Job summary
The focus of HIV care must shift to meet the evolving needs of people living with HIV (PLHIV). Prescribed medications form a core pillar of optimising the health of PLHIV and as a result, the role of the Pharmacist is becoming more critical than ever before. Whilst HIV disease may be largely stable in these patients, other co-morbidities such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, cognitive/mental health, diabetes and bone fragilities are largely managed through pharmaceutical intervention.
The post of Lead Pharmacist / Consultant Pharmacist for HIV [post pending RPS accreditation] is post will provide a dynamic link between clinical practice and service development by creating new models for delivering care to PLHIV that encompass all areas of pharmaceutical care and will act as the medicines expert in this space. This role will lead on the strategic development of pharmacy related HIV services at GSTT and will represent GSTT in any relevant South East London projects and initiatives relating to HIV.
Main duties of the job
For the full duties of the job, please see the attached Job Description.
As a leader in their field and the profession, the post holder will
About us
The HIV and Sexual Health Pharmacy Team at GSTT is highly regarded and fully integrated into the Trust's Harrison Wing service. The team is led by the Principal Pharmacist for HIV and Sexual Health and is made up of a number of senior and rotational pharmacists. The team form part of the Integrated and Specialist Medicine (ISM) Pharmacy Team that supports pharmacy services within the ISM clinical group.
The wider Pharmacy department is diverse and vibrant and full of enthusiastic, passionate and dedicated individuals that are focused on providing excellent patient care.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For full details about the role and main responsibilities, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification
Job description
Job responsibilities
For full details about the role and main responsibilities, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification
Person Specification
Qualifications and Education
Essential
- MPharm degree (or equivalent)
- Higher degree (MSc) in Clinical Pharmacy/ Pharmacy Practice or relevant post registration Master's Qualification
- Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
- Registered with the GPhC as a non-medical prescriber
Desirable
- Credentialled by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society as a Consultant Pharmacist
- MPhil or PhD or equivalent post-graduate level research qualification
- Management qualification or equivalent experience
- Member of relevant professional groups (i.e. Royal Pharmaceutical Society, UKCPA, BHIVA)
- Committee or executive member of BHIVA or Lead and Inform CRG
- Project management or Quality Improvement qualification or equivalent experience
Expert Clinical Practice
Essential
- Significant and current clinical experience of providing a clinical pharmacist service to HIV (+/- Sexual Health)
- Management of patients as an independent Non-Medical Prescriber
- Providing a clinical pharmacist service to HIV outpatients e.g. as a clinic practitioner and undertaking booked patient consultations
- Demonstrable ability to ensure safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of drugs in HIV medicine
- Demonstrable ability to ensure safe, clinically effective medical management or referral of PLHIV, including triaging and identifying unspoken patient health concerns
- Demonstrable strategic approach to identifying solutions to local / systemic barriers and challenges within HIV (and Sexual Health)
- Able to make considered recommendations and facilitate consensus-based decision-making with regards to the use of medicines
- Ensures delivery of the clinical governance agenda
- Acts as a role model in HIV & SRH and motivates and inspires others
- Demonstrates innovation through service improvement initiatives
- Ability to proactively develop clinical pharmacy services for HIV in line with local and national objectives
- Able to confidently represent any issues related to the safe use of medicines at directorate or equivalent executive level
- Communicate highly complex or contentious medicines-related information to staff, using a variety of methods
- Able to challenge current practice of healthcare professionals working, with regards to medicines use in HIV using negotiating and influencing skills
- Ability to provide information and communicate in a hostile, antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere
- Work effectively and co-operatively, facilitating across disciplines and organisations, with people of different backgrounds and viewpoints.
- Ability to make judgements involving highly complex facts or situations, which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options where expert opinion differs, or some information is unavailable
- Active participation in creating and interpreting local health policy
Desirable
- Active participation in creating and interpreting national health policy
- Recognition as a national and/or international expert within the speciality of HIV clinical pharmacy
Management of Service and Staff
Essential
- Able to identify and prioritise clinical pharmacy services for HIV and Sexual Health
- Excellent organisational and time management
- Experience of working as a clinical pharmacy team leader for a specialist team
- Ability to reconcile national priorities with local realities
- Experience of setting the standards of care / service specification for a specialist pharmacy team.
