Senior Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist - Secondary Care

NHS; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization in the United Kingdom seeks a Pharmacist to oversee the Medicines Optimisation team. The role involves providing expert pharmaceutical advice, promoting safe prescribing practices, and collaborating with various stakeholders to enhance patient outcomes. Candidates must have a postgraduate qualification in clinical pharmacy and registration with the GPhC. This position offers a competitive salary and the opportunity to work remotely.

Qualifications

• Pharmacist registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is essential.
• Experience in leading successful implementation of change.
• Excellent working knowledge of national and local pharmaceutical policies.

Responsibilities

• Promote safe and cost-effective prescribing based on evidence.
• Communicate complex information to stakeholders.
• Implement policies and guidelines for cost-effective use of medicines.

Skills

Excellent inter-personal skills

Influencing skills

Negotiating skills

Education

Postgraduate qualification in clinical pharmacy

Job description

Overview

This role is in the Secondary Care Integration & Commissioning Portfolio. The post holder will be responsible for the provision of expert pharmaceutical, prescribing and medicines optimisation advice to all relevant stakeholders to ensure implementation of the medicines optimisation agenda. They will promote evidence based, safe, cost-effective prescribing, to deliver improved patient outcomes, and reduced health inequalities. This will be achieved by understanding the interface between sectors of care and effective working between secondary, intermediate, primary, community and social care services. They will have ability to analyse and interpret complex information to develop evidence-based clinical pathways, guidelines and commissioning policies and to support monitoring and management of high-cost drugs prescribing and expenditure in secondary care. The post holder will provide clinical support and leadership within the Medicines Optimisation team and support the implementation and delivery of medicines optimisation initiatives and national and local guidance.

Main duties

• Promoting high quality, safe and cost-effective prescribing informed by the evidence base, national and local guidance.
• Negotiating changes in prescribing behaviour and influencing opinions on prescribing issues.
• Develop and implement initiatives to support the management of the ICB prescribing budget and to improve the quality of prescribing across NHS GM. Contributing to short-, medium- and long-term business plans, achieving quality outcomes.
• Forge close positive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, to support an effective matrix approach to achieve NHS GM medicines optimisation objectives on a range of business sensitive issues.
• Contribute to the planning of team projects, identifying inter-dependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary.
• To support, motivate and develop staff within the Medicines Optimisation Team to ensure that they are able to deliver the Medicines Optimisation Agenda and support the Medicines Optimisation Strategy.
• Make professional decisions where appropriate and take responsibility for them, working within professional standards of conduct, ethics and performance at all times.

About us

NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care

Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are partnerships of health and care organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up services and to improve the health and wellbeing of people who live and work in their area. Their purpose is to improve outcomes in population health and healthcare; tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access; enhance productivity and value for money and support broader social and economic development in their area efficiency. This will be delivered in neighbourhood, place, combinations of places and GM system.

Our NHS People Promise

Our NHS People Promise - the promise we must all make to each other, to work together to improve the experience of working in the NHS for everyone. Like many other employers, NHS GM currently has evidence of unwarranted inequalities in the workforce, most notably in relation to minoritised ethnic, female and/or disabled staff and their intersectionality. As a result, we will use positive action measures to bring benefits to our organisation, including a wider pool of talented, skilled and experienced people from which to recruit and a better understanding of the needs of a more diverse range of customers.

Details

Date posted: 18 September 2025

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 8a

Salary: £55,690 to £62,682 a year pa

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time, Home or remote working

Reference number: 896-MED-1058-A

Job locations: Tootal Buildings, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, M16EU

Job responsibilities

• The post holder will be required to communicate and provide highly complex and highly sensitive information to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Present complex information about projects, initiatives and services to a wide range of stakeholders in a formal setting, persuading others and negotiating change in prescribing habits.
• Communicate and negotiate with provider organisations e.g. acute trusts, mental health and GMMMG in the production of clinical guidelines, shared care protocols, formulary drugs etc. to assure clinical relevance and accuracy of these documents.
• Attend and advise any relevant groups within the locality and GM, as required, as the clinical specialist from the Medicines Optimisation Team.
• Demonstrate effective stakeholder management across different departments and at all levels.
• Link with managers and members of other functions, to address inter-dependencies and ensure alignment.
• Influence and monitor prescribing costs, promote cost effective prescribing and minimise wastage of medicines.
• Develop, implement and monitor policies, guidelines and protocols to ensure the safe, evidence based, cost effective use of medicines in line with local priorities, national directives, medicines legislation and professional ethics.
• Ensure that relevant activity and outcome data is recorded and reported in an accurate and timely fashion to all relevant stakeholders. This will require the ability to adapt multiple sources of information in order to record and report appropriate data.
• Includes delivery of NHS GM and national objectives and targets, e.g. QIPP targets and implementation of NICE guidance.
• Leading on specific clinical issues or project areas.

Person Specification

Professional registration Essential

• Pharmacist registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)

Qualifications Essential

• Postgraduate qualification in clinical pharmacy or equivalent experience

Experience Essential

• Experience of leading successful implementation of change
• Experience of identifying and interpreting National policy

Knowledge Essential

• Excellent working knowledge of national and local pharmaceutical and prescribing policies, legislation and guidance

Competencies Essential

• Excellent inter-personal, influencing and negotiating 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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care

Address Tootal Buildings, 56 Oxford Street, Manchester, M16EU

Employer's website https://www.gmsharedservices.nhs.uk/