South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust are looking for an experienced, dedicated hardworking professional to become our next Chief Pharmacist.

The successful candidate will provide leadership to an established team in our new hospital. They will also provide expert leadership on mental health, learning disability and substance misuse medicines optimisation issues affecting the local health economy across the South West London Integrated Care Board.

We are looking for an individual with a focus on professional and service development and a desire to promote medication safety. Applicants must have substantial leadership and management experience, excellent communication and organisational skills, an ability to prioritise, plan and direct workload, audit and evaluate service performance and have experience of working with senior colleagues at a whole organisation level and beyond to develop and deliver services designed to meet patients' needs and organisational objectives.

Our Pharmacy is a friendly, progressive department with a focus on clinical services putting the patients at the heart of what we do. Our team is a respected integral part of the wider multidisciplinary team where pharmacists are aided by a team of medicines optimisation technicians and assistants. Our modern service embraces technology with electronic prescribing, automated dispensary and is equipped for mobile working.

Accountable to plan, manage and lead the Trust pharmacy services and staff across all sites and be responsible for the human and financial resources within the allocated budgets.
To provide professional leadership for pharmacy services, undertaking the statutory roles and responsibilities of the Chief Pharmacist.
Be the responsible officer for medicines optimisation for the Trust, providing expert advice to the Board and senior officers on all medicines optimisation issues
Be accountable for compliance with the legislative, governance and operational aspects of medicines optimisation.
Negotiate, agree and monitor any service level agreements/contracts with outsourced pharmacy providers.
To provide leadership for, and expert advice to, the Trust senior management, clinical staff and other healthcare professionals on all issues relating to Medicines Optimisation, to provide the best possible experience and outcome to service users.
To be responsible and accountable for developing, ensuring implementation of, evaluating and monitoring the Trust Medicines Optimisation Strategy and work with partnership organisations on the development of a joint medicines optimisation initiatives for the health economy.

Agile and flexible working:
In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 9 to 5pm, giving you the very best of good work life balance. Once established in role, there will be opportunity for some working from home on a regular basis.

We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.

We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to be ‘outstanding’.

This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.

We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.

We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.

About our locations:
Springfield University Hospital, Tooting

Our largest, 19-ward site is in Springfield Village, created following our £150m investment into two new world class mental health facilities. A 32-acre public park, shops and cafes are coming soon. Close to shops, cafes and Tooting Bec on the Northern Line plus Earlsfield and Tooting rail stations and bus routes.

Professional Leadership Accountabilities

Provide professional leadership and be accountable for the delivery of pharmaceutical services provided to the Trust fulfilling ethical requirements of the role.
Undertake the statutory roles and responsibilities of a Chief Pharmacist as outlined in all applicable legislation including the Medicines Act and the Health and Social Care Act.
Ensure all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians employed by the trust are registered with the appropriate professional body.
Provide clinical supervison to members of the senior pharmacy leadership team.
Ensure that all pharmacy practice, including their own, is within the boundaries described within the latest version of the Medicines, Ethics and Practice issued by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
Ensure that all practice relating to medicines management throughout the Trust complies with the current legislative framework and, where practice is found to be non-compliant, this is addressed through the relevant trust processes.
To ensure that appropriate Trust and departmental policies, procedures and standards are in place, implemented and monitored and adhere to professional standards. Where professional standards do not exist practices should be evidence based and orientated towards the protection of patients.
Ensure that there is adequate support (staff, facilities, equipment) to enable pharmacy staff to discharge their professional responsibilities and to support them with clinical, ethical and practice-based issues.
Communicate with and motivate the pharmacy team to ensure there is a co-ordinated approach to service delivery.
Responsibility for the operation, management, strategic planning and development of pharmaceutical services Trust wide, including input at the planning stages of new clinical services.
Act as an authorised witness for destruction of controlled drugs as outlined in the misuse of drugs regulations.

