Chief Pharmacist and Clinical Director | Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust

An exceptional opportunity to lead pharmacy and medicines optimisation at Guy’s and St Thomas’ - this role has people, patients and partnerships at its heart.

We are looking for an exceptional pharmacy leader to join Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust as our Chief Pharmacist and Clinical Director for Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation. This is a role of considerable scale and influence, but just as importantly it is a role centred on people—building trust, creating connection and enabling colleagues to do their very best work for patients.

This is a significant senior appointment, providing professional leadership for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and the wider pharmacy workforce, alongside clinical and strategic leadership of one of the largest and most complex pharmacy directorates in the NHS. The successful candidate will set and uphold professional standards, support safe and effective practice, champion education and career development and lead the continued development of safe, effective, efficient and patient-centred pharmacy and medicines optimisation services across the Trust. Working with colleagues and partners, they will also shape professional and service priorities across South East London and the wider health and care system.

Lead the strategic development of Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Services within the Trust, ensuring services provided are progressive, responsive to internal and external demand, are patient focused, safe, efficient, effective and well-led.

Hold ultimate professional and corporate accountability for the quality, safety, performance and sustainability of Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation services across all Clinical Groups and cross-cutting portfolios, including clinical pharmacy, medicines supply, children’s services, aseptic preparation, pharmaceutical manufacturing, clinical trials, private practice and hosted specialist services.

Have management accountability for the delivery of pharmacy services in accordance with a 1-3 year business plan that links to the 5 year Trust strategic plan.

Have accountability for implementing and monitoring the effectiveness of the Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Integrated Governance and Assurance Framework, including strategic risk, regulatory, performance, financial and workforce assurance.

Provide specialist expertise and, delegated from the Chief Executive and reporting through the Medical Director, have corporate responsibility across the Trust for all aspects of medicines optimisation, including associated standards required by regulators, commissioners, and other authoritative bodies such as NICE, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm).

GSTT is one of the UK’s leading and most complex healthcare organisations, bringing together Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital and Harefield Hospital, alongside a broad range of community services. We are proud of our reputation for clinical excellence, high-quality care, research, innovation and of the contribution our people make to the patients and communities we serve.

Our Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation Directorate is highly regarded, comprising more than 700 staff and providing a comprehensive portfolio of services. These include clinical pharmacy, medicines supply, aseptic services, pharmaceutical manufacturing, governance and safety, medicines information, research, clinical innovation, quality improvement, education and workforce development. The directorate plays a central role in supporting safe, effective and sustainable care across our hospitals, community services and wider system partnerships.

Our services span five acute hospital sites across the populations we serve in South East London - Guy’s, St Thomas’, Evelina and North West London, Royal Brompton and Harefield and community services across South East London. Our reach extends further through renal pharmacy support for team provide care to dialysis clinics as far as Guernsey and our Clinical Homecare service support patients nationwide. Our pharmacy staff also advise patients, healthcare professionals and policymakers across England.

KEY PRIORITIES

Clinical and strategic leadership in transforming the way the Trust deals with medicines to optimise their use. The expectation is engagement at the highest levels strategically (both within the Trust and local healthcare system), as well as operationally.

Clinical leadership for all aspects of medicines optimisation including digital innovations, data and automation relating to medicines within in the Trust and beyond to the local health community. This encompasses the need for any change management required to maximise the potential of these capabilities.

Clinical leadership for medicines prescribing and administration within the Epic EHR, working collaboratively with KCH and LGT Chief Pharmacists and teams to optimise ensure alignment of medicines across the shared instance.

Enabling excellent partnerships with NHS commissioners, in particular the London regional teams, and Southeast London Integrated Care System, while also building relationships with primary care providers such as GPs and Community Pharmacists to support development of the new neighbourhood models of care..

Provide strategic pharmacy leadership across organisational boundaries, including neighbourhood health, population health management, transfer of care, integrated medicines pathways, reduction of health inequalities and services hosted or delivered by the Trust on behalf of the system.

Working with commissioners to deliver commissioning requirements, managed entry and value from high-cost medicines, and national and local medicines optimisation priorities.

Oversee the development and delivery of safe, efficient and cost-effective aseptic pharmacy facilities through the Trust-wide Aseptic Transformation Programme, and lead the development of an Aseptic Hub facility for South East London as part of the London Region Aseptic Transformation Programme.

Ensure pharmacy oversight and assurance for Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), including marketed, investigational and unlicensed ATMPs, so that local governance, institutional readiness, prescribing, procurement, receipt, storage, preparation, release, traceability, transport, administration support and clinical trial arrangements are compliant with applicable UK legislation, MHRA requirements, Good Manufacturing Practice, Good Clinical Practice, Summary of Product Characteristics requirements and nationally recognised ATMP pharmacy guidance.

Evaluating partnerships to grow research and innovation potential, through King’s Health Partners and the local AHSN (Health Innovation Network South London). In addition, work with commercial partners to deliver operational efficiencies. Leading and implementing the consequent transformational change.

Address professional career frameworks as these are developed by national workforce, training and education teams and relevant professional bodies such as RPS and APTUK. This to include supporting those defined within the system as ‘trainees’ as well as the development of individuals post-registration. Encourage and promote the development of Bands 2-4 and the uptake of apprenticeships. Develop the non-registrant workforce at all appropriate levels to secure the appropriate diverse future workforce which is representative of the communities served by the Trust as an Anchor Institution.

This advert closes on Friday 18 Sep 2026