Mental Health Pharmacist

Avon And Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Nhs Trust; England; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health service provider in the United Kingdom is seeking an enthusiastic pharmacist to lead its clinical pharmacy team. The role includes leadership, quality improvement, and development of clinical services across a diverse area. Candidates should possess a strong background in clinical pharmacy and innovation. In this position, you will support the Chief Pharmacist in strategic initiatives, manage pharmacy staff, and ensure compliance with national standards. AWP actively promotes diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace.

Benefits

Diversity and Inclusion initiatives

Career development opportunities

Qualifications

• Strong background in clinical pharmacy and quality improvement.
• Leadership experience within a pharmacy setting.
• Ability to develop and evaluate clinical pharmacy services.

Responsibilities

• Lead the clinical pharmacy team in services across a large geographical area.
• Support the Chief Pharmacist in setting strategic direction.
• Manage the development of pharmacy service staff.

Skills

Clinical pharmacy experience

Leadership skills

Quality improvement

Independent prescribing

Excellent communication

Education

Pharmacist qualification

Job description

About the Role

We are looking for an enthusiastic and passionate pharmacist with a strong background in clinical pharmacy, quality improvement, and innovation to develop their career at a senior level by joining our dynamic pharmacy team.

This post provides leadership to the specialised, secure, and child and adolescent mental health clinical pharmacy service, and acts as the Trust Lead Pharmacist for education and training.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the clinical pharmacy team in providing medicines optimisation services to wards and community teams, support and develop independent prescribing pharmacists, and ensure clinical staff support our wider teams in the best possible way across a large geographical area.
• Become an integral member of the senior pharmacy team, supporting the Chief Pharmacist to set the strategic direction for both medicines optimisation within the organisation and pharmacy services.
• Include on‑call duties and some weekend and bank holiday working.
• Participate in the pharmacy's provision of safe, effective, and responsive clinical and pharmaceutical supply services to Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and any contracted services.
• Contribute to the strategic planning of the pharmacy service and the implementation of service objectives.
• Lead the development, delivery, and evaluation of clinical pharmacy services across the Trust, in line with the Trust and national medicines optimisation agendas.
• Develop a competent, motivated, and versatile clinical pharmacy workforce across the service, managed within the existing budget and underpinned by technology, robust governance, and risk management.
• Work with the Chief Pharmacist, Deputy Chief Pharmacists, and other Clinical Lead Pharmacists to ensure strategic plans are delivered and resources are utilised safely, efficiently, and effectively to improve financial management of treatments and medicines expenditure, patient experience, and outcomes.
• Manage the development of pharmacy service staff according to their identified needs and the pharmacy staff development plan, in liaison with the other Divisional Lead Pharmacists; Medicines Safety, Governance and R&D Pharmacist; Deputy Chief Pharmacist; Chief Pharmacist; and Divisional Team Lead Technicians.
• Provide leadership, expertise, and management of clinical pharmacy services across the Trust to ensure compliance with legal statutory requirements, national standards, and best practice by all team members (e.g., Royal Pharmaceutical Society hospital standards and nationally/regionally defined clinical standards).
• Be an active member of the Pharmacy Senior Management Team (SMT) in the overall development of all Trust pharmacy services, promoting multidisciplinary engagement and ownership.
• Develop a strategic clinical pharmacy services plan in line with NHS/national priorities, pharmacy service objectives, and Trust objectives.
• Lead, manage, and develop the provision of clinical pharmacy services to ensure the safe, effective, and patient‑centred use of medicines for all patients in the Trust.
• Develop, review, and audit standards for clinical pharmacy services across the Trust in line with local and national recommendations and patient needs.
• Support Trust and commissioner‑led teams with service development, including quality standards, CQUINs, and clinical audit programmes.
• Provide the Chief Pharmacist with evaluated clinical pharmacy metrics/KPIs and clinical interventions at specified time intervals in an agreed format.
• Support the Chief Pharmacist in the strategic management of pharmacy services, including strategy development, service planning, budgeting, and financial management.
• Assist in the development and implementation of Trust medicines‑related policies, procedures, and guidelines, and ensure their regular review.
• Supervise the professional aspects of clinical pharmacy practice, ensuring that written policies and procedures relating to practice are adhered to, investigating any areas of concern, and promoting continuous quality improvement.
• Ensure correct management of Controlled Drugs and FP10 prescriptions at ward level and in community teams, including regular audits and appropriate actions.
• Regularly participate in the 'front‑line' provision of clinical pharmacy services and, when required, evaluate the clinical appropriateness, safety, and legality of prescriptions based on patients' disorders/diseases, co‑morbidity, and other medication and treatments taken, contacting the prescriber to make agreed changes as appropriate.
• Be able to deal with and negotiate with patients and carers who present with challenging, hostile, or antagonistic behaviour and those with significant barriers to understanding.

About AWP

We are AWP (Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust): a diverse organisation with over 5,000 dedicated staff providing inpatient and community‑based mental health care.

We provide services from a range of locations to approximately 1.8 million people living in Bath and North East Somerset (B&NES), Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, across the county of Wiltshire and in parts of Dorset.

Our outstanding people promote mental health and wellbeing. The expertise and resources within AWP are dedicated to a person‑centred approach for those who use our services and for all employees. We recognise that happy and fulfilled employees give better care.

AWP is committed to support and create a positive research and evidence‑based environment and culture, which can have a beneficial impact on everyone who works for the organisation and the care we provide to those who use our services.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.