Job Introduction
Make a real impact on medicines safety and optimisation.
We are seeking a Deputy Lead Pharmacist to work in close partnership with the Lead Pharmacist, helping to deliver high‑quality specialist pharmacy advice and drive effective medicines optimisation across the Business Unit. This is a key leadership role focused on improving patient outcomes, supporting innovation, and ensuring medicines are used safely, effectively, and in line with best practice.
Working under the guidance of the Lead Pharmacist, you will support compliance with all legal and regulatory frameworks, including the Human Medicines Regulations, Controlled Drugs legislation, CQC requirements, NICE guidance, Patient Safety Alerts, and MHRA communications. You will play an active role in service improvement, medicines governance, and day‑to‑day operational oversight, contributing to contract management, SLAs, and providing expert prescribing and therapeutics advice.
A core element of the role is supporting medicines optimisation within the Learning Disability and Autism (LD&A) service across BSW. You will act as a trusted advisor on medicines‑related queries, provide professional supervision to LD&A and Non‑Doctor Non‑Medical Prescribers (ND NMPs), and help strengthen safe, person‑centred prescribing practices across the service.
Key Responsibilities
The Deputy Lead Pharmacist will work under the guidance of the Lead Pharmacist to support delivery of the responsibilities outlined below across the Business Unit. This summary highlights the key aspects of the role and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties that may be required.
- Provide expert medicines management and optimisation advice across inpatient and community services, including complex clinical scenarios.
- Promote safe, effective, and evidence‑based prescribing and good professional practice across the Business Unit.
- Support medicines governance, ensuring compliance with CQC, Home Office, and other regulatory requirements.
- Contribute to audits, incident reviews, risk assessments, and continuous quality improvement initiatives.
- Assist in the development, review, and implementation of medicines policies, SOPs, PGDs, and the Medicines Optimisation Strategy.
- Analyse medicines‑related data and contribute to reports and papers for governance and assurance purposes.
- Participate in and support Clinical Governance and Medicines Optimisation meetings.
- Work collaboratively with pharmacy, clinical, and Non‑Medical Prescribing (NMP) teams, providing guidance, supervision, and education.
- Support prescribing audits, including controlled drugs, and escalate medicines safety concerns appropriately.
- Promote antimicrobial stewardship in collaboration with Infection Prevention and Control leads.
- Maintain up‑to‑date professional knowledge, meet GPhC standards, and undertake ongoing CPD and personal development.
Please see job description attached for full details of the role.
Package Description
As a Deputy Lead Pharmacist you will be part of our valued team at HCRG Care Group, receiving access to exclusive rewards and benefits including:
- £57,528 - £64,750 FTE (Band 8a AfC Salary) with NHS Pension and full Agenda for Change terms and conditions
- Membership of My Reward Hub, giving you access to discounts on every day purchases like grocery shopping as well as cashback and voucher offers for treats for you and those special to you
- Access to your wages as you earn them to help cover life’s emergencies and avoid overdraft fees or high interest rates
- Online and face to face help with your mental and physical wellbeing – from healthy recipes and activity challenges through to post trauma support, legal, debt and life management help, as well career coaching and counselling
- Access to eLearning, bespoke career pathways and opportunities for continuing professional development through our ‘Outstanding’ learning and development team, The Learning Enterprise
- An open, just culture where you’re encouraged to have and implement ideas which can help us deliver our purpose: changing lives through transforming health and care – backed up by at least £100,000 of ringfenced innovation funding each year
- The pride of working for an organisation committed to the highest clinical and quality standards: with the majority of our rated services holding “good” or “outstanding” ratings from the Care Quality Commission
Essential
- Registered Pharmacist with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), with evidence of ongoing CPD
- Experience working in community hospitals and/or community health services
- Experience of chairing meetings and supporting Non‑Medical Prescribers
- Strong IT skills with excellent organisational, time‑management, and workload prioritisation abilities
- Experience undertaking, interpreting, and reviewing clinical audit
- Proven ability to produce high‑level reports and present at senior or governance committees
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and influencing skills
- Good understanding of national policy relating to community health services and commissioning organisations
- Knowledge of ePACT data and evidence‑based medicine principles, including prioritisation and appropriateness
- Understanding of Clinical Governance and relevant regulatory and policy frameworks
- Ability to work flexibly, independently, and on own initiative
- Full UK driving licence and access to a vehicle for work‑related travel
Desirable
- Knowledge of integrated health and care systems and commissioning processes
- Experience of inter‑agency working (e.g. Local Authorities, CQC, Home Office)
- Experience working within nurse‑led inpatient units
About the Company
We change lives by transforming health and care.
Established in 2006, we are one of the UK's leading independent providers of community health and care services, working with health and care commissioners and communities to transform services with a focus on experience, efficiency, and improved outcomes. We deliver and transform adult and children community health services, primary care services including urgent care, sexual health, dermatology and MSK services as well as adult social care and wellbeing services. Across England, we support communities of many millions and directly help more than half a million people each year - guided by our simple values: we care, we think, we do.
We're committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from a broad, diverse range of people who want to join our team. We’re a Disability Confident Committed company, so we work to provide facilities, work environment adjustments and technical solutions to be as inclusive of everyone.
While it doesn’t happen often, sometimes a role is very popular, and we’ll need to close it earlier than the date we’ve shown here. If you’re keen to join our team, we’d love to hear from you so please apply as soon as you can.
As you’d expect, safeguarding and protecting the children, young people and vulnerable adults that we work with is of the utmost importance so we have policies and procedures in place to promote safeguarding and safer working practices and everyone who joins the team is subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks.
Finally, we need to let you know that the company you’ll work for is part of HCRG Care Group Holdings Limited and by applying for this job we’ll need to process and hold information about you. If you would like to know a little more about how we use your information, please see our website's privacy policy.
