Specialist Clinical Pharmacist

County Durham & Darlington Nhs Foundation Trust; North East; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a Specialist Clinical Pharmacist to join the pharmacy team. The role is rotational across Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham, with opportunities for mentoring and development including independent prescribing.

You will deliver high-quality near-patient pharmaceutical care, support governance, education and service improvement, and help shape the service's strategic direction across multiple sites within

Qualifications

• Qualified pharmacist with clinical experience.
• Experience supervising day-to-day pharmacy staff.
• Willingness to work towards independent prescribing within 12 months.

Responsibilities

• Deputise for the Pharmacist Advanced and supervise a team to deliver safe, effective medicines management.
• Provide medicines management, optimisation and reconciliation on designated wards/clinics.
• Develop and implement local prescribing policies and guidelines.
• Influence practice to ensure patient safety and risk minimisation.
• Be a point of contact for staff on medicine management issues.
• Provide medicines information and participate in new drug reviews.
• Contribute to clinical pharmacy services across MDTs and clinics.
• Deliver high quality patient education on medicines use.
• Support service evaluation, audits and clinical effectiveness initiatives.
• Assist in planning service changes and new treatments within the pharmacy service.
• Act as professional checker in dispensary/chemotherapy.
• Participate in weekend/evening/on-call rotas.

Skills

Clinical pharmacist experience

Staff supervision

Education

Masters in Pharmacy

Postgraduate clinical qualification or working towards (diploma level)

CPD evidence

Prescriber qualification or training within 12 months

Job description

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for a Specialist Clinical Pharmacist to join our pharmacy team. We pride ourselves in working at the leading edge of clinical pharmacy practice and medicines optimisation, with our teams winning national recognition for innovative, high-quality patient care. This rotational post based at either Darlington Memorial Hospital or the University Hospital of North Durham however the successful applicant may be required to work across any of the Trust hospital sites. As part of one of England's largest integrated care providers, you will work alongside multidisciplinary colleagues to deliver safe, compassionate and joined up care, supporting our mission of getting it right first time, every time.

We pride ourselves on the quality of the pharmaceutical care we provide for patients. The successful candidate will be expected to deliver a high standard of near-patient specialist pharmaceutical care to our patients. In addition, they will support the pharmacy team to deliver governance, education, training and service improvement to their rotational area. They will help shape the strategic direction of pharmacy by supporting the development of innovative new services. To achieve this we will support the successful candidate with mentoring and development opportunities including independent prescribing, RPS portfolio development and other further education opportunities. Applicants need to be able to work autonomously, be a team player whilst motivating others. We welcome applications from forward thinking, motivated pharmacists who share the values of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. Applicants currently undertaking a postgraduate Clinical Diploma may be eligible for financial support to continue this with us. Pharmacists that do not have an independent prescriber qualification will be supported to undertake and complete the course as part of their professional development.

About us

If you are being interviewed you must accept an interview slot in the system to continue, even if you have arranged with the manager.

You must be able to produce ALL certificates stated essential in the person specification or you will not be able to complete pre-employment checks.

We provide hospital services from two acute sites - Darlington Memorial Hospital and University Hospital of North Durham. We have a centre for planned care in Bishop Auckland and provide care from community hospitals in Chester-le-Street, Shotley Bridge, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield and Weardale as well as over 80 other community based settings and providing care in patients' homes.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates as BAME and disabled people are currently under-represented.

Full Job Descriptions can be found in the advert's supporting documents.

Over reliance on AI-generated content is discouraged and may diminish the applicant's chances of success.

For the most up-to-date information on visa requirements and eligibility, please check online to determine whether you can apply.

Please note that we may close any vacancy early once a sufficient number of applications have been received.

Details

Date posted: 15 October 2026

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 7

Salary: £49,387 to £56,515 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time

Reference number: C9439-2627-RP-N112

Job responsibilities

• Deputising for the Pharmacist Advanced for their area and in so doing will be required to supervise a team of clinical pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support workers, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and efficient clinical pharmacy and medicines management services to an agreed standard and to a designated group of patient and service users
• Providing medicines management, medicines optimisation and medicines reconciliation services to help achieve department priorities and targets on a designated ward or group of wards, day case units or clinics as decided by the Lead Pharmacist
• Helping to develop and implement local policies and guidelines on good prescribing practice.
• Influencing local practice to ensure safe medication use, and to ensure that their own practice and the practice of others effectively acknowledges good prescribing practice, patient safety and risk minimisation.
• Being a point of contact for nursing and clinical staff regarding medicine management issues.
• Providing medicines information to healthcare professionals and new drug reviews as appropriate utilising the range of information resources available, including the library and the internet, and to make an informed decision on the appropriate response required.
• Being involved in providing clinical pharmacy service to designated multidisciplinary team structures e.g. out patient clinics, pre assessment.
• Providing high quality patient education on medicines use in both in-patient and outpatient settings.
• Engaging in activities relating to clinical effectiveness including: drug use review, clinical audit and clinical self-audit and to contribute to ongoing measures of service evaluation.
• Supporting the planning and implementation of service changes and new treatments, as agreed within the pharmacy service.
• Acting as a professional checker in the dispensary and/or chemotherapy service.
• Participating in the weekend, late night, on call and bank holiday rotas to meet the needs of the service.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working as a qualified pharmacist in a clinical setting.
• Experience of day-to-day registered pharmacy staff supervision.

Desirable

• Experience of delivering education and training sessions.
• Hospital pharmacy trainee or qualified pharmacist experience.
• Experience of providing clinical supervision to trainee pharmacists.

Qualifications

Essential

• Masters Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent
• Post graduate clinical qualification or working towards (to at least diploma level) or portfolio evidence of attainment to the same standard.
• Evidence of CPD.
• Pharmacist prescriber or able to undertake the training within 12 months of commencing employment.

Desirable

• Evidence of an up to date portfolio of personal professional activity

Special Skills & Knowledge

Essential

• Good understanding of medicines reconciliation and how it fits into the larger function of clinical pharmacy practice.
• Able to apply evidence-based clinical knowledge to make suitable recommendations or take appropriate actions.
• Aware of where to seek appropriate information to solve problems and make decisions.
• Able to assimilate and communicate complex medicines information to patients and healthcare professionals across the multidisciplinary team using appropriate language and different mediums.
• Aware of and able to inform others about, the clinical, legal and governance aspects of medicines.
• Able to work as an autonomous practitioner in all areas of pharmacy practice.
• An understanding of current pharmacy and NHS issues.

Desirable

• Awareness and understanding of the pharmacy team's role in governance processes

Statutory Registration

Essential

• Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)

Desirable

• Membership of a pharmacy professional body e.g. RPS, UKCPA, BOPA, NPPG.

Special Requirements

Essential

• Good oral and written communication skills.
• Able to build strong relationships across the multidisciplinary team; working in partnership to promote positive outcomes.
• Motivated to develop personally and professionally through self-audit, reflection and learning.
• Able to prioritise own workload in a busy and changing environment.
• Able to travel independently across Trust sites to meet the requirements of the post.

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.

Employer details

Employer name: County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

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

Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact: Care Group Lead Pharmacist, Sophie Davisdale, [e-mail], 01913332478