About this role
Job summary
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.
About us
Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comprises Aintree University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital & Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
We are part of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, formed on 1 Nov 2024 from the coming together of LUHFT and Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust and Liverpool Heart and Chest NHS Foundation Trust. The Group was born from a shared aim to improve the care we provide our patients.
UHLG is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 16,800 colleagues dedicated to caring for our communities - from birth and beyond.
For the 630,000 people across Merseyside, we are their local NHS. We provide general and emergency hospital care, alongside highly specialised regional services for more than two million people in the North West.
Liverpool Women's Hospital specialises in the health of women and babies, delivering over 7,200 babies in the UK's largest single site maternity hospital each year.
TheRoyal Liverpool University Hospital is the largest hospital in the country to provide inpatients with 100% single bedrooms and focuses on complex planned care and specialist services.
Job description Job 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.
Person Specification
Qualifications Essential
MPharm or equivalent GPhC registration Post-graduate clinical qualification to diploma level or equivalent relevant advanced practice development Registered Non-medical Prescriber
Desirable
Management or leadership qualification, or equivalent senior leadership development
Experience Essential
Significant post-registration experience in hospital pharmacy, including senior leadership of clinical and operational services and management of complex service delivery in an acute hospital setting Experience of leading day-to-day operational delivery of a hospital pharmacy service Experience with Women's Health or Neonatal Clinical Pharmacy Services Experience of incident oversight, governance, audit, risk management, performance reporting and delivery of service assurance Experience of workforce leadership, including rota management, recruitment, performance management and staff development Experience of budget management, financial control, financial reporting and delivery of cost improvement programmes within a healthcare setting Experience of working effectively with senior clinical, managerial and governance colleagues across organisational boundaries, influencing decisions, leading service change and delivering organisational priorities Clinical pharmacy experience in the relevant area
Desirable
Demonstrable experience in service transformation, redesign, implementation of change and delivery of improvement programmes
Knowledge Essential
Good understanding of legal, professional and governance requirements relating to medicines management and hospital pharmacy services Understanding of performance management, quality standards, key performance indicators and assurance processes relevant to hospital pharmacy
Skills Essential
Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to produce clear reports, business cases and governance papers High degree of computer literacy including analytical tools Proven ability to work alone and as part of a team
Other Essential
Able and willing to travel across UHLG sites as required Able to participate in out-of-hours arrangements, including being on site within one hour if required
Disclosure and Barring Service Check This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Employer details Employer name Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Address Liverpool Women's Hospital
Crown Street
Liverpool
L8 7SS
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.liverpoolft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)