Lead Pharmacist - Surgery, Theatres and Critical Care

Job overview

Join Our Team as Lead Pharmacist – Surgery, Theatres and Critical Care - Lead the Way in Healthcare Innovation. Are you ready for an exciting opportunity to lead a dynamic service in the restructured pharmacy team at West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust? We are looking for a Lead Pharmacist to provide leadership and strategic direction to our clinical pharmacy service within the surgical directorate. This is a 12-month fixed term position to cover maternity leave, offering you the chance to make a real impact within an ambitious and supportive team.

Working closely with and reporting to the Principal Pharmacist for Clinical Services, you will play a pivotal role in maintaining and developing high-quality clinical pharmacy services across the Trust’s surgical wards. This role requires an experienced clinical pharmacist with specialist knowledge of critical care practice and a passion for delivering excellent patient care within complex and fast-paced clinical environments.

Main duties of the job

• The post-holder will be Lead Pharmacist for Surgery, Theatres and Critical Care and must develop the specialist clinical pharmacy service to patients within the associated area in line with local and national standards and policies, ensuring the safe, clinical and cost-effective use of medicines and staff resources.
• The post-holder will provide a highly specialised level of pharmaceutical care to patients and will support other healthcare staff in meeting risk management, financial management and clinical governance responsibilities around the use of medicines.
• The post-holder will provide highly specialised advice within their area of clinical specialism to other pharmacists and healthcare professionals, including participation in multidisciplinary and governance meetings.
• The post-holder will deliver training to pharmacists and foundation pharmacist trainees within their area of clinical specialism and must undertake clinical supervision, mentoring and assessments of junior pharmacists, medicines management technicians and pre-registration pharmacists.
• The post-holder will carry out clinical pharmacy audit and practice research in conjunction with the Principal Pharmacist Clinical Services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

What you'll be doing: - Leadership: Take charge of a skilled and dedicated team delivering clinical pharmacy services across Surgery, Theatres and Critical Care, ensuring excellence and consistency in patient care.

- Specialist Critical Care Practice: Provide expert pharmaceutical care to critically ill patients, acting as the lead pharmacist for Critical Care. Work closely with the multidisciplinary team to optimise medicines use, support complex clinical decision-making, and ensure the safe, effective and evidence-based management of medicines within critical care services. - Strategic Impact: Contribute to the delivery of the department’s strategic objectives, supporting innovation and service development during this key period.

- Patient-Centred Care: Ensure services remain safe, efficient, and effective, with a strong focus on optimising outcomes for patients across surgical and critical care pathways.

- Collaboration and Influence: Build strong working relationships with multidisciplinary teams both within and outside the organisation to influence and drive improvements across the Trust.

- Education and Development: Support the training, supervision and development of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and other healthcare professionals, fostering a culture of continuous learning and clinical excellence.

Why Join Us?

This is a fantastic opportunity to lead and shape a respected service while gaining valuable leadership experience within a supportive, innovative environment. You’ll be joining a department committed to excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement in patient care.

Please view full job description attached for full details of role.