London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Associate Chief Pharmacist

The closing date is 06 February 2026

Job summary

This is a senior leadership opportunity for an experienced pharmacist to join the Trust as Associate Chief Pharmacist.

The post holder will provide Trust-wide professional leadership for pharmacy services and play a key role in driving service transformation, operational effectiveness and medicines optimisation. The role is cross-cutting, operating across clinical, operational and corporate functions to ensure consistent, high-quality and safe medicines practice.

Working in close partnership with the Chief Pharmacist, Trust Medication Safety Officer and IUC leads, the post holder will contribute to the strategic development and delivery of pharmacy services, supporting organisational priorities, regulatory compliance and patient safety objectives.

The role requires credible senior leadership, the ability to influence at pace, and a strong focus on governance, performance and continuous improvement. The post holder will act as a role model for the pharmacy workforce and ensure that the delivery of services are aligned withcorporate objectives and system-wide priorities.

Main duties of the job

  • The post holder will provide expert leadership, working across Pharmacy in 999 and 111 and will play a critical role in developing a pan-London Integrated Urgent Care strategy for medicines services, setting standards and guidelines for prescribing and medicines use practice, in keeping with the GPhC, MHRA, CQC and national policy documents and guidance.
  • Provision of clinical leadership and support to the wider organisation
  • Provision of expert input to clinical developments within the Trust.
  • Work closely with stakeholders implementing and delivering NHS111 and IUC
  • Foster an open and transparent culture where people are willing to report and learn from incidents and near misses
  • Support the Clinical Directorate and senior IUC Management Team in the strategic development of educational programmes.
  • Provision of expert clinical guidance in end-to-end reviews
  • Strengthen the pharmacist contribution to patients requiring IUC in all settings and exercising a high level of professional autonomy as benefits an expert practitioner in the field of integrated urgent care.
  • The post holder will be expected to work on-site and travel across the Trust and to external meetings when required.

About us

Our strategy 2023-2028 outlines how we plan to achieve this, and is centred upon three missions focused on:

  • Our care- delivering outstanding emergency and urgent care whenever and wherever needed.
  • Our organisation- being an increasingly inclusive, well-led and highly skilled organisation people are proud to work for.
  • Our London- using our unique pan-London position to contribute to improving the health of the capital.

To achieve these three missions we have set ourselves 50 commitments to deliver over the next five years. In developing these ambitious commitments, we have engaged extensively both inside our organisation, with our partners and with our patients, and we have analysed population trends and horizon scanned the future.

Details

Date posted

28 January 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£72,921 to £83,362 a year per annum pro rata inclu HCAS

Contract

Secondment

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

308-CORP-3178

Job locations

Waterloo, Hither Green - Lewisham, IUC sites, Trust-wide

London

SE1 8SD


Job description

Job responsibilities

Please review the attached job description and personal specification which provides the full list of roles and responsibilities.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please review the attached job description and personal specification which provides the full list of roles and responsibilities.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Master's degree in pharmacy or equivalent
  • Member of the General Pharmaceutical Council
  • Post graduate, masters level qualification in clinical pharmacy or equivalent
  • Independent prescriber
  • Leadership and/or management qualification / training / experience
  • Up-to-date portfolio including significant demonstrable relevant and recent CPD activity
  • Recognised project management qualification with evidence of application

Desirable

  • Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Experience

Essential

  • Extensive evidence of leadership and development in the pre hospital and/or hospital setting
  • Extensive recent demonstrable experience in the healthcare provider environment
  • Significant experience of working with NHS commissioners
  • Recent demonstrable experience working as an autonomous practitioner
  • Experience of writing highly complex reports often involving confidential and politically sensitive data
  • Experience of working collaboratively across a range of teams and organisations
  • Specialist knowledge and experience in formulary & medicines management across primary and secondary care
  • Experience of analysing and interpreting financial (ePACT) and prescribing data

