Specialist Clinical Pharmacist

Wwl; Wigan; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

WWL is seeking a Pharmacist to join its busy hospital pharmacy team, contributing to clinical care across multiple departments. The post involves participation in a 7-day on-call service and rotation through dispensaries and clinical areas, with active involvement in education and medicines information for staff and patients.

You will work within a Trust-wide framework, supporting safe, effective medication use, clinical governance and cost-effective prescribing, while developing specialist

Qualifications

• Clinical pharmacy knowledge and NHS governance understanding.
• GPhC registration and ongoing CPD requirements.
• Experience in hospital pharmacy settings and patient care.

Responsibilities

• Provide Specialist Clinical Pharmacy Services to patients.
• Supervise dispensary operations and junior staff as needed.
• Analyse medicine charts and advise clinicians on therapy changes.
• Contribute to medicines safety, audits and trials.
• Deliver teaching sessions to healthcare staff.

Skills

Clinical pharmacy

Clinical governance

Communication

Teaching

Decision making

Education

MPharm / Masters in Pharmacy

GPhC registration

Tools

MS Word

Outlook

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

People at the Heart. One Team. Your Career at WWL.

Job overview

As a member of this busy but friendly team you will experience many core aspects of pharmacy practice, as well as the clinical work, you will have commitments to the dispensary and aseptics, and be expected to contribute to our 7-day working and on call service.

Pharmacists are part of an engaged and progressive Pharmacy team working to support our hospital areas where we help staff cope with the ever-increasing population and their complex needs.

Working closely with the multidisciplinary team, key aspects of this clinical post will include attending multidisciplinary team meetings, patient education and counselling, clinical audit, medicines safety and medicines information.

This vacancy is open to all internal and external candidates. NHS Employees should ideally secure their manager’s agreement for a secondment arrangement ideally prior to applying, as this will be a condition of any offer made.

This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term basis as it has been established to provide cover for maternity leave and will end after a period of 12 months or when the substantive postholder returns.

Whilst this post is advertised on a fixed term basis there is the potential that this post may become permanent in the future.

Main duties of the job

As a member of this busy friendly team you will experience many core aspects of pharmacy practice. We operate with 2 dispensaries on 4 main sites and your rotation will allow you to experience a full range of clinical activities.

Medicine including medical admissions unit, cardiology and gastroenterology;

Surgery including ICU and Surgical Admissions;

Orthopaedics including Wrightington Hospital where you will gain experience of anti-TNF therapy and Rheumatology. This hospital has an international reputation and the pharmacy team has significant involvement with consultants & nurse specialists to support and deliver this care;

Oncology and Parenteral Nutrition;

Paediatrics;

Women's Health;

Clinical trials

The department is fully modernised & has ARX robot, EMIS software and has successfully implemented Allscripts Electronic Prescribing in the last 3 years.

Working for our organisation

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is proud to provide high‑quality acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, our staff are central to everything we do — we believe that happy staff make for happy patients, and this ethos underpins our culture and our success.

We have a strong, recognised track record in staff engagement and in living our values:

People at the Heart

Listen and Involve

Kind and Respectful

• ONE Team

We are committed to placing patients at the heart of every decision and delivering safe, effective care that protects dignity and enhances experience. We seek to recruit people who share our values, our passion for high‑quality care, and our belief in working together as One Team.

At WWL, we recognise the strength that comes from a rich and diverse workforce. We welcome applications from all sections of society and are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key results from the job holder

• As part of a Clinical Pharmacy Team, to be responsible for the provision of Specialist Clinical Pharmacy Services to patients.
• To have a commitment to dispensaries and to deliver the highest possible professional standards therein.
• In absence of a more senior Pharmacist to take professional responsibility for the dispensary including supervision of band 6 pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Assistants and pre-registration pharmacists.
• To complete a rotational training plan experiencing all major clinical areas within the Trust.
• To ensure compliance with Medicines Law, CQC requirements and internal audit.
• To ensure compliance with medicines management guidance issued by the Trust, GMMMG or national bodies.
• To complete Clinical Pharmacy Diploma - if relevant