- Ability to identify and manage the risks involved with delivering a specialist clinical pharmacy service
- Ability to utilise data to appraise operational delivery and inform service change
- Able to identify training needs of staff (with and external to Pharmacy) in order to undertake the roles required for delivery of a clinical pharmacy service.
- Experience of reviewing and analysing medicines-related financial information and providing reports to executive teams to support changes in prescribing practices that may impact on the drugs budget
- Proven experience of working at a strategic level with senior clinicians and managers and experience of working in an integrated directorate team
- Proven experience of working at a strategic level across the wider health community (i.e. ICB and/or regional landscape)
- Demonstrable experience of change management at a pharmacy level, including business case generation and approval
- Proven ability to implement and lead on innovation and service improvement initiatives that enhance patient care and pharmacy service now and for the future
- Shapes direction of professional group (current or previous Committee Member or Member of Expert Practice development group)
Desirable
- To have contributed to the appropriate growth of the pharmacy team in response to patient and service need
- Understanding of pharmacy medicines procurement (including regional/national procurement of HIV medicines)
- Experience of implementing a cost reduction programme within a directorate or more widely
Research and Development
Essential
- To demonstrate a critical approach to the development and evaluation of clinical pharmacy services
- Familiar with research and data analysis programs
- Ability to identify gaps in the evidence base in HIV services and healthcare
- Experience of involvement with MDT health services research
- Evidence of GCP training
- Academic (1st) supervisor for MPharm projects
Desirable
- Demonstrable experience using weighted decision matrices in critical decision-making for the development and evaluation of services
- Evidence of integrating research evidence into practice
- Undertake own research
- Guide and support others undertaking research.
- Experience of leading MDT health services research
- Publication in peer reviewed journals as research team member
- Clinical trials experience e.g. set-up protocols.
Education and Training
Essential
- To have a recognised postgraduate qualification with a teaching component, or equivalent evidence of teaching experience (Postgraduate Diploma, MSc)
- Demonstrated ability to deliver education and training, and competency assessment of pharmacy staff and other health care professionals
- Experience as a clinical tutor for Higher Education Institution diploma or MSc courses
- Experience of delivering presentations at conferences, and complex cases at Grand Rounds
- Identify own training needs & maintain a practice portfolio
Desirable
- Plan, design, co-ordinate and evaluate pharmacy educational courses
- Formally supports an HEI postgraduate training programme, including direction and/or delivery of course content.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Visionary and ability to motivate others
- Problem identification, prioritisation and solving
- An excellent understanding of integrated care and how this benefits patients
- Excellent IT skills
- Progressive and continuing professional development
- Able to work independently and set own priorities and deadlines
- Adaptable and resilient
- Detailed understanding of EDI and how this impacts patient care and service delivery
Person Specification
Qualifications and Education
Essential
- MPharm degree (or equivalent)
- Higher degree (MSc) in Clinical Pharmacy/ Pharmacy Practice or relevant post registration Master's Qualification
- Registration with General Pharmaceutical Council
- Registered with the GPhC as a non-medical prescriber
Desirable
- Credentialled by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society as a Consultant Pharmacist
- MPhil or PhD or equivalent post-graduate level research qualification
- Management qualification or equivalent experience
- Member of relevant professional groups (i.e. Royal Pharmaceutical Society, UKCPA, BHIVA)
- Committee or executive member of BHIVA or Lead and Inform CRG
- Project management or Quality Improvement qualification or equivalent experience
Expert Clinical Practice
Essential
- Significant and current clinical experience of providing a clinical pharmacist service to HIV (+/- Sexual Health)
- Management of patients as an independent Non-Medical Prescriber
- Providing a clinical pharmacist service to HIV outpatients e.g. as a clinic practitioner and undertaking booked patient consultations
- Demonstrable ability to ensure safe, clinically effective and cost-efficient use of drugs in HIV medicine
- Demonstrable ability to ensure safe, clinically effective medical management or referral of PLHIV, including triaging and identifying unspoken patient health concerns
- Demonstrable strategic approach to identifying solutions to local / systemic barriers and challenges within HIV (and Sexual Health)
- Able to make considered recommendations and facilitate consensus-based decision-making with regards to the use of medicines
- Ensures delivery of the clinical governance agenda
- Acts as a role model in HIV & SRH and motivates and inspires others
- Demonstrates innovation through service improvement initiatives
- Ability to proactively develop clinical pharmacy services for HIV in line with local and national objectives
- Able to confidently represent any issues related to the safe use of medicines at directorate or equivalent executive level
- Communicate highly complex or contentious medicines-related information to staff, using a variety of methods
- Able to challenge current practice of healthcare professionals working, with regards to medicines use in HIV using negotiating and influencing skills
- Ability to provide information and communicate in a hostile, antagonistic or highly emotive atmosphere
- Work effectively and co-operatively, facilitating across disciplines and organisations, with people of different backgrounds and viewpoints.
