Pharmacist / Pharmacy Technician

Job summary

In the Department of Health and Social Care, we are proud of our purpose – to enable everyone to live more independent, healthier lives for longer. To achieve this, and create a great place to work, we have four values: we are inclusive, we constantly improve, we challenge, and we are agile. If this sounds like an environment you would like to work in, we would love to hear from you.

Medicines are a key medical intervention and the second largest element of NHS expenditure. The department’s Medicines Supply Team (MST) is responsible for overseeing the NHS pharmaceutical supply chain, ensuring that patients get the medicines they need. This work is focused on the management of medicines shortages and discontinuations.

Medicine supply is global, with the UK hugely dependent on medicines from the EU and from further afield. There are multiple threats to the continuity of supply of medicines to the UK, including (often unknown) disruptions to global manufacturing and/or transportation/supply chains, including disruptions in countries on which the UK supply chain is highly dependent, such as China and India.

There will always be a number of medicines shortage that need to be managed at any given time, but the government has a responsibility to take up-stream preventative action to help minimise the number and impact of those shortages.

For more critical shortages, the team escalate and discuss the issue with the Medicine Shortage Response Group, working with national clinical experts across the UK to develop management plans that can be adopted locally so that patients can be managed appropriately.

The Medicine Supply Team also provides professional pharmacy and operational input to other wider policy areas within the Medicines Directorate, including pricing policy, and sit on the pricing committee which is responsible for assessing and agreeing the price of all new branded medicines before they can be launched in England.

There is considerable stakeholder engagement in this role, including senior pharmacists within NHS England and the devolved administrations, regulatory bodies including the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), global counterparts and senior DHSC officials and ministers. The postholder will also develop excellent relationships with individual pharmaceutical companies.

Job description

The successful candidate will demonstrate outstanding problem-solving skills, and effective partnership working with a range of internal and external stakeholders. They will also need the ability to grasp complex matters quickly and be able to translate this into clear advice. They will ideally also have digital experience to support the upkeep of the teams’ supply issues reporting portal and other potential platforms as they are launched.

The successful applicant would be joining a very flexible team that regularly needs to change focus and re-prioritise within the context of shifting threats to continuity of supply of medicines. The post-holder will need to be very adaptable and exhibit a capability to move to work on other aspects of medicines supply at short notice, whilst being supported in their professional development and working closely with pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across the team.

Please note if applying for the role on a part time basis, the successful candidate will be required to work a minimum of 0.9 full-time equivalent (FTE).

Person specification

Role responsibilities

• Support the operational management of medicines supply issues, including gathering information, assessing potential impact, identifying management options and helping to ensure issues are progressed in line with agreed processes.

• Provide professional pharmacy input to the assessment of shortages and discontinuations, helping to identify risks, mitigations and practical actions to reduce impact on patients and the NHS.

• Work with colleagues in DHSC, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the UK Health Security Agency, suppliers, professional networks and other partners to support coordinated responses to supply disruption.

• Contribute to clear and timely advice for senior colleagues and wider departmental teams, including supporting briefings, correspondence, Parliamentary business and responses to Parliamentary questions.
• Support the development and use of tools, processes and operating procedures that underpin supply issue management, including risk assessment, contingency planning, communications, performance insight and continuous improvement.

• Provide day-to-day support to colleagues, share professional knowledge and help coordinate defined tasks across the team where appropriate.

Key skills and experience required for the role

Essential:

• Operational delivery: ability to support a varied caseload of medicines supply issues, progress actions, follow agreed processes and deliver accurate work under pressure.
• Professional judgement: ability to use pharmacy knowledge and available evidence to assess risks, identify practical options and support proportionate recommendations for review or escalation.
• Understanding of impact: ability to understand medicines supply issues and consider their operational, clinical and patient impact in order to support clear advice and appropriate prioritisation.
• Stakeholder working: ability to build effective working relationships with colleagues and partners across DHSC, NHS England, regulators, suppliers and professional networks.
• Communication: ability to communicate complex information clearly and professionally to a range of audiences, including drafting concise advice, briefings and correspondence.
• Team contribution: ability to support colleagues, share knowledge, coordinate defined tasks and contribute positively to team delivery without holding overall strategic responsibility for the team.
• Current registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Desirable:

• Experience of supporting the management of medicines supply issues is desirable, including working with partners, contributing to risk assessment and communications, and helping deliver practical actions in a busy operational environment.

Memberships

Current registration with the General Pharmaceutical Council

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,054, Department of Health and Social Care contributes £12,762 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accur