Job summary
- Main area
- Pharmacy
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- 21 months (Secondment until 16/11/2027)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (NHS GM operate hybrid working)
- Job ref
- 896-MED-1079
- Employer
- NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Wigan Life Centre
- Town
- Wigan
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 pa
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 05/03/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Senior Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist
Band 8a
Job overview
Are you looking for an exciting new challenge? If so, we are looking for a highly motivated pharmacist to improve medicines optimisation across Wigan Locality and NHS Greater Manchester.
The post holder will be responsible for the provision of expert pharmaceutical, prescribing and medicines optimisation advice to all relevant stakeholders to ensure implementation of the medicines optimisation agenda. They will promote evidence based, safe, cost effective prescribing, to deliver improved patient outcomes, and reduced health inequalities which will be achieved by effective working between secondary, intermediate, primary, community and social care services. To provide clinical support and leadership within the Medicines Optimisation Team and support the implementation and delivery of medicines optimisation initiatives and national and local guidance.
This role will be based within Wigan Locality and there will be a requirement to travel and work in locations within the Locality and across Greater Manchester as required.
Main duties of the job
To promote high quality, safe and cost-effective prescribing informed by the evidence base, national and local guidance. To negotiate changes in prescribing behaviour and influence opinions on prescribing issues. To develop and implement initiatives to support the management of the ICB prescribing budget and to improve the quality of prescribing across NHS GM. To contributing to short, medium and long term plans, achieving quality outcomes. to forge close positive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders. To contribute to the planning of team projects, identifying interdependencies across projects/functions, potential impacts on wider organisation, resource requirements and building in contingency and adjustments as necessary. To support, motivate and develop staff within the Medicines Optimisation Team. To ensure that they are able to deliver the Medicines Optimisation Agenda and support the Medicines Optimisation Strategy. To make professional decisions where appropriate and take responsibility for them, working within professional standards of conduct, ethics and performance at all times.
Working for our organisation
NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care
Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are partnerships of health and care organisations that come together to plan and deliver joined up services and to improve the health and wellbeing of people who live and work in their area. Their purpose is to improve outcomes in population health and healthcare; tackle inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access; enhance productivity and value for money and support broader social and economic development in their area efficiency. This will be delivered in neighbourhood, place, combinations of places and GM system.
Our NHS People Promise
Our NHS People Promise –the promise we must all make to each other, to work together to improve the experience of working in the NHS for everyone. Like many other employers, NHS GM currently has evidence of unwarranted inequalities in the workforce, most notably in relation to minoritised ethnic, female and\or disabled staff and their intersectionality. As a result, we will use positive action measures to bring benefits to our organisation, including a wider pool of talented, skilled and experienced people from which to recruit and a better understanding of the needs of a more diverse range of customers.
Working across NHS GM or a designated locality on joint workstreams and initiatives and promoting awareness of Medicines Optimisation issues. This role will require direct regular travel to GM & stakeholder locations
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
To negotiate changes in prescribing behaviour and influence opinions on prescribing issues to ensure delivery of the medicines optimisation strategy and QIPP plans.
To influence and monitor prescribing costs, promote cost effective prescribing and minimise wastage of medicines, appliances, oral nutritional supplements etc. To demonstrate effective stakeholder management across different departments and at all levels.
To develop, implement and monitor policies, guidelines and protocols to ensure the safe, evidence based, cost effective use of medicines in line with local priorities, national directives, medicines legislation and professional ethics.
To lead on specific clinical issues or project areas,
To provide advice on the clinical appropriateness of all prescribing including controlled drugs, shared care, interface issues (primary/secondary/social care).
To review and analyse prescribing data and drug budget information at Practice, Locality and GM level to support the Head of Medicines Optimisation and Chief Pharmacist in the management of budgets relating to prescribing and the provision of pharmaceutical services.
To work effectively independently and as a team leader organising own and others workload, ensuring all deadlines are met and being responsible for advising and supporting staff on medicines optimisation issues.
To forge close positive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, to support an effective matrix approach to achieve NHS GM medicines optimisation objectives on a range of business sensitive issues.
Person specification
Professional Registration
Essential criteria
- Mandatory registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Postgraduate qualification in clinical pharmacy or equivalent experience
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant post-registration experience
- Experience of working using own initiative and managing own timescales to meet demanding deadlines
- Experience of leading successful implementation of change
- Experience of delivery of training to all levels of healthcare professional
- Experience of providing clinical pharmacy services in a variety of settings and of working at a senior level
- Experience of identifying and interpreting national policy
- Experience of clinical audit
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Must have an appreciation of the relationship between the Department of Health, NHS England, Public Health England, and individual provider and commissioning organisations.
- Excellent understanding of medicines optimisation issues.
- Understanding of prescribing information including ePACT data and general practitioner computer systems.
- Excellent working knowledge of national and local pharmaceutical and prescribing policies, legislation and guidance relating to medicines supply, prescribing and practice
Desirable criteria
- Awareness of the wider issues within the Health and Social Care agenda which have an impact on the care and outcomes of residents within Care Homes
Competencies
Essential criteria
- Excellent inter-personal, influencing and negotiating skills with evidence of gaining acceptance for recommendations and influence/motivate/persuade the audience to comply with the recommendations/agreed course of action where there may be significant barriers.
- Clear communicator with excellent writing, data entry and presentation skills: capable of constructing and delivering clear information/ instructions to staff and service users
- Demonstrate the ability to communicate highly complex and sensitive information in an understandable form to a variety of audiences.
- Work effectively independently and as a team member.
- Ability to work under pressure in a busy working environment, to multi-task and to meet deadlines
- Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues, working to tight and often changing timescales
- Ability to analyse complex facts and situations and develop a range of options
Other
Essential criteria
- Enthusiastic about primary care and medicines optimisation
Mental Effort
Essential criteria
- Ability to work flexibly, respond rapidly to unpredictable work patterns, frequent interruptions and able to cope with uncertainty and change.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Zoe Trumper
- Job title
- Head of Medicines Optimisation
- Email address
- [email protected]
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