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Job overview
This Principal Pharmacist role provides strategic and operational leadership for medicines management within Children and Families. The post holder is responsible for delivering and developing high-quality pharmaceutical care, including independent prescribing, complex clinical decision-making, and optimisation of medicines for patients. The role leads on formulary management, guideline development, education, audit, research, and service evaluation, while ensuring safe, evidence-based and cost-effective use of medicines. It also involves significant contribution to multidisciplinary working, workforce development, and national professional initiatives, alongside oversight of financial governance, risk management, and service improvement. The post holder will act as an expert clinical resource, providing highly specialist advice to healthcare professionals and patients, and supporting innovation and continuous development of pharmacy services.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be the Principal Pharmacist, responsible for UHB wide neonatal, paediatric, obstetrics, gynaecology and integrated sexual health (ISH) services, and be responsible for providing a safe and effective clinical pharmacy service to the Specialty and Directorate. They will also provide professional leadership and support to the Children and Families Care Group.
The post holder is responsible for managing, leading, developing and delivering specialist neonatal, paediatric, gynaecology and maternity services across CTMUHB.
They will support the Children and Families staff in the acute sites. Engagement and communication with senior clinical and executive level staff in all sectors will be essential in the delivery and redesign of CTMUHB wide Children and Families services.
The post holder will plan, organise and deliver training and education for undergraduate health professionals and post-graduate pharmacists, nurses, doctors and pharmacy technicians.
Welsh Skills Desirable: This post is advertised as Welsh Desirable. This doesn’t mean essential; whilst the candidate doesn't need to have skills in Welsh, we'll consider it an advantage when short-listing candidates. This isn’t ‘fluency’, just Speaking & Listening skills at Level 3 (equivalent to CEFR B2) or above. Level 3 means basic conversations with patients about their everyday health.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The Principal Pharmacist for Children and Families (Band 8b) holds a senior leadership role responsible for managing, developing and delivering specialist pharmacy services across neonatology, paediatrics, maternity, gynaecology and integrated sexual health within the Health Board. The post holder provides expert clinical leadership, ensuring the delivery of safe, effective and evidence-based pharmaceutical care, including independent prescribing, complex clinical decision-making and optimisation of medicines use for individual patients. Key responsibilities include leading on formulary management, guideline development, service planning, financial governance and cost-effective use of medicines, alongside oversight of risk management, incident review and compliance with governance frameworks. The role requires active engagement in multidisciplinary teams, contributing to the management of complex patients, while also leading service improvement, audit, research and innovation across primary and secondary care settings. In addition, the post holder is responsible for workforce development through education, training and mentorship, supporting undergraduate and postgraduate learners as well as the wider pharmacy workforce, and providing strategic input into local and national service development and professional initiatives.
You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click “Apply now” to view in Trac
Person specification
Other
Essential
- Commitment to continuing personal development
- Able to work in different locations in the Health Board on the same day.
- Satisfactory DBS Check.
Desirable
- Attendance / presenting at Specialist Conferences
Experience
Essential
- Relevant experience as a clinical pharmacist
- Experience in teaching on specialist subject
- Experience of training and supervising staff.
- Evidence of clinical audit, practice research and implementation of procedures and protocols
- Able to undertake autonomous practice
- Ability to work unsupervised, using own initiative – highly motivated
- Wide range of clinical experience
- Experience of strategy development
Desirable
- Experience of implementing change.
- Member of UK specialist group
Circumstances
Essential
- Able to undertake full duties of the role
Qualifications
Essential
- Registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council.
- Vocational Master’s Degree in Pharmacy.
- Postgraduate Diploma / MSc in Clinical or Hospital Pharmacy, or equivalent clinical experience.
- Member of the RCPharm
- Non-Medical Prescriber
Desirable
- Post Graduate qualification in specialist area.
- Accredited Tutor for the Cardiff University Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy (or able to be accredited).
- Member of RPS faculty or working towards membership
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Able to work independently and as part of a team
- Flexible and adaptable to changing demands and situations.
- Conscientious, responsible and reliable.
- Positive attitude and commitment to improvement and development (self, others and service).
- Good with patients - empathic, diplomatic, and professional response to emotional/ confrontational situations.
- Innovative
- Ability to develop and maintain strategic alliances with key personnel
- Assertive, tactful and persuasive
aptitude and abilities / skills and knowledge
Essential
- Effective verbal and written communication skills.
- Effective organisational and prioritising skills
- Able to evaluate information and make decisions involving highly complex facts.
- Excellent critical appraisal skills and expertise
- Excellent negotiating and influencing skills
- Good computer and IT skills including use of software packages.
- Good mentoring, coaching and appraisal skills.
- Effective time management
- Expert knowledge of specialist area and clinical area
- Expert knowledge of economics of healthcare
Desirable
- Able to implement change.
- expert knowledge of pharmacology and therapeutics in specialist area
- The ability to speak or learn Welsh to a satisfactory level
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Principal Pharmacist Children and Families with Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board in Cardiff, Cardiff, Wales. It is listed as a Band 8 Pharmacist role. The advertised salary is £67,583 - £78,530 per annum. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 09 Jul 2026.
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