The role

• Interpret broad current and forthcoming clinical/professional policies, medicines legislation and NHS guidance to manage, develop and lead the vision for the Pharmacy and medicines management services within the context of the Group’s overall strategic direction.
• Lead the planning, development and delivery of a modern approach to pharmacy services ensuring any proposed changes, are in accordance with corporate and clinical governance requirements.
• Advise and discuss with senior clinical and operational management leads regarding planned service developments both for their areas of responsibility or those that may affect these areas.
• Ensuring these leads can incorporate and changes into their overall business plans. This will include a lead role in the introduction of new information systems that support improved medicines management in the Group.
• Work closely with, and negotiate with, senior and executive officers within and outside the Group (including consultant medical staff and Primary Care organisations) to realise opportunities and benefits to the health economy from joint working.
• As a professional lead contribute to the development and achievement of the Group’s strategic aims and priorities including adopting a proactive role in developing key performance indicators including quality improvement, and monitoring implementation.
• Advise the Chief Executive as required.
• Ensure that Group performance meets and exceeds national standards where specified.
• Work with the Council of Governors, members, patient groups and scrutiny committees as necessary to maintain and enhance positive relationships.
• Play an active part in the Group’s overall transformation and organisational development programmes.

You must be able to demonstrate the six NHS Leadership Competency Domains:

• Driving high-quality and sustainable outcomes
  The skills, knowledge and behaviours needed to deliver and bring about high quality and safe care and lasting change and improvement – from ensuring all staff are trained and well led, to fostering improvement and innovation which leads to better health and care outcomes.
• Setting strategy and delivering long-term transformation
  The skills that need to be employed in strategy development and planning, and ensuring a system wide view, along with using intelligence from quality, performance, finance and workforce measures to feed into strategy development.
• Promoting equality and inclusion, and reducing health and workforce inequalities
  The importance of continually reviewing plans and strategies to ensure their delivery leads to improved services and outcomes for all communities, narrows health and workforce inequalities, and promotes inclusion.
• Providing robust governance and assurance
  The system of leadership accountability and the behaviours, values and standards that underpin our work as leaders. This domain also covers the principles of evaluation, the significance of evidence and assurance in decision making and ensuring patient safety, and the vital importance of collaboration on the board to drive delivery and improvement.
• Creating a compassionate, just and positive culture
  The skills and behaviours needed to develop great team and organisation cultures. This includes ensuring all staff and service users are listened to and heard, being respectful and challenging inappropriate behaviours.
• Building a Grouped relationship with partners and communities
  The need to collaborate, consult and co-produce with colleagues in neighbouring teams, providers and systems, people using services, our communities, and our workforce. Strengthening relationships and developing collaborative behaviours are key to the integrated care environment.

• Manage, develop and implement service level agreements, policies and contracts that specifically relate to the pharmacy or medicines management services including those that impact across and/or beyond the organisation.
• Oversee the strategic planning and delivery of the commercial opportunities presented by Stockton Quality Control Laboratory
• Oversee the governance arrangements between the Group pharmacy subsidiary companies and the two organisations
• Manage/reconcile conflicting views and differences of professional opinion with respect to medicines usage where a range of options are considered.
• Formulate long term strategic plans relating to Group-wide medicines management services and policies.
• Develop an annual plan for pharmacy services in consultation with the Management Executive.
• Liaise with Commissioners to ensure that the Group pharmacy service is delivered in a standardised manner, as required by its users.

• To have a sound understanding of regulatory requirements for both CQC and NHSE and the implications of the standard operating framework and breach of a regulatory function.
• To work closely with all partners, Executive Directors, and Operational Teams to benchmark services and lead and monitor change to ensure services/directorates and corporate functions achieve the best performance
• To ensure there are robust systems in place allowing follow up action/learning from governance issues across the organisations, including trend analysis, identification of risks/improvements required.
• To influence services/directorates to ensure that services have a culture of continuous quality and service improvement is created and embedded and that teams are encouraged to use this and participate in the corporate approach to quality improvement in service development.
• To promote continuous improvement in all cycles and actively participate in disseminating QI methodology within the Group.

• Strengthen the governance culture and process improvement methods, fostering and developing a culture of continuous quality improvement and innovation to ensure highest standards of patient care.
• Ensure robust risk management arrangements are in place which effectively identify key risks and associated mitigation plans. Advise and act on matters of clinical risk and professional performance within and out with the Group accordingly.
• Act as Group lead and provide oversight of pharmacy to ensure delivery of optimal care, and implementation of relevant national strategy and objectives.