Planning and Organisational Duties

• To prioritise patients according to their clinical and pharmaceutical need.
• To obtain and validate patient medication histories.
• To use clinical tests and patient notes to advise clinicians about required changes to patient medication and alternatives that may be suggested if the normal route of administration is unavailable.
• To analyse medicine charts taking into account the clinical presentation of the patient, any relevant history and plans made by clinicians.
• To make appropriate endorsements in line with relevant Pharmacy standards.
• To ensure VTE compliance has been undertaken.
• To ensure antimicrobials are prescribed in line with current trust guidance.
• In conjunction with the Medicines Management Technicians to ensure patient specific medicines are ordered.
• To ensure the effective re-use of patients own drugs.
• If deemed unfit for re-use to destroy medicines ensuring relevant procedures are followed.
• To receive, interpret, clinically check, dispense, accuracy check and hand out prescriptions in line with departmental standard operating procedures.
• Using professional judgement and in a professional manner, to communicate to patients and healthcare staff any appropriate information about medicines which make their use safer or more effective.
• To assist delivery of cost efficiencies, by advising how medicines should be used in line with agreed formularies or guidance.
• To ensure pharmacy stock is controlled effectively. To assist in the ordering, issuing and receiving of medication when necessary.
• To provide active risk management as an integral part of pharmacy service, intervening as necessary to prevent harm from occurring to patients.
• To participate in clinical trials ensuring relevant details are maintained in trials documentation.
• To ensure ward Controlled Drugs audits are completed to the prescribed schedule.
• To assist with developments, project work, audit and surveys as directed by line manager.
• To provide services to Oncology when suitably trained.

Communications and Key Working Relationships

• To assist other health professionals on ward to deliver the highest standards of care.
• Assist advanced Pharmacists to deliver Specialist Clinical Pharmacy Services.
• To liaise with other members of the pharmacy team to ensure clinically effective services are provided.
• To refer to more senior pharmacists in team when appropriate.
• To provide ward cover for other clinical teams or for more senior colleagues within the team.

Responsibility for Finance

• To handle cash, prescription charges & issue relevant receipts
• To sign orders for pharmaceutical products including controlled drugs in the absence of a more senior pharmacist.

Responsibility for Human Resources

• To organise own work patterns within framework provided by line manager.
• To supervise and support Band 6 pharmacists.
• To supervise pre-registration pharmacists, student pharmacy technicians, Medicines Management Technicians and pharmacy assistants.
• To ensure staff have an understanding of and implement relevant procedures.
• To suggest improvements to procedures through line management.

Responsibility for Health & Safety

• Compliance with the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 – the post holder is required to fulfil a proactive role towards the management of risk in all of their actions. This entails the risk assessment of all situations, the taking of appropriate actions and reporting of all incidents, near misses and hazards, and a statutory duty of care for their own personal safety and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions.
• To ensure patients and staff are advised of risks with medicines and to minimise those risks through effective medicines management support and counselling.
• To ensure known risks are brought to attention of line managers.
• To ensure Datix is used to record and review medicines related incidents. In conjunction with Managers to ensure appropriate systems are put in place to prevent recurrence where possible.

Responsibility for Teaching

• To provide teaching sessions to other healthcare professionals in line with knowledge and experience. To teach band 6 and pre-registration pharmacists bearing in mind the expectations of the GPC and tutors.

Person specification

Knowledge

• Clinical pharmacy knowledge
• Understanding of clinical governance
• Understanding of NHS plans with reference to Pharmacy
• Good knowledge of disease states and treatments

Skills

• Ability to demonstrate professional judgement.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Able to communicate with a wide range of staff from a range of disciplines from both inside and outside the NHS
• Able to make decisions, including the decision to seek further advice/support
• Ability to delegate appropriately
• Able to work independently or as a member of a team and able to build effective working relationships with team ans colleagues
• High levels of accuracy
• Able to prioritise and organise own work with the ability to work on own initiate and use time effectively
• Methodical
• Ability to teach

Experience

• To be able to demonstrate relevant clinical pharmacy experience in hospital environment
• Experience of working in hospital pharmacy at, or above AfC band 6 level or equivalent and ability to demonstrate a wider understanding of pharmacy practice and the workings of the NHS
• Experience of working with patients
• Computer literate, particularly; MS Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint

Qualifications

• Vocational Masters Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent qualification.
• Member of General Pharmaceutical Council

Additional

• Evidence of continuing professional development
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation

On-Call

Please note that some roles may require participation in an on-call rota, particularly those that are operational in nature.

WWL is part of the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. We recognise continuous or ‘unbroken’ service from any Greater Manchester Local Authority, NHS organisation, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. This ensures access to our service‑related benefits.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.