Lead Pharmacist - EPMA

Job overview

Lead Pharmacist Electronic Prescribing and Medicines Administration (EPMA)– Band 8B  (Fixed Term - 12 Months)

Southmead Hospital (part of Bristol NHS Foundation Trust) has recently implemented EPMA moving into the maintenance and optimisation stage of our journey.  We are looking for someone to work at the forefront of EPMA and lead the pharmacy EPMA team.  The post holder will need to have strong leadership skills as well as the enthusiasm, vision and negotiation skills to work with stakeholders across the organisation to help further develop this patient safety initiative.

WHY APPLY: This role is a great opportunity to:

• Shape how EPMA evolves at Southmead Hospital.
• Implement innovative ways to improve patient flow and optimise resources.
• Engagement with the digital agenda, especially in the optimisation of dashboards to demonstrate service performance.
• Professional Development – including leadership programmes.
• Great Team – work closely with the divisions, a supportive senior pharmacy structure and specialist pharmacists.

YOU: We are looking for candidates with:

• Strong leadership skills
• Ability to motivate staff and develop effective working relationships with key stakeholders.
• Passion to further develop a high-quality service.
• Enthusiasm for service development and innovation
• Management Skills

Main duties of the job

• Lead pharmacist for the clinical and strategic development, implementation, optimisation and ongoing clinical governance of EPMA across SHOU, ensuring delivery of a safe, patient-focused, progressive, responsive and efficient digital medicines service.
• Lead the clinical governance, assurance and lifecycle management of EPMA., including system configuration, medicines content, protocols, clinical workflows, safety reviews, risk management, testing and optimisation to ensure the system remains safe, effective and aligned with national standards and best practice.
• Provide strategic leadership for the ongoing development of digital medicines services, working collaboratively with Pharmacy, Clinical Services, Digital teams, suppliers and regional/national networks to support interoperability, innovation and future transformation.
• Represent the Trust at regional and national forums relating to EPMA, digital medicines and medicines safety, contributing to the development of best practice and future strategy.
• Provide leadership, supervision and development of pharmacy staff involved in EPMA delivery, ensuring appropriate expertise, resilience and capability within the service.
• Participate in the provision of clinical pharmacy services to a designated area, maintaining clinical credibility and supporting safe, effective and evidence-based medicines use.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

For a full overview of the Job Description, please refer to the PDF Job Description attached as an additional document to this advert

Leadership and team management

• Provide professional leadership for the EPMA Pharmacy service, acting as the recognised Pharmacy expert for EPMA.
• To represent Pharmacy, and where appropriate the Trust, in all internal and external forums concerning EPMA.
• To establish links with other NHS Trusts and Healthcare organisations around EPMA.
• To be the lead with responsibility for training of Pharmacy staff in the use and application of EPMA.
• Competently lead the change to ensure engagement of all stakeholders.
• To line-manage and develop allocated staff.
• Produce performance reports for the defined areas of responsibility.
• To be responsible for the development, updating and maintenance of the medicines database supporting EPMA.
• To provide the Director of Pharmacy with details of output, performance, and activity at specified time intervals in a format agreed with the Director of Pharmacy.
• To ensure the EPMA system adheres to relevant national/local standards e.g. RPS guidance, information governance, Medicines Act.
• Critically examine working practices within the department to identify cost improvements and effective measures, develop and implement action plans, especially in relation to medicines-related cross-cutting cost saving schemes. This will involve communication with clinicians.

Service development and improvement

• Lead pharmacist for the strategic development, implementation, and maintenance of EPMA throughout the Trust to ensure delivery of a safe, patient focused, progressive, responsive, and efficient service.
• Lead on system builds and developments ensuring it meets all legal and practical requirements as well as the necessary digital clinical data capture and business intelligence requirements.
• Ensure robust testing is undertaken of the system with agreed outcomes met before launch and embedded into all maintenance processes.
• Work collaboratively with key stakeholders to ensure that the final delivery of the EPMA system is successful through training, implementation, cutover support, and stabilisation periods.
• Use clinical data capture and business intelligence requirements to support system development.

Applicant requirements

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.