Senior Lead for Pharmacy Homecare Services - Maternity Cover

Royal Berkshire; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Senior Lead for Pharmacy Homecare Services (Maternity Cover). You will provide senior leadership for homecare medicines, oversee governance, performance, and supplier management, and work with clinical teams to optimise pathways for patients while ensuring delivery against NHMC and RPS standards.

The role requires extensive experience in hospital/homecare services, a management qualification, and strong leadership and stakeholder engagement

Qualifications

• Registered pharmacist or technician with GPhC.
• Postgraduate qualifications in management/leadership.
• Experience leading hospital pharmacy teams, especially in homecare.
• Experience in governance, policy/SOP maintenance, or audits.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior leadership for Pharmacy Homecare Services ensuring safe, timely, cost-effective provision.
• Accountability for service performance, governance, risk management and continuous improvement.
• Oversee homecare prescription management, clinical validation, contract administration and provider performance.
• Collaborate with senior leaders, clinicians, commissioning and corporate teams to optimise homecare pathways.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Autonomy

Analytical thinking

Negotiation

Attention to detail

Education

GPhC registration (Pharmacist or Technician)

Master's degree in Pharmacy

Postgraduate qualification in Management/Leadership

Practice Supervisor/Educational Supervisor qualification

RPS/APUK membership

Tools

EPMA

CMM homecare module

Hospital pharmacy systems

Power BI

Qlik

Job description

Senior Lead for Pharmacy Homecare Services - Maternity Cover

Band 8A Senior Lead Pharmacy Homecare Services

We are looking for an experienced pharmacy leader-pharmacist or pharmacy technician, to join our team as Senior Lead Pharmacy Homecare Services.

Main duties of the job

• The post holder provides senior leadership for the Pharmacy homecare medicines services, ensuring safe, timely, appropriate, and cost-effective provision of homecare medicines for Trust patients in accordance with National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) and RPS standards and Trust governance frameworks.
• The role holds accountability for service performance, clinical governance, risk management, and continuous improvement across end-to-end homecare medicines pathways, with delegated responsibility for workforce management, clinical pathway oversight, and defined financial controls.
• The post holder provides integrated oversight across homecare prescription management, clinical validation processes, contract administration, clinical governance, and supplier performance, ensuring consistent standards, clear escalation routes, and effective controls for patient safety, clinical appropriateness, contract compliance, commissioning alignment, medicines recalls, provider performance monitoring, and homecare service quality standards.
• The post holder works closely with senior pharmacy leaders, clinical teams, medical consultants, specialist nurses, commissioning colleagues, and corporate teams to maintain service resilience, provide clinical governance leadership for complex homecare pathways, deliver assurance to Trust governance structures, and optimize homecare medicines pathways for patients and the organization.

About us

Reading sits on the river Thames and is served by great road and rail links to London, Oxford and Southampton. With excellent leisure and shopping facilities, and a thriving cultural scene, Reading is a wonderful place to live, work and play and provides excellent facilities for families, including some of the best state and private schools in the UK.

The CQC rated the care provided by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as Good.

Our 'CARE' values:Compassionate,Aspirational,Resourceful,Excellent, reflect the type of Trust we aspire to be and you can join our dedicated and talented staff to make this happen.

Job responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details of the job role.

Person Specification

Education/Qualifications

• Current registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) (Pharmacist or Technician) (A)
• Master degree in pharmacy/ NVQ level 3, BTEC, or recognised equivalent qualification
• Post graduate qualifications as per PS
• Further post-graduate qualification in Management or Leadership (A)
• Practice Supervisor, Educational Supervisor, assessor qualification, or equivalent experience supporting the development of pharmacy staff.
• Membership of national professional body (e.g. RPS, APTUK)

Knowledge and Experience

• Significant experience as a Lead Pharmacy staff member within a hospital environment (Band 7 or above)
• Experience in leading and managing a team in a complex healthcare environment.
• Experience in audit, KPI monitoring, performance reporting (A/I)
• Significant experience working within and leading pharmacy homecare services in an acute NHS setting
• Extensive experience using medicine stock control and hospital pharmacy systems
• Proven track record of managing diverse teams to high performance levels and through change
• Previous experience managing HR processes i.e. sickness management, performance management, recruitment and selection
• Experience of delivering cost savings in NHS
• Experience in governance processes, policy/SOP maintenance, or audit (A/I)
• Experience in all aspects of hospital pharmacy
• Experience of using the CMM homecare module
• Experience in using continuous quality improvement techniques (A)
• Experience of working with external homecare providers (A/I)
• Experience of contract management

Skills

• Excellent leadership skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to patients, clinical staff, and senior colleagues
• Ability to work autonomously and manage a complex workload, prioritising effectively to meet deadlines
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent and effective communication, negotiation, and judgement skills
• Attention to detail, accuracy, and commitment to high standards of record keeping
• Familiarity with clinical information systems (e.g. EPMA, electronic health records)
• Advanced data visualisation or dashboard development skills (Power BI, Qlik)
• Understanding of commissioning arrangements and financial implications of high-cost drugs

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.