About this role
Job summary
PLEASE NOTE
INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY
Band 8A Senior Lead Pharmacy Homecare Services
We are looking for an experienced pharmacy leader-pharmacist or pharmacy technician, to join our team as Senior Lead Pharmacy Homecare Services.
Main duties of the job
- The post holder provides senior leadership for the Pharmacy homecare medicines services, ensuring safe, timely, appropriate, and cost-effective provision of homecare medicines for Trust patients in accordance with National Homecare Medicines Committee (NHMC) and RPS standards and Trust governance frameworks.
- The role holds accountability for service performance, clinical governance, risk management, and continuous improvement across end-to-end homecare medicines pathways, with delegated responsibility for workforce management, clinical pathway oversight, and defined financial controls.
- The post holder provides integrated oversight across homecare prescription management, clinical validation processes, contract administration, clinical governance, and supplier performance, ensuring consistent standards, clear escalation routes, and effective controls for patient safety, clinical appropriateness, contract compliance, commissioning alignment, medicines recalls, provider performance monitoring, and homecare service quality standards.
- The post holder works closely with senior pharmacy leaders, clinical teams, medical consultants, specialist nurses, commissioning colleagues, and corporate teams to maintain service resilience, provide clinical governance leadership for complex homecare pathways, deliver assurance to Trust governance structures, and optimize homecare medicines pathways for patients and the organization.
About us
Reading sits on the river Thames and is served by great road and rail links to London, Oxford and Southampton. With excellent leisure and shopping facilities, and a thriving cultural scene, Reading is a wonderful place to live, work and play and provides excellent facilities for families, including some of the best state and private schools in the UK.
The CQC rated the care provided by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as Good.
Our "CARE" values: Compassionate,Aspirational,Resourceful,Excellent, reflect the type of Trust we aspire to be and you can join our dedicated and talented staff to make this happen.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details of the job role.
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Current registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) (Pharmacist or Technician) (A)
- Master degree in pharmacy/ NVQ level 3, BTEC, or recognised equivalent qualification
- Post graduate qualifications as per PS
Desirable
- Further post-graduate qualification in Management or Leadership (A)
- Practice Supervisor, Educational Supervisor, assessor qualification, or equivalent experience supporting the development of pharmacy staff.
- Membership of national professional body (e.g. RPS, APTUK)
- IP qualification/ Homecare validation cerificate
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Significant experience as a Lead Pharmacy staff member within a hospital environment (Band 7 or above)
- Experience in leading and managing a team in a complex healthcare environment.
- Experience in audit, KPI monitoring, performance reporting (A/I)
- Significant experience working within and leading pharmacy homecare services in an acute NHS setting
- Extensive experience using medicine stock control and hospital pharmacy systems
- Proven track record of managing diverse teams to high performance levels and through change
- Previous experience managing HR processes i.e. sickness management, performance management, recruitment and selection
- Experience of delivering cost savings in NHS
- Experience in governance processes, policy/SOP maintenance, or audit (A/I)
Desirable
- Experience in all aspects of hospital pharmacy
- Experience of using the CMM homecare module
- Experience in developing Pharmacy services
- Experience in using continuous quality improvement techniques (A)
- Experience of working with external homecare providers (A/I)
- Budget management experience
- Experience of contract management
Skills
Essential
- Excellent leadership skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages to patients, clinical staff, and senior colleagues
- Ability to work autonomously and manage a complex workload, prioritising effectively to meet deadlines
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
- Excellent and effective communication, negotiation, and judgement skills
- Attention to detail, accuracy, and commitment to high standards of record keeping
Desirable
- Familiarity with clinical information systems (e.g. EPMA, electronic health records)
- Advanced data visualisation or dashboard development skills (Power BI, Qlik)
- Understanding of commissioning arrangements and financial implications of high-cost drugs
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.
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
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Royal Berkshire Hospital
London Road
Reading
RG1 5AN
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.royalberkshire.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)