• To communicate with board members, executive team and the senior management team of the organisation about the Group wide priorities.
• To negotiate with the key stakeholders
• Communicating complex, highly sensitive and on occasion highly contentious and commercially sensitive information that leads to an agreement and implementation.
• To communicate with staff at all levels to motivate and advise on achieving high standards of integrated governance or regulatory standards.
• To regularly give presentations to large groups of staff to stretch the organisation and develop staff.
• To regularly give presentations or represent the organisation at internal/external events.

• To develop a culture within the function and across the Group based on Group values and the principles of compassionate and collective leadership.
• To develop a culture that thrives on continuous improvement and that works seamlessly across organisational boundaries.
• To ensure staff engagement strategies are developed and executed across the portfolio of services.
• To actively support People Plan including the EDI and staff health and well-being programmes across the Group.

• To ensure all health and safety and other statutory requirements for employees are met.
• Work with other corporate services to act in the best interests of employees, patients and service users and to ensure that all statutory and Group requirements (such as policies and procedures) are adhered to.
• To ensure that infection prevention and control is integral to service delivery within the function.
• To ensure that safe systems of work are used – to investigate accidents and incidents, to ensure appropriate and timely risk assessments and to ensure staff meet statutory and mandatory training compliance.

• To utilise resources effectively using evidence based best practice.
• To meet financial targets for income generation, income and expenditure budgets and cost improvement programmes.
• Act as budget holder for a designated budget and complete reports as requested.
• Ensure all budgets and financial decisions are managed within the Groups standing financial instructions.
• To have effective systems in place for ordering stock and non-stock items.
• To be accountable for organising staff training and development.
• To be accountable for pharmacy pay and non-pay budget to ensure they remain within current resources.
• Ensure the economical purchasing, appropriate storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals in accordance with good medicines management practice, Group SFIs and value for money.
• Monitor drug usage and expenditure and exert influence and control over the use of medicines to ensure clinical and cost-effectiveness.
• Pro-actively influence safe and effective drug therapy in conjunction with other clinical staff.
• Identify possible cost reduction initiatives in medicines usage and lead the pharmacy team in projects managing the necessary changes/audit of savings.
• Promote cost reduction initiatives within the service including the delivery of cost improvement targets without affecting the quality of the service provided.
• Identify to the Directorate Management Teams any cost pressures within their Directorate and advise on ways of dealing with such pressures.
• Ensure that the medicines procurement section and other care services are managed to ensure financial probity and appropriate cost control.

• Be accountable for the direct management of the two-site senior pharmacy management teams.
• Instigate, and be responsible for, performance management within the department.
• Continually review skill mix to be appropriate to service needs and professional standards in force at the time, reporting any deficits to the Group Chief Medical Officer with proposals for corrective action.
• Ensure that staff have adequate clinical supervision/mentorship and manage any poor performance actively with the Group’s policies and procedures framework.
• Ensure that staff are aware of legal requirements and the Code of Ethics of the General Pharmaceutical Council and monitor their compliance.
• Ensure that all Group policies and procedures are adhered to at all times.
• Recruit, develop and motivate staff in accordance with the knowledge and skills framework to ensure they can and do perform well in their job, contribute towards improvements to the pharmaceutical service and achievement of the pharmacy business plan/Group corporate objectives.
• Implement new ways of working in Pharmacy and ensure liaison with the
• Group’s Service Improvement Team.
• Develop and implement a Pharmacy recruitment and retention policy supported by the Human Resources Department.
• To ensure correct recruitment and selection processes are followed.
• To ensure systems are in place for attendance at Group-wide inductions, plus local induction and programmes of training and education are sufficient.
• To conduct and oversee the appraisal process for the team and the production of subsequent development plans.
• To carry out investigations in line with Disciplinary or Grievance policies and where appropriate take these to a conclusion
• To proactively monitor and manage staff absences for sickness, maternity leave or carer leave.
• To be responsible for the introduction of Group policies.
• To ensure effective staff engagement and support within the patient and staff experience function, developing staff to enable them to reach their potential.
• To ensure the department has agreed contingency and escalation procedures in place to ensure business continuity.
• To utilise resources to provide professional leadership (including delivering workforce planning) and deliver the cultural change necessary to implement person centred services, great staff experience and to promote partnership working.
• To ensure that all CQC standards relating to staff are achieved – including high quality appraisal and statutory and mandatory training for the Pharmacy teams.
• To ensure that the Group has the highest standards of people management and is known as an employer of choice.
• To ensure appropriate governance processes and policies are in place and adhered to.

