Lead Pharmacists - General Surgery

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust

The closing date is 24 April 2025

Job summary

The Lead Pharmacist role is vital to ensuring high-quality, safe, and cost-effective pharmaceutical care within General Surgery, Urology, and Ophthalmology. This position upholds compliance with legal, ethical, and professional standards while contributing to strategic planning and policy development. The Lead Pharmacist manages a specialist team, overseeing performance, recruitment, and training to maintain excellence in service delivery.

A key responsibility is optimizing medicines management, ensuring drug therapy is safe, effective, and cost-efficient. This includes expert consultation with medical and nursing staff, adherence to national guidelines, and participation in multidisciplinary team (MDT) ward rounds. The role also involves independent prescribing, supporting seamless patient care from pre-operative stages to discharge.

Additionally, the Lead Pharmacist plays a crucial role in clinical governance by attending strategic meetings, monitoring drug expenditure, and implementing infection control and medicines management policies. Their expertise extends to education and research, leading training programs for pharmacy staff and healthcare professionals while contributing to audits and clinical trials.

Main duties of the job

Responsible for delivering the Trust's medicines optimisation agenda to patients admitted under the care of Surgery, with a particular focus on General Surgery, Urology, and Ophthalmology.

Managing pharmacy staff working at a ward level within designated surgical wards

Participate in various consultant ward rounds and clinics within specialties identified as key areas

Provide Trust-wide extensive specialist support in an appropriate defined clinical area relevant to the care group. This will include developing collaborative partnerships across organisational boundaries.

About us

We are one of the largest hospital foundation trusts in the country, and currently touch the lives of half a million patients in the west of Berkshire every year by providing high quality acute medical and surgical services for our local communities. The Trust strives to provide high quality, compassionate care for our patients and their families.

Our values:

Compassionate
Aspirational
Resourceful
Excellent

The town of 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.

Date posted

10 April 2025

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£53,755 to £60,504 a year per annum.

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

193-7053316NCG

Job locations

Royal Berkshire Hospital

London Road

Reading

RG1 5AN

Job description

Job responsibilities

For further details on the role, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specifications attached.

Job description

Job responsibilities

For further details on the role, please refer to the Job Description and Person Specifications attached.

Person Specification

Education and qualifications

Essential

Master Degree in Pharmacy
Postgraduate Diploma
IP course

Desirable

ACP course
Diploma tutor
Leadership qualification

Experience

Essential

Extensive Hospital experience

Desirable

Service development

Person Specification

Education and qualifications

Essential

Master Degree in Pharmacy
Postgraduate Diploma
IP course

Desirable

ACP course
Diploma tutor
Leadership qualification

Experience

Essential

Extensive Hospital experience

Desirable

Service development

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).