHS organisation
• Use of word processing, email, internet
• Leading a transformation of a pharmacy clinical service
• Evidence of published improvement work
• Participation in projects / developments at regional or national level.
• Detailed knowledge of hospital based clinical pharmacy services including services to medicine, surgery paediatric units.
• Spreadsheet and database packages

Other Requirements

• Able to participate fully in the out of hours service (evenings/weekends/out of hours service).
• Commitment to continuing professional development
• Resilient and organised to deal with a changing work programme and priorities often at short notice.
• Driving Licence / ability to travel between sites as required

Skills

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including presentation skills.
• Highly effective interpersonal skills
• Ability to make judgements based on incomplete or conflicting data using critical appraisal skills.
• Ability to manage time, people and resources.
• Able to organise and prioritise workload.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Able to work accurately to deadlines.
• Ability to identify and implement best practice.
• Ability to identify and manage risk.
• Able to apply advanced pharmacy skills and knowledge in practice.
• Able to compile business cases and successfully negotiate for resources.
• Experience of service improvement.
• Awareness of NHS priorities and agendas.
• Awareness of NHS priorities and agendas.
• Effective working in multidisciplinary forums.
• Able to analyse, interpret and present complex data to inform strategic decisions.
• Able to influence for improvement.
• Involved in regional or national committees.
• Published pharmaceutical research.
• Coaching skills.

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.

North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust