Specialist Pharmacist - Children's Services
East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire)
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire) is seeking a Band 7 Specialist Pharmacist to provide patient-centred medicines optimisation for Children’s Community Services across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Luton, Bedfordshire and Norfolk.
The role focuses on paediatric patients with complex polypharmacy, offering flexible working opportunities and NHS benefits. Current GPhC registration and extensive medicines management experience are essential.
Qualifications
- You will have current GPhC registration as a Pharmacist.
- Significant experience in medicines management.
- Broad pharmaceutical knowledge.
- Knowledge of pharmacy legislation and medicines-related regulations.
- Strong clinical reasoning and decision-making skills.
Responsibilities
- Provide specialist pharmacy to support Children’s Services within community and clinic-based settings.
- Contribute to clinical governance by medicines optimisation and high standards in medicines management.
- Support safe, effective and legally compliant use of medicines across the portfolio.
- Develop and implement service modernisation initiatives involving medicines, including pharmacist prescribing pathways.
Skills
Education
Job description
Employer East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust (Cambridgeshire) Employer type NHS Site Units 7/8 Town St Ives Salary £49,387 - £56,515 per annum, pro-rata Salary period Yearly Closing 08/11/2026 23:59 Interview date 17/11/2026
East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust delivers expert healthcare in people’s homes, community hospitals and local settings across the East of England.
Our nurses, therapists, clinicians, support teams and partners work together to provide coordinated care that supports independence, recovery and wellbeing. We believe people are best cared for close to home, in the communities where they live and belong.
By combining professional expertise with strong local relationships, we help people stay well, feel supported and access the right care at the right time. Expert healthcare, close to home, trusted by our communities.
Different ideas, experiences and backgrounds make us stronger and more creative and applications from all walks of life are welcomed. Our processes ensure that all applicants are treated fairly at every stage of the recruitment process.
East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust is committed to creating a modern and inclusive work environment. We actively promote flexible working opportunities where possible to meet the needs and wishes of our workforce and maintain and improve their wellbeing. We also offer flexible working patterns and we would encourage you to discuss this with the recruiting manager before or during the application process if this would interest you.
We welcome applications from people who share our values and can help us deliver outstanding care in our local community.
Before applying for this vacancy, please make sure you’re familiar with ongoing GOV.uk sponsorship eligibility criteria which will impact the organisations ability to provide sponsorship, whether this is currently or in the future.
Please note, our selection processes are in place to ensure we recruit candidates with the right values and skills. Please be advised that the use of AI in applications is monitored. We remain watchful of candidates who misuse these tools to generate an application that doesn’t accurately reflect their skills.
Please note all new starters will be subject to a 6 month probationary period.
Do you have a passion for delivering high-quality pharmaceutical care to paediatric patients with complex medication needs? If so, we'd love to hear from you.
We are seeking a Band 7 Specialist Pharmacist to provide patient-centred medicines optimisation and management across Children’s Community Services in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Luton, Bedfordshire and Norfolk. This role focuses on supporting paediatric patients with complex polypharmacy within community and clinic-based settings to achieve the best possible outcomes from their medicines.
You will have:
- Current GPhC registration as a Pharmacist.
- Significant experience in medicines management, with an understanding of its application in community settings.
- Broad pharmaceutical knowledge.
- Knowledge of pharmacy legislation and medicines-related regulations.
- Strong clinical reasoning and decision-making skills.
What We Offer:
- Flexible working opportunities.
- Excellent NHS and Trust-specific benefits.
- A supportive, innovative Trust rated highly by both the CQC and our staff.
- Opportunities to influence and shape service development.
- Ongoing support for professional and career development.
Should we receive a high number of applications we reserve the right to close this vacancy at any point after 27.10.26.
Provide specialist pharmacy to support Children’s Services within community and clinic-based settings.
Contribute to the clinical governance of the Trust by supporting the promotion of medicines optimisation and high and consistent standards in medicines management across relevant areas of practice.
Support safe, effective and legally compliant use of medicines across the portfolio, including use of Patient Group Directions (PGDs), prescribing and transcribing practice, controlled drugs and safe handling of medicines.
Support the development and implementation of service modernisation initiatives involving the use of medicines in line with local, regional and national agendas and objectives, including the development of pharmacist prescribing roles within Children’s Services (e.g. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) pathways)
Rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission, we are proud to provide high quality innovative services across most of the east of England that enable people to receive care closer to home and live healthier lives.
There’s one reason why our services are outstanding – and that’s our amazing staff who, for the seventh year running, rated us incredibly highly in the national staff survey.
If you share our passion for innovative and high-quality care delivery, then please submit your application and join us on our exciting journey as a leading-edge specialist community provider. All are welcome to apply and our promise to you is a culture which prioritises staff engagement and development.
Please be aware that East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust will never ask applicants to pay fees at any stage of the recruitment process, including job applications, sponsorship arrangements, or employment offers. All recruitment communications and job applications should only be made through our official careers website and published contact details.
If you receive a suspicious job offer or recruitment-related communication, do not make any payments, share personal information, or provide identity documents. We encourage you to report the matter to your local police or relevant law enforcement agency. Any concerns relating to potential recruitment fraud should also be reported to our Local Counter Fraud Specialist (LCFS) as soon as possible.
Respond to medicines information enquiries, providing specialist pharmacy advice to services within the portfolio, supporting safe and effective and evidence-based use of medicines. community and clinic settings, including hospice and respite services.
Advise on safe and appropriate prescribing, transcribing, handling, storage, administration and supply of medicines, including injectable medicines.
Support medicines optimisation at interfaces of care, including discharge, respite admissions and shared care arrangements with primary and secondary care.
Promote a culture of patient-centred care.
