A career in pharmacy

 The UHS pharmacy department is made up of about 300 staff. Together they are responsible for ensuring the safe, efficient and cost-effective use of £60 million of medicines a year to meet our patients’ needs.

The pharmacy department at UHS supports clinical trials and oversees the Trust’s electronic prescribing systems. The team has a reputation for progressive pharmaceutical thinking, leading expertise and the early adoption of new technologies.

The large size of the pharmacy service allows us to provides career opportunities at every level, from school leaver to consultant pharmacist. We have a dedicated education lead and an established education forum, and offer support for trainees and trainers.

So if you’d like to develop your career in pharmacy, we can offer you a supportive and structured environment in which to do so.

Find out more about our pharmacy department's values and goals for the future in the pharmacy vision.

Our pharmacy teams

Patient pharmacy services
Our patient pharmacy services deliver an accurate, efficient, high quality dispensary service and ensure that all patients receive their medicines in a timely and safe manner. Technician managers run each dispensary and we have a large number of accredited checking technicians (ACTs). 

Pharmacy clinical trials
Clinical trials advancing care are at the heart of our service and the pharmacy department is an integral part of the research process. The pharmacy clinical trials team consists of dedicated trained staff with clinical trial experience and Good Clinical Practice training, and supports around 250 active studies at any one time.

Technical pharmacy services
With a large and talented team of technical staff, our service is split between two sites: the main pharmacy department and the cancer pharmacy, which is a state-of-the-art purpose-built pharmacy within the main hospital but allied to the cancer unit. The technical pharmacy services team is responsible for all the medicines compounding and preparation services in pharmacy.   

Pharmacy logistics
The logistics team consists of pharmacy technicians, pharmacy support workers and admin and clerical support. The team is responsible for purchasing, receipts and stock management, invoicing and distribution.

Regional medicines information
The Wessex Drug and Medicines Information Centre is a team of 15 pharmacists based in the Regional Medicines Information Centre at Southampton General Hospital. We train many NHS staff members, both in the Trust and in the Wessex area, and produce national training resources that are used by all hospital pharmacists in the UK.

We're also the lead for research within the UKMI network. We support major medicines management initiatives within our host Trust as well as the wider NHS through the evaluation of medicines and the production of e-learning packages.

Clinical pharmacy
Clinical pharmacy is a large department supporting a number of specialist areas made up of pharmacists, consultants, a medication safety nurse and technicians. Pharmacists visit almost every ward in the hospital, attend ward rounds and lead a specialist e-referral system to microbiology for patients they feel need review.

Many of our pharmacists are independent prescribers and we are supporting our staff to develop this qualification because we feel it will be integral to the future success of our service. 

 

If you’re interested in finding out more about joining our team, take a look at our current vacancies or get in contact with us at recruitment@uhs.nhs.uk if you have any questions.

Contact us for more information

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