Lead Pharmacist – Workforce development

Job summary

The Lead Pharmacist - Workforce at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust is responsible for shaping and delivering a comprehensive workforce strategy for the pharmacy team. This involves leading the Pharmacy Education and Training team, designing career pathways, and providing training for all pharmacy staff, including pharmacists, technicians, and administrative staff. The role also requires close collaboration with primary care network (PCN) leads, community pharmacy leads, and system partners to align workforce development with integrated care system (ICS) goals. A significant focus is placed on developing structured training programs, supporting induction and validation processes, and ensuring the implementation of the Independent Prescribing strategy.

Additionally, the Lead Pharmacist works with the Associate Director of Pharmacy Clinical Services and Lead Pharmacists to create job plans for specialist and senior pharmacists, incorporating independent prescribing into their roles and supporting practice-based research. They also collaborate with the Pharmacy Operations and Technical Lead to develop the Pharmacy Technician workforce strategy. The role includes advancing a communications strategy to engage pharmacy students and support their career development, introducing Consultant Pharmacist posts, and conducting gap analyses to address departmental needs.

Main duties of the job

The role is responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive workforce strategy for the Pharmacy Team at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust. This includes leading and supporting the Pharmacy Education and Training team, designing career pathways for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and integrating rotations and opportunities for further qualifications in specialties such as governance, homecare, and high-cost drugs procurement. The role also involves working with primary care network (PCN) leads, community pharmacy leads, and system partners to align with integrated care system (ICS) workforce faculty aspirations.

A further duty is to collaborate with the Associate Director of Pharmacy Clinical Services and Lead Pharmacists to create job plans for specialist and senior pharmacists. This includes embedding independent prescribing within their clinical areas and supporting a research strategy where practice-based research is a key component. The Lead Pharmacist will also work closely with the Associate Director of Pharmacy Operations and Technical Lead to further develop the Pharmacy Technician workforce strategy, ensuring alignment with the department's operational needs.

Please be advised there is a proposed interview date of 22nd August 2024.

About us

We are extremely proud of our employees across our hospital sites, with high quality patient care at the heart of everything we do.

Boasting some of the most modern facilities in Western Europe, the Trust is renowned for being at the forefront of research and innovation as part of its blossoming reputation as a worldwide leader in healthcare.

We are proud to be recognised as a Pathway to Excellence designated organisation - please click the link for further details about this prestigious award. Pathway To Excellence - University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (

By joining our exciting journey, you will form part of a passionate, talented team and will be able to access a wide range of learning and development opportunities. There has never been a better time to join our team.

The Trust is committed to building an organisation that makes full use of the talents, skills, experience, and different perspectives available in our diverse society. We want everyone to feel they are respected, valued, can achieve their potential and receive the most appropriate and relevant care. We will create an environment where the equality and human rights principles of fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy are promoted and are part of the organisation's core values.

Job description

Job responsibilities

The Lead Pharmacist will lead the development and implementation of a communications strategy in collaboration with the UHCW Workforce Department and Communications Team. This strategy aims to maximise engagement with pharmacy students through university and college partnerships, support the rollout of protected learning time standards, and advance the Pharmacy Independent Prescribing strategy. The role also involves identifying and supporting Designated Prescribing Practitioners (DPPs), introducing Consultant Pharmacist posts, and performing gap analyses to understand and articulate the department's needs

We are a large and friendly team at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW) operating from University Hospital, Coventry and Hospital of St Cross in Rugby. Our large Acute Teaching Hospital has almost 1400 beds and is located in a PFI hospital which opened in 2006, situated just off the junction of the M6 and M69.

We are a major trauma centre and tertiary and specialist referral centre for many specialities including Neurosciences and Stroke, Oncology, Haematology, Paediatrics, Cardiothoracic, Renal Medicine and Renal Transplant. We are also a large clinical trials centre with over 140 active trials currently recruited to.

In 2018 we fully automated all our medication storage on wards , this was the first part of our move towards our longer term automation strategy. The next phase is to automate our main dispensary ready for the new Trust EPR system. This is an exciting time to join this journey as we move towards being fully automated across all our activities; prescribing, clinical screening, dispensing and storage.

As a medication wholesaler we also support many local partners with clinical pharmacy services. The post holder is required to work closely with the onsite private hospital (covered under our SLA), who offer elective surgical care.

As an acute teaching hospital our department has strong links with the Medical School at Warwick University, the Department of Medicines Management at Keele University and the School of Pharmacy at Aston University.

The Trust has a dedicated team to support continuous Quality Improvement (QI) and we are focused on embedding a QI culture within pharmacy, using defined methodology to develop and improve our services. UHCW was selected as one of only 5 Trusts to work in collaboration with Virginia Mason of Seattle, USA. Virginia Mason developed and adopted a management system that has been sustained over the last 15 years. This continuous improvement culture has resulted in them being recognised as one of the safest hospitals in the USA. They have developed the original lean tools and methodology of Toyota Production Systems, and applied it to healthcare to establish a patient centered approach to improvement. Adopting patient centered tools to empower staff and drive changes to Organisational cultures. As a department we have actively encouraged and support our leaders to develop through these programs.

For further details please see the attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications & Training

Essential

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Experience

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Knowledge

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Skills & Abilities

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Desirable

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