Desirable

  • Experience of analysing and interpreting Adastra

Knowledge

Essential

  • Assess and examine patients presenting with both acute and chronic conditions
  • Be expert in recording and evaluating a medical, social and family history supported by extensive underpinning knowledge
  • Formulate a plausible differential diagnosis supported by extensive underpinning knowledge
  • Able to make judgements involving highly complex medicines facts or scenarios, which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options
  • Negotiate alternative treatment and/ or referral strategies, utilising a range of care pathways and treat and leave approaches based on sound assessment and decision-making skills
  • Demonstrate expert knowledge of pharmacology to inform practice
  • Demonstrable evidence of ability to provide remote and direct clinical assessment, advice and supervision
  • Evidence of ability to use software to support and document clinical advice and support decisions
  • Minimise clinical risk through reasoned and justifiable clinical decisions
  • Demonstrable evidence of the need to employ advanced diagnostic and treatment skills in the urgent and emergency care environments
  • Demonstrable evidence of ability to provide additional support and therapeutic intervention where required for patients with complex pharmaceutical needs
  • Demonstrates ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team both internally and externally to the organisation
  • Demonstrable leadership, initiation, development and participation in clinical audit and research
  • Education and training skills, including supporting and supervising multidisciplinary colleagues at post-graduate level and able to identify own learning and training needs
  • Ability to collect, analyse, evaluate and critically appraise highly complex clinical and operational data to improve service provision across the medicines interface
  • Ability to collect, analyse, evaluate and critically appraise highly complex clinical and operational data to improve service provision across the medicines interface
  • Able to interpret strategy to drive and develop local, regional and national policy and implement this through communication with relevant stakeholders.
Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Master's degree in pharmacy or equivalent
  • Member of the General Pharmaceutical Council
  • Post graduate, masters level qualification in clinical pharmacy or equivalent
  • Independent prescriber
  • Leadership and/or management qualification / training / experience
  • Up-to-date portfolio including significant demonstrable relevant and recent CPD activity
  • Recognised project management qualification with evidence of application

Desirable

  • Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Experience

Essential

  • Extensive evidence of leadership and development in the pre hospital and/or hospital setting
  • Extensive recent demonstrable experience in the healthcare provider environment
  • Significant experience of working with NHS commissioners
  • Recent demonstrable experience working as an autonomous practitioner
  • Experience of writing highly complex reports often involving confidential and politically sensitive data
  • Experience of working collaboratively across a range of teams and organisations
  • Specialist knowledge and experience in formulary & medicines management across primary and secondary care
  • Experience of analysing and interpreting financial (ePACT) and prescribing data

Desirable

  • Experience of analysing and interpreting Adastra

Knowledge

Essential

  • Assess and examine patients presenting with both acute and chronic conditions
  • Be expert in recording and evaluating a medical, social and family history supported by extensive underpinning knowledge
  • Formulate a plausible differential diagnosis supported by extensive underpinning knowledge
  • Able to make judgements involving highly complex medicines facts or scenarios, which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options
  • Negotiate alternative treatment and/ or referral strategies, utilising a range of care pathways and treat and leave approaches based on sound assessment and decision-making skills
  • Demonstrate expert knowledge of pharmacology to inform practice
  • Demonstrable evidence of ability to provide remote and direct clinical assessment, advice and supervision
  • Evidence of ability to use software to support and document clinical advice and support decisions
  • Minimise clinical risk through reasoned and justifiable clinical decisions
  • Demonstrable evidence of the need to employ advanced diagnostic and treatment skills in the urgent and emergency care environments
  • Demonstrable evidence of ability to provide additional support and therapeutic intervention where required for patients with complex pharmaceutical needs
  • Demonstrates ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team both internally and externally to the organisation
  • Demonstrable leadership, initiation, development and participation in clinical audit and research
  • Education and training skills, including supporting and supervising multidisciplinary colleagues at post-graduate level and able to identify own learning and training needs
  • Ability to collect, analyse, evaluate and critically appraise highly complex clinical and operational data to improve service provision across the medicines interface
  • Ability to collect, analyse, evaluate and critically appraise highly complex clinical and operational data to improve service provision across the medicines interface
  • Able to interpret strategy to drive and develop local, regional and national policy and implement this through communication with relevant stakeholders.

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).

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.

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

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Address

Waterloo, Hither Green - Lewisham, IUC sites, Trust-wide

London

SE1 8SD


Employer's website

https://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer details

Employer name

London Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Address

Waterloo, Hither Green - Lewisham, IUC sites, Trust-wide

London

SE1 8SD


Employer's website

https://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)


Employer contact details

For questions about the job, contact:

Chief Pharmacist

Sumithra Maheswaran

sumithra.maheswaran@nhs.net

Details

Date posted

28 January 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£72,921 to £83,362 a year per annum pro rata inclu HCAS

Contract

Secondment

Working pattern

Full-time

Reference number

308-CORP-3178

Job locations

Waterloo, Hither Green - Lewisham, IUC sites, Trust-wide

London

SE1 8SD


Supporting documents

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