Specialist Pharmacist - Emergency Planning & Business Development

Job overview

The post holder will work in the Pharmacy Emergency Planning and Business Development Team to help provide professional and strategic leadership advice to the Chief Pharmacist, and the Trust, on contingency planning as necessary within Pharmacy to manage a range of emergencies.

They will be responsible for helping develop business continuity plans, preparing and conducting exercises to train staff as needed, and completing after action reviews post incidents.

The post holder will also support and deputise for the Principal Pharmacist for Emergency Planning and Business Development and in the completion of transformation work ensuring that departmental functions continue to meet business needs.

Main duties of the job

The post holder has the following key responsibilities:

• Helping develop and implement plans within Pharmacy, aligned with Trust Policy, to handle a range of emergency situations including major incidents, pandemics & extremes of weather.
• Planning, preparing and conducting exercises in the department to ensure staff can carry on functioning in the event of an emergency and are familiar with Trust & Departmental procedures.
• Responding to incidents, helping assess the situation and level of response required liaising directly with the Chief Pharmacist, other Deputy Chief Pharmacists as required and / or Trust Site Team
• To develop and coordinate the implementation of Pharmacy Business Continuity Plans alongside the EP team
• Helping to track agreed quality standards and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for any new service/ business developments in the department.
• To undertake an active role in generating research to support the emergency planning portfolio within pharmacy .
• To work closely with the Pharmacy Procurement and Distribution Team in ensuring inventory management can be upheld and extended in event of any incident this includes the management of acute medication shortages.
• To support the Medication Safety Team with activities aligned to emergency planning and also attend the Patient Safety Incident Review Framework (PSIRF) meetings, as the EP representative.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

• To contribute to the development and review of the Trusts plans & policies.
• To contribute to the development of the overall strategic vision for the pharmacy service, including strategy development, service planning, budgeting and financial management as part of Business Development.
• To interpret broad clinical/professional policies and NHS guidance to ensure that both the Pharmacy Major Incidents and Business Continuity plans are appropriately developed and updated.
• In accordance with overall professional guidance and NHS policy, to ensure compliance with clinical governance standards in clinical pharmacy and medicines management across the Trust.
• To work alongside sections strongly associated with emergency planning and incident response primarily Procurement and Distribution and Medication Safety in ensuring services are optimized to maximize service continuity.

PATIENT/CLIENT CARE

• To act as a specialist practitioner within relevant field
• To provide highly specialised and complex evidence-based clinical advice and information using expert knowledge and experience to pharmacy, nursing, medical and other healthcare professionals on the care in designated clinical specialty
• To use specialist pharmaceutical knowledge and expertise to assess, plan and implement care interventions for patients.
• To provide highly specialised advice on medicine management issues within specialist areas as needed.
• To participate in the promotion of health education as required
• To promote high quality pharmaceutical care for all patients.
• To manage difficult and ambiguous problems.
• To make decisions with limited information.
• To handle difficult conversations (sensitive, language barriers, hostile atmosphere) and convert complex technical information into easily to understand communication.
• To participate in and contribute to the clinical pharmacy service as appropriate.
• To manage and co-ordinate response to all complaints in Pharmacy as needed.
• To actively participate in key multi-disciplinary ward rounds, as necessary.
• To ensure appropriate and timely supply of medication to patients in conjunction with other pharmacy staff.
• To liaise with other pharmacists to ensure efficient transfer of care relating to medication.
• To participate in discharge planning where appropriate.