Lead Pharmacist - Cancer Services (Clinical Trials) - F/T 12 Months

apartmentRoyal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust placeReading calendar_month 

At the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust we put our patients at the heart of every element of health and care that we provide. The Trust works together as a community to deliver its vision which is “Working together to provide outstanding care for our community.”

Royal Berkshire Hospital are pleased to announce that following our CQC inspection we have been rated ‘Good’ with inspectors reporting that we have made significant improvements. The Trust’s overall rating has also improved to ‘good’.

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We are Aspirational and have a true desire to be dynamic and to innovate

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We are Excellent in our development, fairness and sharing best practice

At the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, we value candidates who bring their unique personalities, skills, and experiences to the Trust. When completing your application, we encourage you to highlight your individual achievements and strengths, showing us how they align with the requirements outlined in the job description and person specification.

While we recognise that some applicants may use AI tools during the process, please be mindful that AI-generated responses can often lack the personal detail and relevance needed to demonstrate your suitability for the role. AI generated content is discouraged by the Trust and may diminish the candidates chances of success.

Amazing things happen at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust; delivered by amazing people so why don’t you come and join us. We offer a range of learning and development for all employees may you be clinical or non-clinical.

Please note: all vacancies automatically close when 50 applications have been received.

Job overview

Band 8A Lead Pharmacist - Cancer Services (Clinical Trials) - Fixed Term 12 Months.

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our Clinical Cancer Pharmacy Team supporting clinical trials in oncology and haematology.

This role is ideal for an enthusiastic and experienced pharmacist who is keen to contribute to the delivery of high quality cancer research and help improve access to new and innovative treatments for patients.

The post holder will play a key role in the pharmacy set-up and delivery of clinical trials, working closely with pharmacy, research, and clinical teams to support safe, efficient, and timely trial activity.

This is an excellent opportunity to develop specialist expertise while contributing to a growing area of service development within cancer pharmacy.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will provide specialist pharmacy leadership for oncology and haematology clinical trials, supporting the safe and timely set-up, activation, and delivery of cancer studies. They will undertake protocol review, feasibility assessment, pharmacy risk assessment, and development of study-specific pharmacy processes.

The postholder will also provide senior clinical input into the screening and validation of clinical trial prescriptions, systemic anticancer therapy, and associated supportive medicines.

The role will support safe prescribing, dispensing, preparation, and supply of investigational and cancer medicines, including trials involving aseptic preparation and complex treatment pathways. The postholder will lead on Good Clinical Practice within cancer pharmacy, including staff training, competency development, SOP review, governance support, and inspection readiness.

In addition, the postholder will contribute to the wider clinical cancer pharmacy service through SACT validation, medicines advice, multidisciplinary working, service development, audit, and quality improvement. They will act as a senior professional resource for cancer services, helping strengthen research delivery while also supporting safe, effective, and well-led cancer pharmacy practice.

Working for our organisation

Reading sits on the river Thames and is served by great road and rail links to London, Oxford and Southampton. With excellent leisure and shopping facilities, and a thriving cultural scene, Reading is a wonderful place to live, work and play and provides excellent facilities for families, including some of the best state and private schools in the UK.

The CQC rated the care provided by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust as Good.

Our "CARE" values: Compassionate, Aspirational, Resourceful, Excellent, reflect the type of Trust we aspire to be and you can join our dedicated and talented staff to make this happen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please refer to the attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details of the job role - please note the essential and desirable criteria for this role.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • GPhC registration
  • Clinical Diploma or Equivalent
  • Independent Prescriber
Desirable criteria
  • Advanced Clinical Practitioner
  • Accredited Diploma Tutor
  • Formal Management qualification

Experience and Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Substantial Hospital experience
  • Experience in working in multidisciplinary team
  • Experience supporting service development, clinical governance or quality improvement
  • Experience in managing staff
  • Experience in supporting trainees
  • Previous Cancer Experience including validation of SACT
  • Previous clinical trials experience
  • Experience delivering against set targets and KPIs
Desirable criteria
  • Experience and evidence of service development
  • Experience in research
  • Experience in management of safety incidents
  • GCP training
  • Previous role in clinics

We are an approved sponsoring organisation. Applications will be considered from applicants requiring sponsorship alongside all other applications. Please be aware, not all roles are eligible for sponsorship. You can review the list of eligible role and requirements on the government website.

Staff Benefits
  • Flexible working opportunities and a strong emphasis on your work, life balance
  • Annual leave – 27 days for new starters, plus bank holidays. Increasing to 29 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years NHS service. Pro rata for part time staff
  • NHS pension scheme
  • Employee Assistance Programme
  • Money Advice Service
  • Generous maternity, paternity and adoption leave for eligible staff
  • On-site nursery (based at RBH)
  • Full educational library services
  • Cycle to work scheme, lockable storage for cycles
  • Bus to work scheme
  • Excellent rail and bus links
  • A huge range of Health Service Discounts at hundreds of big brands from holidays to gadgets and restaurants to retail.

After applying via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred Third party recruitment system (TRAC). All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through the NHS Jobs website, and furthermore, that as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any e-mails sent to us via the NHS Jobs website.

By applying for this post you are agreeing to Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust transferring the information contained in this application to its preferred applicant management system. If you are appointed to a post information will also be transferred into the national NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

Appointment to any position is conditional on the satisfactory completion of the core NHS Employment Checks Standards. Information disclosed in your application will be checked and any offer of appointment may be withdrawn if you knowingly withhold information or provide false or misleading information.

All new appointments to the Trust, with the exception of executive positions, are subject to a 6 month probationary period.

The Trust may close any vacancy prior to the advertised closing date due to the high level of responses we receive for some of our vacancies.

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is committed to improving the health of its staff, patients and the wider community by providing a smoke free environment. A smoke free policy is in operation and smoking is not permitted on any of the Trust’s sites.

The Trust is also committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We follow safe recruitment practices to protect children, young people and vulnerable adults.

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