Ensure the effective and appropriate supply of medicines relevant to the speciality, including supporting advising on alternative treatments when choices are unavailable or unsuitable and the safe introduction of these.
Contribute to actively identifying, developing and implementing innovations and service improvements in order to optimise the quality of patient care and the effective use of medicines, and work with the Pharmacy Team, other corporate colleagues, and medical and nursing staff to support programmes of work identified by the Trust.
If you have a non-medical prescribing qualification, you may be expected to practice as a prescriber as part of this role, within scope of practice and as agreed.
Communicate accurate and precise complex and specialist pharmaceutical information, recommendations and advice effectively using written and/or verbal methods as appropriate.
Act as first point of contact for to staff of all disciplines within portfolio services.
Support the development of patient-specific written information, such as Patient Information Leaflets, covering relevant topics.
Support the provision of written and verbal information to patients and carers/relatives appropriate to the situation and patient understanding, to enable them to make informed decisions about their treatment and to encourage them to actively participate in the decision-making process.
Be an active member of the Trust’s Pharmacy Team, contributing to the debates and providing constructive feedback and challenge where appropriate.
Contribute to supervision and development of junior pharmacy staff, trainees and students as required.
Participate in the development and delivery of education and training to multidisciplinary colleagues across Children’s Services on medicines-related topics.
Contribute to the development, review and implementation of specialty-related medicines management policies, PGDs, Standard Operating Procedures and clinical guidelines in line with best practice and current medicines legislation.
Contribute to identifying, developing and implementing the Trust’s medicines management audit protocols and the annual audit plan.
Undertake audit and service evaluation to ensure safe and effective medicines use, producing reports and supporting implementation of actions.
Participate in clinical and safeguarding audits and supervision as required.
Provide patients and their families/carers with information on standards they should expect from the team.
Support the quality and cost effectiveness of anti-infective prescribing in line with the Trust’s antimicrobial strategy.
Demonstrate awareness of, and commitment to, the Trust’s Clinical Governance Agenda and contribute to this by promoting medicines optimisation in relevant areas of practice.
Contribute to the monitoring, reporting and investigation of medicine-related incidents, including Serious Incidents, adverse drug reactions, and complaints, and participate in root cause analysis when appropriate.
Contribute to risk identification and management to promote safe practice in the storage, prescribing, transcribing, supply, administration and disposal of medicines.
Undertake mandatory training and any other training relevant to the role as required by East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust.
Adhere to the Trust risk assessment and risk management processes.
Be competent in the management of under 18-year-olds and vulnerable adults working within Fraser Guidelines and mental capacity assessments and liaising with the multi‑disciplinary team and CCS and local safeguarding teams/services as appropriate.
Contribute to the oversight and monitoring of drug expenditure within the portfolio and identify strategies to reduce waste, tackle inappropriate prescribing and improve cost‑effective use of medicines.
Advise on appropriate use of prescribing resources and initiatives to increase cost effectiveness of their use by encouraging adherence to formulary, use of generic medicines and implementation of national guidance.
Contribute to the financial delivery and sustainability of the service objectives.
- Master’s Degree in Pharmacy
- Registered as a practicing pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council
- Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Pharmacy Practice or equivalent relevant postgraduate qualification or experience
- Evidence of continual personal and professional development
- Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy Practice or equivalent relevant general experience
- Registered independent prescriber
- Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) membership
- RCPharm Faculty membership
- Broad pharmaceutical knowledge and experience as a clinical pharmacist practitioner, demonstrating appropriate levels of competency
- Demonstrable knowledge of medicines management issues affecting patients at the interface with other areas of health and social care
- Knowledge of legislation and regulations relating to pharmacy and use of medicines
- Delivery of education and training in a multidisciplinary (MDT) environment
- Undertaking clinical audits
- Broad knowledge of medicines management policy and guidance
- Experience of delivery of pharmaceutical care in a paediatric setting
- Effective verbal communication and presentation skills - ability to present complex information to healthcare professionals, senior managers and to patients and carers/relatives
- Effective written communication, including report‑writing skills and the ability to write PGDs, SOPs and other guidance documents, bulletins and letters
Equal Opportunities - We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome all applications irrespective of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion. Additionally, people with disabilities that fall under the Disability Confident Scheme will be offered an interview providing they meet the minimum criteria for the post (outlined in the Person Specification). All sites are Smoke Free.
If you need this application in an offline format, please let us know. Immigration Status – East of England Community Health and Care NHS Trust is a diverse employer and welcomes all job applications. However, potential applicants should note that although the Trust is registered with the Home Office as a sponsor organisation for migrant workers, sponsorship can only be offered against eligible roles. If you are an applicant from outside the UK and do not already hold a self‑gained right to work, we recommend you check the Home Office eligibility requirements before making an application.
Please note: Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for some job roles, and this will be identified through filtering questions at the start of any job application on the Trac recruitment system.
Our safe recruitment pre‑employment checks are undertaken before an appointment is confirmed and may include a DBS check. Where the role requires you to drive, we'll ask you to validate your driving licence online via the DVLA.
Redeployment - Please note that in the first instance priority for this vacancy will be given to staff who are on the Trusts Redeployment Register.
Closing and Interview Dates -This vacancy may close early if sufficient applicants are received.
Data Protection - A privacy notice detailing how we will handle your data is attached to this advert as a document. Your application will be transferred to our recruitment management system (Trac) once the advert has closed and you will receive notification then detailing how Trac will handle your data.
ALL CORRESPONDENCE will be via the e‑mail address on your application form. If you have not been invited to interview within 2 weeks of the closing date, you unfortunately haven’t been successful on this occasion, but keep an eye on our vacancies as a job that’s just right for you may appear!
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.
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