Lead Pharmacist - Northwest Sussex

Job overview

If you are enthusiastic and passionate about improving the lives of patients in need of mental healthcare treatment, then role as a Lead Pharmacist in our Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Trust could be right for you.  We have an exciting opportunity for an innovative, skilled clinical pharmacist to lead the inpatient team across the Northwest Sussex locality.

You should have an interest for working within a specialist mental health service, an understanding of the medicines used and an awareness of the people we support and care for. The role will primarily be based at Langley Green Hospital.

The post holder will be supported to undertake further accreditations as appropriate, and there are opportunities to develop the role and service to the inpatient wards and urgent care, allowing your vision for clinical care to grow with the service in a collaborative, holistic and accessible therapeutic environment.

You will be joining a friendly, supportive Pharmacy team which is highly regarded in the Trust and is rapidly expanding due to recent significant investments.  This role is a great opportunity to start or continue a career in mental health and can lead to a future senior role.

This post is subject to an enhanced check with adults barred list Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will lead a clinical pharmacy and medicines optimisation service to ensure patients get the best from their medicines, as well as a strong commitment to medicines education and training so that patients, pharmacy staff and other healthcare professionals are well informed and able to manage their use of medicines correctly, safely and cost effectively.

The role requires an excellent clinical communicator with an interest in patient facing and multidisciplinary team working.  In addition, the appraisal of clinical evidence and generation of high quality pharmacotherapeutic advice to support colleagues will feature as a core part of working.

We are excited to be bringing a new medicines supply service in-house later in 2026 - an important step that creates fresh opportunities for innovation, skill development, and career progression across our team. This Pharmacy Hub will be situated at our Swandean site in Worthing. This change will also strengthen how we support our trainee pharmacy professionals on their career journeys. As we grow our dispensary function, all staff will play a key role in supporting the implementation and delivery of this service while we recruit into new dispensary roles, helping to shape a dynamic and collaborative working environment.

On call is for advice only and is currently more than 1 in 30 weeks.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

A unique aspect of this role is the provision of care to patients in the local acute Trusts to promote parity of esteem and meet the mental health needs of those admitted both for unplanned or routine treatment. The physical health of our mental health and learning disability patients is important to us, with the life expectancy of patients suffering serious mental health illness being reduced by 15 to 20 years, often through avoidable causes. The trust is committed to reducing this risk and the pharmacy team plays a leading role.

The role also encompasses line management, medicines management and education. The successful candidate will have experience of leadership or will be looking to develop their leadership skills through training, education and workplace exposure in line with the principles of the NHS Healthcare Leadership Model. Education and training are central to the aims of the pharmacy department and we actively seek to promote opportunities as such. We also recognise the importance in realising the potential of our team by providing training and expertise to patients and colleagues.

Please see the attached job outline and person specification for more details about this role.  For an informal discussion about the role, please refer to the contact details accompanying this advert to arrange this.