Advanced Pharmacist-Sleep MedicineNHS

Job summary

Sleep disorders affect millions of people in the UK, yet Sleep Medicine remains an underserved specialist area that is rapidly growing in demand. Due to an unprecedented increase in activity, we are expanding our multidisciplinary team and looking for a pharmacist to join us who has an interest in this truly fascinating and rewarding specialism. Helping someone reclaim their ability to sleep soundly can be genuinely challenging work, but few things in clinical practice are more satisfying. Sleep medicine remains a niche specialism that few pharmacists have the chance to practise, since meaningful exposure depends on access to a dedicated sleep centre. At QVH, we are one of the biggest sleep centres in the country and one of very few that offer the full spectrum of sleep services, from respiratory sleep-disordered breathing to insomnia and complex neurological sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, parasomnias, and limb movement disorders in sleep. Our team is continuously looking to innovate and improve, and contribution from all members of the MDT is sought in order to deliver the best possible care to the patients referred to our service.

Main duties of the job

As a prescribing pharmacist, you will lead independent follow-up clinics where medication initiation, titration, and optimisation are core activities. You will also contribute to service development, improvement, audit, and guideline and pathway development, and you will maintain broad clinical pharmacy skills across hospital pharmacy services as part of the role. We are looking for someone with a genuine interest in, and the ambition to build real expertise in, sleep medicine, someone with an appetite for a specialist caseload, a willingness to learn new skills, and the ability to bring experience gained across a previous career in mental health, neurology, neuroscience, general medicine, or respiratory practice to help build that expertise in this role. We are looking for an excellent pharmacist ready to take the step into specialist practice. Informal enquiries and visits to the department can be arranged before applying.

Job description

• Lead independent prescribing follow-up clinics for patients with sleep disorders, including medication initiation, titration, and optimisation within your scope of practice
• Work as an integral member of the sleep multidisciplinary team, contributing pharmacy expertise to patient management discussions and shared care planning
• Contribute to the development, review, and implementation of clinical guidelines, protocols, and care pathways for sleep medicine
• Participate in service development, quality improvement projects, and clinical audit within the sleep service
• Provide medicines information and support to colleagues across the MDT and wider clinical teams
• Undertake general clinical pharmacy duties as part of the wider hospital pharmacy service, maintaining broad clinical skills alongside specialist practice
• Support the training, supervision, and development of junior pharmacy staff and students as required
• Maintain accurate clinical records in line with professional and organisational standards
• Engage in continuing professional development, working towards advanced and eventually specialist-level practice in sleep medicine

About us

Rated GOOD overall with outstanding care by the CQC. A specialist NHS hospital providing life-changing reconstructive surgery, burns care and rehabilitation services across the South of England and beyond.

We specialise in conditions of the eyes (corneoplastics), hands, head and neck cancer and skin cancer, reconstructive breast surgery, maxillofacial surgery and prosthetics, providing regional and national services in these areas of clinical expertise.Our world-leading clinical teams also treat more common conditions of the eyes, hands, skin, and teeth for the people of East Grinstead and the surrounding areas. In addition, QVH provides a minor injuries unit, expert therapies, a sleep service, and a growing portfolio of community-based services.Patients consistently rate QVH amongst the top hospitals in the country for quality of care.

Our success is underpinned by the skills and enthusiasm of our staff and a strong culture of partnership. We are fully committed to training and development of the workforce with support for continuing education and learning.