Lead Pharmacist - CAMHS and perinatal services

Nhs-1; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Lead Pharmacist for CAMHS and Perinatal services, based primarily at Hopewood Hospital with cross-site clinical support. The role involves leading clinical pharmacy services, independent prescribing within scope, and contributing to medicines optimisation, education and governance.

The post holder will develop safe, cost-efficient pharmacy services, supervise a small team, and support MDTs across inpatient and community settings, with

Qualifications

• Independent prescribing within a defined scope and confidence in clinical decision making.
• Experience leading clinical pharmacy services in mental health.
• Ability to mentor, train and assess pharmacists and trainees.

Responsibilities

• Lead clinical pharmacy services for CAMHS and perinatal mental health inpatient and community teams.
• Provide medicines optimisation input and evidence-based medicines advice.
• Manage governance, audits and service development within the trust.

Job description

Employer Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Hopewood Town Nottingham Salary £57,528 - £64,750 per annum (pro rata for part time) Salary period Yearly Closing 08/10/2026 23:59

Lead Pharmacist - CAMHS and perinatal services

Band 8a

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Job overview

The Lead Pharmacist for CAMHS and Perinatal will work with the Deputy Chief Pharmacist - Mental Health Services to deliver a high-quality clinical pharmacy service across inpatient and community child and adolescent, and perinatal mental health services. The role includes providing expert clinical pharmacy input, undertaking independent prescribing within an agreed scope of practice, contributing to medicines optimisation strategy, and supporting training for pharmacists, trainees, and wider multidisciplinary teams.

The post holder will develop and maintain a safe, effective, and cost-efficient pharmacy service, support education for undergraduates and junior staff, and contribute to clinical governance, audit, research, and service development. The role is primarily based at Hopewood Hospital site, with some additional clinical support provided to adult mental health services at Highbury Hospital, or Sherwood Oaks hospital. There will also be some work in community teams across Nottinghamshire.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will lead clinical pharmacy services for child and adolescent, and perinatal mental health inpatient and community teams, providing medicines reconciliation, medication reviews and person-centred treatment plans. As an independent prescriber, they will optimise therapeutic outcomes, support safe prescribing and deliver clear, evidence‑based medicines advice. They will also contribute to audits, research and service improvement, supporting the development of clinical guidelines and medicines optimisation strategies across the Trust.

Education and workforce development are core parts of the role. The post holder will train pharmacists, technicians, trainees and wider clinical teams, mentor postgraduate learners, support undergraduate teaching and contribute to competency assessments. They will line‑manage a small clinical pharmacy team and work collaboratively within MDTs, case reviews and clinical forums to ensure pharmacy expertise informs care.

Operational duties include supporting dispensary services, validating prescriptions, maintaining accurate documentation and ensuring compliance with governance, legal and professional standards. The role requires participation in weekend, late-duty and on-call rotas and may involve deputising for the Deputy Chief Pharmacist - Mental Health Services. All duties must reflect Trust values and meet safeguarding, infection control, equality and data quality requirements.

Working for our organisation

#TeamNottsHC comprises over 11,000 dedicated colleagues who #MakeADifference every day. We deliver intellectual disability, mental health, community health, forensic, and offender healthcare services across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, and South Yorkshire. Our care is provided from over 200 sites, spanning community locations, acute settings, and secure environments, including prisons.

We are one of the largest mental health and community Trusts in the East Midlands and one of Nottinghamshire's biggest employers. We also host national and regional services, such as the National High Secure Deaf Service and the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health.

We offer a variety of employee‑led staff networks, including Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) groups, the Green Champions network, the Freedom to Speak Up network, the Health and Wellbeing Champions network, and the Menopause Champions network. These networks play a vital role in supporting our diverse workforce and promoting a culture of inclusivity.

The health and wellbeing of colleagues is a top priority. We invest significantly in this through our in‑house occupational health and staff counselling services, supported by a dedicated Health and Wellbeing team.

The Trust is committed to reducing its carbon emissions, with a specialised Energy and Environmental team working to ensure compliance with environmental legislation, enhance our environmental performance, and achieve our net‑zero commitment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To undertake the duties of Independent Prescribing in the child and adolescent, and perinatal mental health care unit of the Mental Health Care Group, in line with an agreed scope of practice

To ensure the provision of clinical pharmacy services and to identify, develop and implement practice research, audit and other projects, to ensure that the departmental cost improvement and quality targets are met.

Participate in the provision of the clinical pharmacy service to Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust wards and community based mental health services; thus, facilitating the provision of a high quality and cost‑effective pharmaceutical care to patients and other service users. This includes medicines reconciliation on admission to hospital, detailed medication reviews to provide advice on optimising the safety and effectiveness of pharmacological treatment regimens, contribution to the formulation of patient medication treatment plans, review and updating of patient electronic care records.

To participate in the development and implementation of new ways of working and extended roles for pharmacists and pharmacy staff.

To develop and participate in a programme of "in-house" training for pharmacists, foundation trainee pharmacists(including an appraisal at the end of the rotation), pharmacy technicians and assistants.

To support the Chief Pharmacist and Pharmacy Leadership Team in the development and delivery of education sessions and experiences to pharmacy undergraduates.

To participate as a mentor and assessor for the pharmacists undertaking the clinical diploma. This will involve regular accompanied visits to the relevant diploma ward and completing assessments of the diploma pharmacist’s progress.

To act as a line manager for a small number of pharmacists and or pharmacy technicians working in the mental health care group.

To participate in and develop a programme of training for healthcare professionals - including medical and nursing staff on pharmaceutical matters.

To provide counselling sessions for service users and carers on medication.

To provide specialist medicines information and advice to all healthcare staff, and service users and carers.

To provide appropriate pharmacy input to the second opinion service under the terms of Section 58 of the Mental Health Act Regulations controlling consent to treatment.

Establish and develop strong and effective links with all staff within the Trust and system, to maintain and develop the contribution of pharmacy to cost‑effective, safe and efficient prescribing and utilisation of medicines.

To contribute to initiatives, including the development of treatment and drug usage guidelines that will provide positive clinical and financial outcomes.

Ensure that agreed local and national guidelines, policies and protocols are implemented at service level via the clinical pharmacy team.

Liaise with individual consultants regarding drug‑prescribing issues within their specialty to ensure maximum benefit in the treatment of patients, in‑line with local and national guidelines.

Develop close working relationships with the medical and nursing staff to ensure that pharmacists are integral members of the clinical team.

Within Care Group / Care Units actively promote and implement relevant decisions of medication management committees such as the Trust Medicines Optimisation Group.

Prepare submissions for the medication management committees such as Trust Medicines Optimisation Group and/or Mental Health Medicines Optimisation Group and Medicines Governance Group when required.

To provide professional support to the dispensary on a rota basis, including validation of new prescriptions, checking of dispensing operations performed by pharmacy staff and undertaking occasional dispensing tasks as necessary.

To have complete professional responsibility for safety and efficacy of all medicines a patient is taking whenever a patient’s prescription chart is reviewed on the ward or in the dispensary, using relevant information to hand.

The post‑holder is responsible for recording any clinical information generated as a result of their clinical activities, e.g., writing in patient’s notes, annotating prescription charts and written information for medical staff and the data entry of medicines information questions and answers on the pharmacy database.

To prioritise workload and meet deadlines, particularly when under pressure.

The post holder must ensure that pharmaceutical work conforms to legal and professional requirements, procedures, clinical guidelines, any standard operating procedures and recognised good practice.

To undertake all scheduled mandatory training (including information governance) required for the role.

To always keep professionally up to date, and to be actively aware of national, local and Trust‑wide issues