Site Lead Pharmacist - Liverpool Women's Hospital

Job overview

Are you an ambitious and experienced pharmacy leader looking for an opportunity to shape the future of medicines optimisation and pharmacy services within a specialist hospital environment?

We are seeking an exceptional pharmacist to join Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as Site Lead Pharmacist for Liverpool Women’s Hospital. This is a high-profile leadership role, providing strategic and operational leadership for pharmacy services across one of the UK's leading specialist hospitals for women's health, maternity and neonatal care.

As the senior pharmacy leader on site, you will play a pivotal role in driving service excellence, leading high-performing multidisciplinary teams, improving patient outcomes and influencing strategic decision-making across the Trust, Group pharmacy service and wider healthcare system. You will work closely with senior operational, clinical and governance leaders, ensuring pharmacy services remain safe, effective, responsive and innovative.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to lead service transformation, workforce development, medicines optimisation and quality improvement within a specialist clinical environment, whilst contributing to the wider strategic direction of pharmacy services across the Group model.

If you are a compassionate, forward-thinking leader with a passion for delivering outstanding pharmacy services and developing others, we would welcome your application.

Main duties of the job

The Site Lead Pharmacist will provide visible, credible and effective leadership for pharmacy services at Liverpool Women's Hospital, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, patient-centred and financially sustainable services. Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the operational and strategic delivery of pharmacy services across Liverpool Women's Hospital.
• Providing leadership for medicines optimisation, medicines safety, governance and quality improvement.
• Managing and developing the site pharmacy workforce, fostering a positive, inclusive and high-performing culture.
• Leading service planning, transformation programmes and improvement initiatives aligned to Trust and Group priorities.
• Holding delegated responsibility for pharmacy budgets, financial performance and delivery of cost improvement programmes.
• Providing assurance on quality, safety, workforce, operational performance and risk management through established governance processes.
• Leading the response to operational pressures, incidents, complaints and service recovery activities.
• Representing pharmacy services at Trust, Group, Integrated Care System (ICS), regional and national forums.
• Working collaboratively with senior clinical and operational leaders to improve patient outcomes across women's health, maternity and neonatal services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The postholder will be accountable for the leadership, development and delivery of pharmacy services at Liverpool Women's Hospital and will operate with delegated authority from the Site Director of Pharmacy to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and responsive pharmacy services within the Group pharmacy operating model.

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the development, implementation and review of the Liverpool Women's Hospital pharmacy business plan.
• Develop and deliver site-based service plans, improvement programmes and transformation initiatives aligned to Trust and Group objectives.
• Contribute to organisational and cross-site strategic planning, service redesign and business case development.
• Represent pharmacy services within hospital, Group, ICS and regional structures as required.
• Ensure Liverpool Women's Hospital priorities and risks are appropriately reflected in wider organisational decision-making.

Operational Leadership

• Provide visible senior leadership for all pharmacy services delivered at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
• Maintain oversight of service quality, workforce performance, patient safety, operational resilience and performance against agreed standards.
• Lead the management of operational pressures, incidents, complaints, service disruptions and recovery activities.
• Chair and lead relevant pharmacy management and operational forums.
• Ensure effective coordination and delivery of site pharmacy priorities and objectives.

Clinical Leadership

• Provide senior professional and clinical leadership across women's health, maternity and neonatal services.
• Support the safe, effective and evidence-based use of medicines through prescribing support, medicines optimisation and implementation of clinical guidelines.
• Provide professional supervision and clinical leadership to pharmacists and pharmacy teams.
• Promote and support high standards of clinical practice across both dispensary and clinical services.

Workforce and People Management

• Lead workforce planning, recruitment, retention, succession planning and skill-mix development.
• Line manage senior pharmacy staff and support effective performance and talent management processes.
• Promote a culture of inclusion, accountability, continuous improvement and professional development.
• Ensure staff fulfil professional, legal and organisational requirements and are supported through appraisal, supervision and development processes.

Finance and Resources

• Hold delegated responsibility for the operational pharmacy budget at Liverpool Women's Hospital.
• Monitor financial performance and ensure effective use of resources.
• Lead delivery of pharmacy cost improvement programmes and financial recovery initiatives.
• Provide financial assurance reporting and manage risks relating to financial performance and resource utilisation.

Governance, Quality and Risk

• Lead medicines safety and governance activities across Liverpool Women's Hospital.
• Maintain oversight of incident management, complaints, audits, risk registers and assurance processes.
• Ensure learning from incidents and audits is embedded into practice and leads to measurable improvement.
• Ensure compliance with national guidance, professional standards, Trust policies and Group frameworks.
• Lead the development, implementation and review of medicines-related policies, procedures and clinical guidelines.

Education, Training and Research

• Support education, training and professional development for pharmacy staff and multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Promote advanced practice development and lifelong learning.
• Lead or support audit, quality improvement, research and innovation activities that improve patient care and service delivery.
• Facilitate implementation of evidence-based practice and service improvements.

General Responsibilities

• Contribute to out-of-hours and emergency pharmacy arrangements as required.
• Maintain compliance with Trust policies relating to information governance, data protection, safeguarding, health and safety and equality and diversity.
• Travel across Group sites as required to support collaborative working and service development.