Job summary
- Main area
- Medicine
- Grade
- NHS AFC: Band 8a
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (from start date)
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 302-26-7821278M-A
- Employer
- Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Royal Albert Edward Infirmary
- Town
- Wigan
- Salary
- £57,528 - £64,750 pa pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 24/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Highly Specialist Pharmacist, Medicine Safety
NHS AFC: Band 8a
Choose Well - Choose WWL
Job overview
We are seeking a motivated, experienced, and patient‑safety‑focused pharmacist to join our Medication Safety Team, to cover for maternity leave. This role offers an exciting opportunity to deliver both local and national medication safety priorities as part of a team of pharmacists and medication safety pharmacy technicians and nurses.
You will play a key role in supporting the Trust to improve medication safety, deliver high‑quality patient care, and contribute to a positive safety culture across all areas of practice. This role also offers excellent opportunities for professional development, working alongside colleagues and patients to drive improvement initiatives.
Success in this post will require:
Empathy, curiosity, and strong communication skills
Collaboration and relationship‑building across multidisciplinary teams
Understanding of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy and PSIRF
Ability to adapt to changing priorities and work flexibly
Digital literacy and experience with data management
This vacancy is advertised on a fixed term basis as it has been established to provide cover for maternity leave and will after a period of 12 months or when the substantive postholder returns.
Whilst this post is advertised on a fixed term basis there is the potential that this post may become permanent in the future.
Main duties of the job
Working for our organisation
Choose Well – Choose WWL
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that ‘happy staff, makes for happy patients’. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement, and living our values ‘the WWL Way’.
WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Leadership & Strategic Responsibilities
- Lead, deliver, and monitor the Trust’s Medication Safety Agenda.
- Act as a role model and specialist expert in Medication Safety across the organisation.
- Drive and embed positive medication safety culture across all services.
- Participate in regional Medication Safety Networks
- Lead and coordinate medicines safety workstreams and contribute to clinical governance.
Safety, Risk & Governance
- Develop, assess, and monitor implementation of local and national safety guidance.
- Implement changes to reduce the risk of preventable medication harm.
- Facilitate learning from patient safety insights by coordinating responses to safety events.
- Lead medication incident risk‑reduction strategies and support Trust incident reporting systems.
- Review, analyse, and monitor medication incidents, providing feedback for shared learning and staff education.
- Support responses to national patient safety alerts and implement associated action plans.
Education, Training & Professional Development
- Provide education and training to multidisciplinary teams within and beyond the Trust.
- Contribute to practice research, clinical audit, and service evaluation.
- Develop training resources and improvement programmes aligned to the NHS Patient Safety Strategy and the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework.
Operational Responsibilities
- Undertake cross‑site responsibilities, including clinical ward cover and dispensary duties.
- Actively participate as a member of the Medication Safety Group (MSG) and contribute to safety communication (e.g., medication safety bulletins).
- Support incident data management, digital reporting tools, and governance documentation.
Person specification
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Broad academic/theoretical knowledge to support all of the required experience
- Knowledge of NHS National policy & key changes in the NHS
- Understanding of Trust Values and Strategy
Skills
Essential criteria
- Innovative clinical pharmacy practice using analytical / problem solving skills in complex situations
- Able to assertively / enthusiatically lead, engage, motivate and inspire staff within and outside of pharmacy team
- Financial Management
- Human Resource Management
- Highly effective interpersonal and communication skills
- Able to assess and manipulate a broad range of information quickly and accurately
- Able to make effective judgements based on limited information
- Computer Skills
- Ability to manage time, prioritising tasks to meet deadlines.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Extensive clinical pharmacy experience and service delivery as part of MDT at minimum of band 7 / Specialist level
- Recent experince of governance and assurance at departmental level
- Recent experience of assisting a successful senior pharmacy team achieve objectives
- Recent experience of successfully delivering change
- Experience of audit and reporting
- Lead projects / audit in co-operation with others
- Experience of training and education
- Experience of Drug Budget Control and Monitoring
- Clinical mentoring or pre-registration tutor
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Masters Degree in Pharmacy plus successful completion of pre-registration training year ( or earlier equivalent. )
- Diploma/MSc in Clinical Pharmacy or equivalent
- Membership of the General Pharmaceutical Council.
- Evidence of CPD in line with GPhC requirements
- Prescribing Qualification
Additional
Essential criteria
- Enthusiasm for the post & for pharmacy
- Professional credibility with all levels of staff
- Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation.
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
- Kim Ferguson
- Job title
- Principal Pharmacist
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01942 822788
- Additional information
Gary Masterman
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