Job overview

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust in Kings Lynn is excited to announce a fantastic opportunity within our pharmacy team. Are you an enthusiastic and motivated pharmacist with strong leadership and communication skills, a track record of change management and service improvement with excellent operational management skills. 

The Head of Clinical Pharmacy Services will provide clinical and strategic leadership for the clinical team, working to develop a culture which enables clinical colleagues to flourish and provide the highest standards of care for our patients.

You will be part of planning our new QEH, opening in 2030. We look forward to bringing this state-of-the-art health care facility to King’s Lynn and West Norfolk – which is nothing less than our patients, local communities and staff deserve.

Our friendly team appreciate the lifestyle in beautiful West Norfolk where you can enjoy the Norfolk coastline - officially designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, fantastic beaches or Pensthorpe Natural Park on your doorstep, not forgetting the amazing Norfolk skys. King’s Lynn has an impressive historic centre with 15th and 18th century architecture and charming cobbled streets. 

Main duties of the job

Lead and manage the pharmacy clinical team, providing leadership and support, clinical supervision, quality service delivery and delivery of performance standards.

Lead the clinical pharmacy service development at an operational & strategic level.

Strategically lead the pharmacy departments clinical audit programme and support team members to develop improvement and action plans to effect change.

Be part of the pharmacy senior leadership team and contribute to business development projects within the Trust including cost saving initiatives, liaising with the senior multidisciplinary teams within the Trust and external organisations.

Lead department and trust level quality Improvement programmes, such as Improvements to the discharge process to Improve patient experience and effectively manage resources.

Collaboratively represent pharmacy and be part of the team delivering strategic, large scale digital Improvement, leading the pharmacy deliverables

Oversee the Pharmacy’s Education and Training programme for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, trainee foundation pharmacists, pre-registration pharmacy technicians and all members of the pharmacy team.

Deputise for the Chief Pharmacist on clinical and staff management issues and act as the senior Pharmacy representative at relevant clinical meetings (internal & external).

Be accountable for the out of hours and on-call service and participate In the senior rota provision

Working for our organisation

There’s never been a more exciting time to join TeamQEH.  We’re working on a once in a generation opportunity to build a new state-of-the-art hospital to open in 2030 and we are also carrying out on one of the biggest pieces of digital transformation work we’ve ever undertaken.

Our new electronic patient record (EPR) will replace paper-based patient records from 2026 and will lead to better, safer, joined-up care at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and beyond.

At The QEH we provide a comprehensive range of specialist, acute, obstetrics and community-based services to around 331,000 people across west and north Norfolk, North Cambs and South Lincs.

We are an ambitious organisation that upholds our values of kindness, wellness and fairness. We strive for continuous quality improvement, recently demonstrated in our 2024 CQC maternity inspection rating our services as ‘Good’, and we are proud to be a place to learn and grow through recognised learning and apprenticeships.

We recognise and reward our 4,000 staff and volunteers, priding ourselves on a community atmosphere and positive team spirit.  We have approx. 530 beds across 33 wards and have newly built education and training facilities, a range of modern award-winning centres alongside a talented team of people ready to give you a warm welcome.  We love working here and think you will too.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please access the attached Candidate Pack which introduces #TeamQE, our Pharmacy Department and the advantages of living and working in Kings Lynn/West Norfolk.

See the attached Job Description  for further information about this role. The Job Description includes the Person Specification for use during shortlisting and interview. 

Person specification

Qualifications/training & professional development

Essential criteria

• Master’s (MPharm) Degree in Pharmacy or equivalent
• Postgraduate Diploma or MSc in Clinical Pharmacy or pharmacy practice or equivalentacy
• Postgraduate leadership MSc qualification (or equivalent) or portfolio eg CPhO leaders programme/Kings Fund/Leadership academy
• Registered member of the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Post graduate certificate (MSc level) in teaching or equivalent experience

Desirable criteria

• Active member of clinical /professional organisation/network involved in pharmacy practice.
• Qualification in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) or equivalent such as clinical research credential FFRPS

Experience

Essential criteria

• Extensive post-registration experience with substantial hospital experience at advanced or consultant level
• Clinical leadership experience in organisations, systems, longside the multidisciplinary teams at a senior level
• Able to demonstrate advanced specialist clinical pharmacy knowledge and expertise & Experience of delivering high quality clinical pharmacy service to a range of clinical specialities
• Experience of delivering high quality clinical pharmacy service to a range of clinical specialities
• Recent experience in providing clinical services to individual patients

Desirable criteria

• Experience in the safe and legal operation of clinical trials.
• Experience of working in a Medicines Information Service

Skills, abilities & knowledge

Essential criteria

• Advanced level of clinical knowledge and skills
• Ability to work strategically and communicate effectively with senior colleagues
• Advanced level of clinical reasoning and Judgment
• Ability to work strategically and communicate effectively with senior colleagues
• Ability to identify own training and development needs

Aptitude

Essential criteria

• Good team-working and leadership skills
• Able to plan future services in line with the pharmacy strategy
• Able to work under pressure and to cope with situations involving exposure to distressed staff, patients and / or relatives, terminally ill patients and / or acutely ill or traumatized patients
• IT literacy including word processing, email and the use of the internet to research evidence based medicine and to utilise medical databases
• Able to use pharmacy based computer systems

Applications are welcome from anyone who meets the criteria specified in the person specification regardless of age, gender, disability, race ,ethnicity, religion, belief, sexual orientation or other personal circumstances. Only those applicants who demonstrate in the application form how they meet the criteria in the person specification will be shortlisted for interview. We not only recruit employees based on their qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who possess and can demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our core values.