- Ability to make judgements involving highly complex facts or situations, which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options where expert opinion differs, or some information is unavailable
- Active participation in creating and interpreting local health policy
Desirable
- Active participation in creating and interpreting national health policy
- Recognition as a national and/or international expert within the speciality of HIV clinical pharmacy
Management of Service and Staff
Essential
- Able to identify and prioritise clinical pharmacy services for HIV and Sexual Health
- Excellent organisational and time management
- Experience of working as a clinical pharmacy team leader for a specialist team
- Ability to reconcile national priorities with local realities
- Experience of setting the standards of care / service specification for a specialist pharmacy team.
- Ability to identify and manage the risks involved with delivering a specialist clinical pharmacy service
- Ability to utilise data to appraise operational delivery and inform service change
- Able to identify training needs of staff (with and external to Pharmacy) in order to undertake the roles required for delivery of a clinical pharmacy service.
- Experience of reviewing and analysing medicines-related financial information and providing reports to executive teams to support changes in prescribing practices that may impact on the drugs budget
- Proven experience of working at a strategic level with senior clinicians and managers and experience of working in an integrated directorate team
- Proven experience of working at a strategic level across the wider health community (i.e. ICB and/or regional landscape)
- Demonstrable experience of change management at a pharmacy level, including business case generation and approval
- Proven ability to implement and lead on innovation and service improvement initiatives that enhance patient care and pharmacy service now and for the future
- Shapes direction of professional group (current or previous Committee Member or Member of Expert Practice development group)
Desirable
- To have contributed to the appropriate growth of the pharmacy team in response to patient and service need
- Understanding of pharmacy medicines procurement (including regional/national procurement of HIV medicines)
- Experience of implementing a cost reduction programme within a directorate or more widely
Research and Development
Essential
- To demonstrate a critical approach to the development and evaluation of clinical pharmacy services
- Familiar with research and data analysis programs
- Ability to identify gaps in the evidence base in HIV services and healthcare
- Experience of involvement with MDT health services research
- Evidence of GCP training
- Academic (1st) supervisor for MPharm projects
Desirable
- Demonstrable experience using weighted decision matrices in critical decision-making for the development and evaluation of services
- Evidence of integrating research evidence into practice
- Undertake own research
- Guide and support others undertaking research.
- Experience of leading MDT health services research
- Publication in peer reviewed journals as research team member
- Clinical trials experience e.g. set-up protocols.
Education and Training
Essential
- To have a recognised postgraduate qualification with a teaching component, or equivalent evidence of teaching experience (Postgraduate Diploma, MSc)
- Demonstrated ability to deliver education and training, and competency assessment of pharmacy staff and other health care professionals
- Experience as a clinical tutor for Higher Education Institution diploma or MSc courses
- Experience of delivering presentations at conferences, and complex cases at Grand Rounds
- Identify own training needs & maintain a practice portfolio
Desirable
- Plan, design, co-ordinate and evaluate pharmacy educational courses
- Formally supports an HEI postgraduate training programme, including direction and/or delivery of course content.
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Visionary and ability to motivate others
- Problem identification, prioritisation and solving
- An excellent understanding of integrated care and how this benefits patients
- Excellent IT skills
- Progressive and continuing professional development
- Able to work independently and set own priorities and deadlines
- Adaptable and resilient
- Detailed understanding of EDI and how this impacts patient care and service delivery
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
