Specialist Oncology Pharmacist
| Posting date: | 04 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £50,008.00 to £56,908.00 per year |
| Additional salary information: | £50008.00 - £56908.00 a year |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 18 March 2026 |
| Location: | Guildford, GU2 7XX |
| Company: | NHS Jobs |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | C9384-26-0165 |
Summary
Member of the oncology pharmacy team, providing a specialist clinical pharmacy service to patients treated at RSCC. As a Cancer Centre, RSCC serves a population of over 3 Million patients, of all tumour sites, from across the Surrey and the South East.Provision of a specialist clinical pharmacy service at the outreach chemotherapy sites (Frimley Health NHS FT, Ashford and St Peters NHS FT). This will be on a sessional basis according to the needs of the service. Will include working as a lone practitioner with only remote supervision.Provide support to the Pharmacy Clinical Trials team in all aspects of the set up and delivery of oncology clinical trials as required.As part of the clinical pharmacy team, may be required to provide a clinical pharmacy service to oncology inpatients (including surgical oncology) taking responsibility for a minimum of 30 patients on an average ward.Supervise the work of technical staff, pre-registration pharmacists and band 6 pharmacists.Work with the Deputy Chief Pharmacist (Cancer, Aseptic and Research Services) to provide pharmaceutical input into the management of oncology drugs.Contribute to the implementation of protocol guidelines, specifying drug doses and clinical details required for the safe administration of chemotherapy drugs for all tumour sites treated at RSCC, i.e. breast, colorectal & and gastro-intestinal, lung, gynaecological tumours, urological tumours, brain, head & neck tumours and haematological malignancies.The post holder is guided by medicines legislation, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), departmental and hospital policies and the code of ethics of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), Ensure compliance with current medicines legislation.Be professionally and legally responsible, and accountable for all aspects of own work.Participate in the maintenance and development of clinical pharmacy services to inpatients, day cases and outpatients in accordance with current policies with specific responsibility for oncology, haemato-oncology and palliative care patients. Maintain a clinical commitment to oncology wards in order to develop and maintain the expertise required to be able to cover the duties of the Senior Specialist Pharmacists.Contribute to the set-up and development of pharmacy services to the outreach chemotherapy sites this will include establishing systems for on-site prescription verification, supply of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) and supportive care where pharmacy supply functions (dispensary and aseptic unit) are at RSCH, and patient education.Participate in the provision of safe, evidence-based, cost-effective prescribing of medicines used in oncology, haemato-oncology and palliative care patients.Propose changes to departmental policies and current practices, liaising with relevant members of staff, and implement these changes as required.Responsible for the writing and validation of chemotherapy and supportive care regimen templates within the Aria MedOnc chemotherapy electronic prescribing system. This will include both standard and clinical trial regimens. Liaison with nursing, medical and research staff, including external commercial and non-commercial trial sponsors, as part of the validation process to ensure the clinical accuracy of the documentation.Write or check pharmacy clinical screening guidelines for oncology clinical trials involving IMPs. Specifying the doses and any clinical information necessary to ensure the investigational medicinal products (IMPs) and any supportive medication have been prescribed according to the trial protocol and are safe to be administered to the patient.Be familiar with local processes and procedures for IMP management at the Trust and provide support to the Pharmacy Clinical Trials team in the set up and delivery of clinical trials as required. Additional roles may include assisting the Lead Pharmacist Clinical Trials in assessing clinical feasibility of proposed new clinical trials, writing/updating in-house dispensing/checking guidelines, generating invoices for commercial trials, corresponding with trial sponsors to resolve clinical and logistical queries, overseeing the delivery, return and quarantining of IMPs, attending trial site evaluation and initiation visits,Assist in the development of prescribing guidelines.Responsible for clinically assessing and authorising one-off chemotherapy protocols in accordance with the St Lukes Cancer Alliance and Trust Cytotoxic Policies.Participate in the planning and organisation of the work of the satellite unit, both on a daily basis and for future developments to ensure a safe and timely