Deputise for the Controlled Drug Accountable Officer Responsibilities

Responsible for devising and implementing systems for the management and use of controlled drugs across the trust and reporting to the Accountable Officer and local intelligence networks (LINs)
Responsible for ensuring mechanisms for the very quick sharing of intelligence relating to possible inappropriate use of controlled drugs and joint action in cases of urgency (where patient safety may be at risk or evidence may be destroyed) within the local intelligence network (across the local health economy).
Ensures clear routes, such as the NHS complaints system, are available for any healthcare professional, patient, or member of the public to raise matters of concern relating to controlled drugs within a framework of appropriate confidentiality. This includes routes for healthcare professionals to self refer if they have concerns about their own performance.
Establishes mechanisms for alerting the AO of further investigation of causes of concern relating to controlled drugs.
Advises the AO whether a targeted inspection of controlled drug concerns is required and those who should be involved (this may be done as part of a decision making group).
Involved in remedial action (relating to controlled drug concerns) to be taken (e.g. no action required, support to healthcare professional, referral to regulatory body, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Healthcare Commission, police: this may be done as part of a decision making group).
Encourages good practice and development in management of controlled drugs.
Approve all policies and procedures within the organisation covering controlled drugs to ensure compliance with legislation, and centrally issued guidance and governance.
Regularly review internally reported incidents involving controlled drugs to identify any specific trends or additional requirement for control measures within the organisation

Financial and Human Resources

Direct and manage the financial and human resources available to the pharmacy services (dispensary services, clinical pharmacy services across all service lines, medicines information services and medicines procurement) based on a professional assessment of the patient need for these services.
The post holder is managerially accountable for approximately 40 staff. Of these, close to half are MPharm graduates and many hold further postgraduate specialist qualifications at Master’s level and above. The post holder is responsible for the recruitment, development and workload allocation for pharmacy staff in the following departments: Dispensary services, clinical pharmacy services across all service lines, medicines information services, pharmacy audit/research and procurement of medicines.
Ensure all staff are fully trained and competent and developed to meet the needs of the patient.
Be the budget holder for pharmacy, a net budget of approximately £2.2 million, and ensure that departmental expenditure is contained within budgetary boundaries and Trust Standing Financial Instructions.
Be responsible for the provision of all medical gas services across the Trust, and manage the budget for this service.
Make the relevant business cases to develop departmental budgets based on an identified and evaluated need to extend services offered to patients.
Responsibility for workforce planning, recruitment, line management and performance management of all pharmacy services
Liaise with Health Education England London & South East (HEELASE) and their accredited training providers concerning Trust pharmacy workforce planning & training of pre-registration and other Pharmacy staff employed by the Trust to meet the needs of the service lines, service users and carers.
Ensure the economical purchasing, appropriate storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals from approved suppliers and in line with UK legislation, in accordance with good medicines management practice, Trust Standing Financial Instructions and any ‘value for money’ initiatives.
Negotiate, manage and monitor the service level agreements with providers of outsourced pharmacy services
Negotiate, manage and monitor the contracts with primary care organisations to whom the Trust supplies sessional Pharmacy staff.
Full authority to negotiate, agree and manage services and service specifications with primary care for new and innovative practice models.
Advise on the rational and economic use of medicines, and ensure the SWL MH Medicines Formulary is maintained, and adherence monitored.
Monitor medicines usage and expenditure and provide pharmaceutical advice to service line management to enable informed decisions to be taken on appropriate and effective pharmacological therapy within given resources.
Responsible for collating reports using EPACT2 software and manipulating data using formulae to produce detailed accurate financial data for FP10 prescription recharges.
Identify cost reduction initiatives in medicines usage for the Trust and lead the pharmacy team in project managing the necessary changes/audit of savings. Work with all the service lines to assist with implementing their plans for medicines efficiencies.
Ensure cost pressures are identified, both in terms of pharmacy service and medicines, and ensure advice is provided on the full range of options for dealing with them.
Devise adequate business continuity plans for the pharmacy services and medicines supply across the organisation and ensure these are tested and implemented.

Corporate responsibility for medicines management and optimisation.

Advise executive directors and members of the Trust Board on all aspects of the law relating to medicines and operational aspects of medicines optimisation.
Accountable for ensuring that the Trust policies and procedures comply with all aspects of the law relating to medicines and their usage, and monitoring is in place to ensure compliance.
Ensure that the Trust meets all relevant standards relating to medicines management/ medicines optimisation and pharmacy services.
Take lead responsibility for compliance with any safety alerts relating to medicines.
Ensure that there are systems in place to guarantee that medicines purchased and supplied are of the appropriate quality
Interpretation of broad clinical/professional policies and NHS guidance, to inform trust policies, standards and ways of working

South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust

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Chief Pharmacist