• The post holder will have corporate responsibility for the provision of key information systems for the organisation for governance and regulatory purposes.
• To make sure that all necessary information is correctly recorded and submitted centrally for governance and regulatory purposes, including external and internal.
• To make sure that all necessary information is correctly produced in line with auditors’ requirements.
• The maintenance of training/appraisal/sickness records for staff within area of responsibility.
• Management of staff information using the Manager Self Service function within ESR.

• Be responsible for medicines management in the Group, including associated Healthcare Standards and clinical governance of pharmaceutical services and clinical risk, and advise the Group Board accordingly.
• Develop the pharmacy services to pro-actively influence safe and cost-effective drug therapy in conjunction with clinical staff.
• Actively involve the pharmacy Department in the delivery of Clinical Governance following the Group-wide strategy.
• Ensure practice is evidence based, shared, and, wherever possible, patient focussed.
• Ensure that user views are accounted for in the planning and implementation of service delivery.
• Implement and monitor national initiatives and directives.
• Ensure that the Group Medical Officer is made aware of any circumstances that would, or may, mitigate against safe standards of practice and advise on corrective action.
• Ensure errors, complaints and incidents are managed within the Group’s guidelines.
• Develop and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with higher education institutions, in particular, local Schools of pharmacy including Teesside, Sunderland and Newcastle.
• Work closely with the Tees Valley Research Alliance to ensure safe and effective utilisation of medicines in research, including compliance with clinical trials legislation
• Promote and co-ordinate research and development activity in medicines management.
• Develop audit processes within the department to ensure that all legal, professional and service requirements are met.
• Actively participate in Group wide Clinical Audit, clinical trials and research and development. Supporting and encouraging other pharmacy staff in this area and liaise with other specialties/departments as necessary.
• Establish an appropriate audit and feedback tool for evaluation and development of services in liaison with service users.
• Ensure that the R&D activities of the department are appropriately directed and establish an R&D portfolio for the service.

• Promote and support teaching, learning and personal development within the department.
• Foster a culture of lifelong learning, to include provision for post-registration education, continuing professional education/development and vocational training of staff within pharmacy.
• Liaise with the medical education departments in both organisations to ensure appropriate medicines management training for pre and post graduate medical and nursing staff.
• Liaise with nursing and allied health professionals leads to develop a Non-Medical Prescribing strategy and ensure appropriate governance is in place regarding this.

• The post holder will be expected to demonstrate compliance with GPhC’s CPD requirements and keep professionally updated at all times, including being actively aware of Group wide issues and trends.
• The post holder will have a personal professional development plan and identify training needs as required to the Chief Medical Officer.
• To have responsibility for ensuring a personal commitment to maintaining a high quality of service to patients by continual development or practice in the light of research evidence and by audit against clinically relevant standards.
• Individual staff have a major role in suggesting and implementing improvement to services and in exercising professional responsibility for both themselves and their peers within an open ‘no-blame’ culture.

• In conjunction with the organisations Senior Leadership Team and Board colleagues, actively contributes to ensuring that effective strategic leadership development, succession planning and talent management programmes are in place to develop the capacity and capability of the Group pharmacy teams.

• Works autonomously.
• To maintain one’s own high professional standards and discuss opportunities to develop practice with the line manager and senior management.
• Required to interpret overall health service policy and strategy, responsible for determining the goals and standards determined by NHS England for Foundation Groups.
• To work within defined Group Policies and Procedures
• To work within the Business Standards Code of Practice for Senior Managers.
• To use managerial and judgmental skills to analyse complex situations and formulate appropriate solutions.
• To be responsible for organising own workload and that of the team prioritising to meet the needs of the organisation.

• The post holder is required to participate in the Director on-call rota.
• To ensure adherence to the highest possible standards of honesty and integrity and professional behaviour at all times.
• To act as an ambassador for University Hospital Tees at all times.
• To personally update and ensure continuing professional development.
• To meet the requirements of the Fit and Proper Persons Test.
• To be able to fulfil the considerable travel requirements of the post.
• To act as a role model with regard to upholding the Group Values

• The Group is committed to the employment and career development of disabled people. To demonstrate our commitment, we use the Disability Symbol that is awarded by the Employment Service. As a symbol user, we guarantee an interview to anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.
• To be eligible for the Interview Guarantee Scheme you must have a disability or long term health condition that puts you at a significant disadvantage in either obtaining or keeping a job. The disability could be physical, sensory or mental and must have lasted, or be expected to last for at least twelve months. You do not have to be registered as a disabled person to apply under this scheme.
• As an Armed Forces Employment Recognition Scheme (ERS) awarded Group we are committed to guarantee an interview to those members of the Armed Forces Community who meet the essential criteria.