service.Assist in the implementation and audit of local and national policies and standards including service guidelines and technology appraisals produced by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence.Develop links with other healthcare staff to facilitate the sharing of best practice throughout the St Lukes Cancer Alliance.Liaise with medical, nursing and other health professionals with respect to the correct prescribing and administration of chemotherapy drugs, and all other treatment or supportive medication used in the care of cancer (medical and surgical) patients, according to agreed regimens, protocols and policies.Liaise with dispensary staff in RSCH, acting as a support for the provision of advice and clarification of prescriptions with prescribers for prescriptions presented there for oncology, haematology and palliative care patients.Work as part of a team, both within Pharmacy, and as part of the multidisciplinary team caring for cancer patients, attending multidisciplinary meetings as appropriateContribute to the development and review of, and adhere to, standard operating procedures relating to the oncology pharmacy service and pharmacy departmental procedures as appropriate.Assist the Deputy Chief Pharmacist (Cancer, Aseptic and Research Services) in ensuring service level standards with all customers are met. Participate in the training and supervision of pharmaceutical staff including pre-registration pharmacists, rotational pharmacists and technicians.Sign off records of evidence for pre-registration pharmacists and NVQ trainees ensuring the evidence produced is valid.Contribute to the competency-based training of pre-registration pharmacists, rotational pharmacists and technical staff.Assist in the validation of staff dispensing and accuracy checking prescriptions for oral clinical trials for cancer patients.Develop the role of the pharmacy technician in a team approach to the pharmaceutical care of outpatient, day-case and inpatients oncology/haemato-oncology patients.Be an active member of the department through attendance and presentation at staff meetings, training sessions, external courses, reflective practice and clinical supervision.Undertake Continuing Professional Development to maintain general and specialist knowledge and in line with the requirements of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).Performance will be formally reviewed, training needs identified and objectives agreed every 12 months as part of the Personal Development Review (PDR) scheme.Undertake further postgraduate education as appropriate.Undertake Trust and departmental induction programmes and further education as appropriate and attend courses/study days considered relevant to the post.Undertake competency based training and successfully complete in-house validations as required in order to perform role. Participate in the delivery of a specialist clinical pharmacy service to oncology, surgical oncology, haematology and palliative care patients, in accordance with local and national policy. This will include: Liaising with medical nursing and other health professionals for the correct prescribing and administration of chemotherapy drugs according to agreed regimens, protocols and policies. Performing specialist clinical screen of chemotherapy prescriptions for all tumour sites, for patients treated at the RSCC, in the inpatient, day case or outpatient setting. Ensuring prescription is correct after consideration of patients diagnosis, chemotherapy dose in relation to body surface area or weight, and the patients clinical condition, e.g. kidney and liver function, also that support medication is prescribed correctly. May be required to make recommendations to clinicians for changes in treatment plan. Participating in dose-banding process for adjustment of chemotherapy doses.Maintenance of patient medication records for chemotherapy outpatients.Working as part of a multi-disciplinary team.Communication of technical advice and evidence-based pharmaceutical information relating to oncology drugs to consultants, other medical staff, and nurses, with the support of the Pharmacy Medicines Information service. This process involves dealing with highly complex information and making recommendations where there may be conflicting advice or limited evidence base. Advice given may be unwelcome or contested.Attending ward rounds and/ or multidisciplinary meetings as directed by senior pharmacy staff to ensure a co-ordinated approach to patient care.Counselling and advising patients and/ or their carers on their medication e.g. correct administration of medicines (including oral chemotherapy), drug interactions and adverse effects, and appropriate management of chemotherapy-induced adverse effects e.g. nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea.Counsel patients on the safe and accurate use of their clinical trial medication.Dealing considerately with distressed or upset patients, and those with poor understanding or communication difficulties e.g. terminally ill patients or after head and neck surgery.