Specialist Oncology Pharmacist

Job description

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

Barts Health supports the Pregnancy Loss Pledge and commits to supporting their staff through the distress of miscarriage.

We are dedicated to being an outstanding place to work and will work with you to get the best experience. We know flexible working is not a one size fits all and will mean something different to everyone. We are inclusive, so if you are interested in flexible working, please speak to the recruiting manager.

Job overview

Barts Health has an opportunity for a dynamic individual within their state of the art oncology pharmacy department. This post offers an individual the opportunity to develop their clinical skills in the area of Oncology and contribute to the highly motivated and innovative cancer pharmacy clinical team.

This job presents an exciting opportunity for you to further develop your expertise in all aspects of oncology. You will gain clinical and technical experience from working within our well-established team of oncology pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

The position is based at St Bartholomew's Hospital but you will also visit other sites within Barts Health. You will clinically screen all chemotherapy prescriptions, both IV and Oral, for Medical and Haemato-oncology patients including Stem Cell Transplant, provide clinical pharmacy services at ward level and in clinics, complete assigned project and audit work including guideline preparation, new drug submissions, financial reporting and staff training to develop your skills and knowledge.

Main duties of the job

The main focus of the role is on the following outcomes:
• To provide a comprehensive clinical pharmacy service, working closely with the pharmacy oncology team, the multidisciplinary ward team and the dispensary team
• To support the Cancer Leads in promoting high quality, cost effective prescribing for patients at Barts Health. This may include:
• Participation in ward rounds and discharge planning
• Medication history taking, drug therapy audit and drug use review
• Assisting the department implement and audit adherence to the National Strategy and NICE guidelines
• Drawing up prescribing guidelines for department use and inclusion in the Trust formulary
• Drawing up shared care guidelines for selected medicines and evaluations of new drugs to support requests for use.
• Supporting the Directorate in managing their drug budget
• Optimising medication usage for Cancer patients

As a member of the Pharmacist Band 7 team, the post holder will:
• Assist the Highly Specialist Oncology Pharmacist in promoting high quality, cost-effective and safe prescribing in the Cancer Directorate and to assist in the development of clinical pharmacy services.
• Provide clinical pharmacy services to Medical and Haemato-oncology, Haematology and Endocrine wards.
• Provide clinical pharmacy support

Working for our organisation

Barts Health is one of the largest NHS trusts in the country, and one of Britain's leading healthcare providers.

The Barts Health group of NHS hospitals is entering an exciting new era on our improvement journey to becoming an outstanding organisation with a world-class clinical reputation. Having lifted ourselves out of special measures, we now have the impetus and breathing space to chart a fresh course in which we are continually striving to improve all our services for patients.

Our vision is to be a high-performing group of NHS hospitals, renowned for excellence and innovation, and providing safe and compassionate care to our patients in east London and beyond. That means being a provider of excellent patient safety, known for delivering consistently high standards of harm-free care and always caring for patients in the right place at the right time. It also means being an outstanding place to work, in which our WeCare values and behaviours are visible to all and guide us in how we work together.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role, and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience, and knowledge required. For both documents, please view the attachment/s below.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• MPharm or equivalent
• Registered as a pharmacist with the GPhC
• Specialist postgraduate certificate in pharmacy practice or equivalent knowledge and experience
• Independent prescribing qualification or willingness to work towards

Desirable criteria

• Specialist postgraduate Diploma in Pharmacy Practice or equivalent knowledge and experience

Experience

Essential criteria

• Proven experience of good performance in previous posts
• Previous experience of working within oncology providing a pharmacy service to oncology wards
• Experience in supervising and organising staff and work
• Evidence of basic teaching and tutoring in a hospital setting through training others e.g. preregistration / foundation training pharmacists and pharmacy technicians

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience of working within aseptics - Radiopharmacy, chemotherapy, TPN, CIVAS or manufacturing

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Basic pharmaceutical care needs of oncology patients
• Awareness of current legislation and regulations, including COSHH and Health & Safety at Work Act
• An awareness of current national standards, guidelines and service delivery issues relevant to oncology patients
• Demonstrated knowledge of the principles and practices of aseptics/ parenterals e.g. formulation, stability, administration, legal issues
• Understanding of stock control systems
• Knowledge of safe and secure handling of medicines requirements
• Understanding of the importance of adherence to SOPs and legislation
• Demonstrates a good understanding of patient safety initiatives

Desirable criteria

• Clinical /Technical knowledge of: o Oncology o Aseptic Dispensing for NHS patients o Parenteral Therapy
• Up to date, practical knowledge of all aspects of GMP and QA

Skills

Essential criteria

• Able to complete documentation accurately with attention to detail
• Able to accurately follow written procedures under pressure
• Demonstrates ability to perform accurate complex calculations and numeracy skills
• Ability to plan, prioritise and organise self
• Able to work unsupervised and under pressure
• IT literate; able to use Microsoft office with intermediate IT skills including, accurate data entry and use of specialist computer programmes
• Demonstrates effective customer service skills
• Good team worker
• Evidence of good ward practice
• Able to communicate complex information effectively using clear and spoken English (Verbal and written)
• Able to communicate effectively

Visa Sponsorship Information

This role is subject to UK immigration requirements. Where sponsorship is required, applicants must meet the eligibility criteria for a Skilled Worker visa in accordance with current UK Visas and Immigration rules, including any salary, qualification, and role-specific requirements applicable at the time of appointment. Candidates who require sponsorship will only be considered where the post is eligible and where all sponsorship criteria can be met. Evidence of the right to work in the UK will be required before appointment. Please note that for roles employed under Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions, the High-Cost Area Supplement (HCAS) is not included when calculating the basic salary for the purposes of sponsorship.

We strive to live by our WeCare values and are committed to promoting inclusion, where every staff member has a sense of belonging. We value our differences and fully advocate, cultivate and support an inclusive working environment where staff treat one another with dignity and respect. We aim to create an equitable working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential.

As an Equal Opportunities Employer we actively support applications from individuals' who apply under the Guaranteed Interview Scheme and will process your application as appropriate.

We reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once a sufficient number of applications has been received and we regret that we are unable to provide notification if your application is unsuccessful.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Barts Health NHS Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are offered a job, information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Barts Health is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and to child protection. The Trust aims to ensure as far as is possible that anyone, paid or unpaid, who seeks to work in our organisation and who gains access to children, is safe to do so. As such, you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Check as part of the recruitment process if appointed to a post with direct access to children or vulnerable adults.

Barts Health promotes active travel as part of its goal to reach Net Zero. Each site is accessible by public transport and the Trust has a cycle to work scheme and some sites have Brompton Hire Pods.

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