About this role
Job summary
Mersey and West Lancashire NHS Trust (Southport and Ormskirk sites) is looking to recruit Band 6 Clinical Pharmacists to become a part of our well-established Clinical Pharmacy Team. We are happy to consider applications from Community Pharmacists considering a career in hospital pharmacy and current foundation trainee pharmacists due to register in 2026.
The Pharmacy Department has recently benefited from a significant investment by the Trust to further enhance the quality of service provided to our patients which includes more specialist posts to support our junior staff and increased ward-based technicians to enhance medicines management on wards.
To further benefit our patients, the Trust has also recently embarked on the implementation of EPMA throughout the hospital.
The JD & PS are currently under AfC review and are subject to change.
Main duties of the job
The pharmacist will be ward based within a department committed to a pharmacist free dispensary for most of the day and will be rotated through different specialities including acute admissions, aseptics, cardiology, respiratory, surgery and Women's' and Children's' services.
We support pharmacists undertaking the Foundation Pharmacist Framework and continuously review our training and education to give our Foundation Pharmacists a positive learning experience during their early career in hospital pharmacy.
We actively encourage career development for our Foundation Pharmacists into specialist roles, over the past 5 years our band 6 pharmacists have progressed to a band 7 post on average 18 months after taking a post at Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals.
The department encourages Band 6 Pharmacists to undertake a Clinical Diploma and provides dedicated support for post-registration foundation pharmacist credentialing.
This post will be subject to an Enhanced DBS (with barred list for Adults and Children's disclosure).
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services:
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018 Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal) National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description Job responsibilities
See job description for additional information
Please be aware this vacancy may close early if a sufficient number of applicants is reached.
Person Specification
Other Essential
Use of VDU equipment Able to work under pressure, remains calm and objective Analysis of prescriptions. Interruptions for advice Good levels of concentration required, accuracy and attentional to detail Ability to rationalise complex issues Complex dosage advice Exposure to upsetting situations, high level of resilience to deal with distressing and/or challenging situations Distressed patients with complex diseases Professional appearance and hygiene awareness Weekend, Late night and Bank Holiday Working
Desirable
Analysis and input into formulation of procedures and guidelines
Skills Essential
Excellent verbal and written communication Good time management, decision making and organisational skills Computer literate Financial awareness regarding the management of drug budgets
Knowledge & Experience Essential
Foundation knowledge of Clinical Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation
Desirable
Previous relevant post qualification experience Previous hospital experience
Qualifications Essential
Masters degree in Pharmacy or equivalent Registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Fulfilment of mandatory Continuous Professional Development/Revalidation requirements
Desirable
Membership of the Royal College of Pharmacy
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 Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Address Southport Hospital
Town Lane
Southport
PR8 6PN
United Kingdom
Employer's website https://www.merseywestlancs.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)