Principal Pharmacist for Learning & Development - Band 8B

Job overview

An exciting new role has arisen at North Bristol NHS Trust to lead on learning and development for the pharmacy workforce .

We are looking for a candidate with excellent organisational, educational and leadership skills, and the vision to further develop education and training activities for all pharmacy staff (registered and unregistered).

Main duties of the job

• Be responsible for the efficient delivery and further development of education and training activities of all staff (registered and unregistered) within pharmacy at the North Bristol NHS Trust.
• Be responsible for the maintenance and review all relevant legal and quality assurance requirements, clinical governance standards and professional legislation for staff training and development (registered and unregistered).
• Be responsible for the processes for staff induction, training and development activities and ensure these can be delivered in line with both Trust and departmental strategies.
• Oversee for the collection, analysis and reporting of performance data relating to induction, study leave, training activities and appraisals.
• Represent NBT pharmacy on any NBT, regional and national Education and Training forums supporting the development of education strategies.
• Contribute to the development of strategic plans for pharmacy workforce and medicines management.
• To lead the Pharmacy Learning & Development team and be responsible for the recruitment of staff to training posts.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Leadership

• Monitor national policy to identify local training implications, ensuring the department training matrix is maintained.
• Demonstrate expert knowledge in the principles and practice of training and development of pharmacy staff and provide training and development expertise to pharmacy strategies.
• Work with the senior teams on workforce planning to ensure the size and skill mix of the pharmacy service team is appropriate to the needs of the service, advising training needs and ensuring training support is available.
• Act as a role model for other pharmacy staff, motivating and inspiring others to achieve the aims of the service, and maintain a revalidation and advanced pharmacy practice portfolio.

Management, delivery, and professional responsibilities

• Identify the training places required for workforce planning, linking with Pharmacy Workforce Development South (PWDS).
• Responsible for managing risk by ensuring training programmes comply with professional standards and requirements of awarding bodies, medicines legislation, risk management and health and safety policies and procedures.
• Responsible for the delivery of training for University of Bath undergraduate pharmacy placements.
• Ensure that educational supervisors/practice supervisors are accredited and competent to effectively deliver the required training, so they develop skills and confidence in their area of work and contribute to the learning culture.
• To line manager and perform appraisals for the members of the training team.
• Take prompt and constructive action to manage any performance issues with any member of the immediate training team or trainees.
• Manage, maintain, and develop systems for the retrieval and storage of information related to staff development.
• Delegate authority appropriately to make the best of skill mix within the team.
• Link with education leads in other trusts in NHSE Workforce, training and education South West to ensure consistency in training being offered.
• Responsible for the development and implementation of policies and procedures relating to study leave and training provision.
• Develop and implement an education, development and career path strategy for the pharmacy department meet the requirements of the overall department strategy and align with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) four pillars of practice.
• Oversee the production of a complex rotational annual programme for trainee pharmacists and ensure this provides all appropriate learning opportunities to satisfy the GPhC learning outcomes.
• Re-accredit the NBT pharmacy with the GPhC as a training site when required.
• Oversee the practitioner development technicians in the production of a two-year work-based learning programme for pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians.
• Lead on promoting pharmacy careers at appropriate events, linking in with national and regional strategies.

Financial Management

• Responsible for co-ordinating a training needs analysis for staff in the pharmacy department and prepared bids for funding for corporate Education and Training team.
• Responsible for preparation of bids to commissioning bodies e.g., NHSE Workforce, training and education for non-medical prescribers, advanced practice, and feeding back to individuals re: bids.
• Responsible for overseeing pharmacy apprenticeship policy, including ensuring appropriate funding from apprenticeship levy received.
• Ensure income is received for training activities provided e.g., undergraduate placements.
• Lead on the identification of changes in training and development costs and report to pharmacy leadership team.
• Responsible for management of pharmacy training budgets at NBT.

Evaluation of staff training and development

• Regularly review criteria to validate and monitor quality of pharmacy training.
• Evaluate the impact of training and development provision on meeting service needs and supporting service developments within allocated resources.
• Lead on monitoring workload changes and demands with the pharmacy Learning and Development team, and identify the impact and resources required to deliver these changes e.g., with production of a business case or a service level agreement.
• Obtain continuous feedback about the quality of training provided for commissioned training places and use this to continually improve the training that is provided.