Care Group Lead Pharmacist - Medicine and Community Services

Job summary

Due to secondment of the current post holder, we're looking for a forward-thinking and dynamic pharmacist who is capable of leading teams and developing services for patients. You will need to be a compassionate leader who can support individuals and teams to achieve excellent patient care.

Working as our Lead Pharmacist for Medical Specialities and Community Services, you will be part of the team of Lead Pharmacists developing services for patients within their area of clinical responsibility, while supporting the work of the wider pharmacy leadership team.

Our teams aim to provide high quality clinical care to our patients and we pride ourselves on our clinical teams being able to spend the majority of their time providing direct patient care as part of the healthcare team. We have recently adopted a Trustwide Electronic Patient Record and electronic prescribing system that supports excellent access to patient information at the touch of a button, releasing more time to care and optimises the use of digital technology to improve our ability to work together for patients.

The post is a fixed term contract until March 2027 and is open to CDDFT internal candidates only.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will be a key member of the pharmacy leadership team and will work as part of the Lead Pharmacists team to develop and lead the clinical pharmacy services provided to our patients.

You will lead and develop the senior clinical pharmacists providing care to patients within the medical specialities and community services care groups. This includes stroke, cardiology, endocrinology, respiratory and gastroenterology specialities. You will also be responsible for medicines management and medicines optimisation activities within the Trust's community hospital sites which include rehabilitation medicine and care of the elderly wards.

You will be based within Darlington Memorial Hospital or University Hospital of North Durham and will be expected to regularly attend other Trust sites including community hospitals and Bishop Auckland Hospital.

Our pharmacy services are provided to patients 7 days per week and the successful candidate will be expected to maintain a clinical caseload alongside leadership activities and work as part of the weekend and bank holiday rotas

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 adverts 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.

Details

• Date posted: 04 June 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 8b
• Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year per annum, pro rata
• Contract: Fixed term
• Duration: 8 months
• Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
• Reference number: C9439-2627-626
• Job locations: Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust, Hollyhurst Road, Darlington, County Durham, DL3 6HX, United Kingdom, University Hospital Of North Durham, North Road, DURHAM, DH1 5TW, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

The key duties and responsibilities are outlined below. Please refer to the full Job Description and Person Specification within the supporting documents for a comprehensive outline of the role, responsibilities and requirements.

• Lead and manage pharmacy and medicines optimisation services for the Medicine and Community Services care groups, ensuring high-quality, patient-centred care.
• Provide professional leadership for pharmacy teams, including staff supervision and management, appraisals, objective setting, performance management and workforce development.
• Work with the senior leadership team to improve service quality, efficiency, governance, financial performance and service development.
• Ensure services meet local and national KPI targets and contribute to policy, protocol and guideline development.
• Manage delegated pharmacy budgets and use medicines utilisation data to support financial planning and cost-effective prescribing.
• Support service improvement, innovation, and the achievement of organisational objectives.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate medicines optimisation strategies to improve patient outcomes.
• Provide expert clinical and cost-effectiveness advice to medical staff and influence prescribing decisions in complex cases.
• Manage specialist prescribing, including medicines requiring therapeutic drug monitoring and dose adjustment.
• Deliver expert advice and counselling to patients, carers, clinicians, and specialist teams.
• Lead clinical audit, research, benchmarking, and practice development activities, while acting as a role model and mentor for pharmacy staff and trainees.
• Lead investigations and responses to medicines-related complaints, incidents, and governance issues within the care group.
• Contribute to emergency and out-of-hours pharmacy services, dispensary duties, and extended-hours working as required.
• Represent pharmacy services on relevant committees and support education and training programmes for pharmacy staff.