Pharmacy Operations Manager

Transformationunitgm; Greater London; On-site; GBP 61,000 - 69,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare provider in London is seeking a Pharmacy Operations Manager to oversee pharmacy services, ensuring safe and efficient care for patients. You will be responsible for managing pharmacy operations, leading a team, and driving service improvements. The ideal candidate should have strong leadership skills, hospital pharmacy experience, and a desire to contribute to a team known for its innovative approaches. This role offers competitive salary and development opportunities.

Benefits

Professional development opportunities

Supportive working environment

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Registered Pharmacy Technician with GPhC.
• Experience in hospital pharmacy management.
• Understanding of NHS policies and legislation.

Responsibilities

• Lead operational aspects of pharmacy services.
• Ensure compliance with safety and quality standards.
• Collaborate with clinical teams for medicines optimisation.

Skills

Leadership in pharmacy services

Hospital pharmacy experience

Interpersonal skills

Problem-solving skills

Budget management

Education

Qualified Pharmacy Technician

Membership in the Association of Pharmacy Technicians

Job description

Employer South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Bethlem Royal Hospital Town Beckenham Salary £61,631 - £68,623 per annum inclusive of HCAS Salary period Yearly Closing 07/01/2026 23:59

Pharmacy Operations Manager

NHS AfC: Band 8a

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust has a rich history, well‑established community links and an international reputation. We deliver specialist services in the London boroughs of Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Wandsworth and Richmond.

We are committed to provide a high quality and specialist care to our service users and we are recognised for our care and treatment we provide. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as “good”.

We launched our five‑year strategy, Aiming High; Changing Lives in 2021 together with Our Care Improvement System as our quality management system methodology to make a positive impact on patient care, outcomes and staff experience. By joining SLaM, all staff will get the opportunity to be part of this exciting improvement journey supported with learning and development to harness everyone’s potential as change makers.

The trust recognises the unique and valuable contribution that people with lived experience of mental illness can bring to a role. We therefore welcome applications from people with lived experience and consider them as an asset to the Trust.

Our Values

We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values and our promise to be caring, kind, polite, prompt, honest, listen and do what I say I’m going to do is the heart of everything we do. When you join us, you’ll be part of something special.

As a Trust we are happy to talk flexible working.

Job overview

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Pharmacy Operations Manager to join our dynamic and innovative team. We are looking for an exceptional leader who will inspire and lead the dispensary and technical pharmacy services at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, ensuring safe, efficient, and high‑quality care for our patients.

This post is the operational manager for dispensary, ward and community services delivered from the Bethlem Royal Hospital pharmacy which includes Croydon and Lewisham community mental health services and for Bethlem and Ladywell inpatient sites. You will be the lead pharmacy technician for these areas and will manage all technical staff on these sites.

As a key member of the pharmacy leadership team, you will be responsible for overseeing day‑to‑day operations, workforce planning, and service improvement initiatives. You will work closely with clinical leads, senior managers, and multidisciplinary teams to ensure compliance with medicines optimisation standards, GPhC (General Pharmaceutical Council) and the APT (Association of Pharmacy Technician) professional standards and regulatory requirements.

This role is ideally suited to candidates who want to extend their experience at a senior management level in a progressive environment.

The successful candidate must have strong interpersonal skills, the desire to network and collaborate, together with the ability to inspire a team towards continuous improvement.

Main duties of the job

You will be a role model and have the desire to utilise and develop practice to improve pharmacy services. You will lead, develop, deliver, and evaluate the provision of pharmacy services provided at the Bethlem Royal Hospital and enhance the reputation of the department to deliver the right medicine at the right time for all our patients.

• Lead and manage the operational aspects of pharmacy services, ensuring efficient workflows and optimal resource utilisation.
• Provide leadership and support to pharmacy staff, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and professional development.
• Ensure compliance with governance, safety, and quality standards, including GPhC and NHS guidelines.
• Drive service transformation projects to enhance patient experience and operational performance.
• Collaborate with clinical teams to support medicines optimisation and safe prescribing practices.
• To regularly review financial reports and to work with finance on budget changes and service planning.

South London and the Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK. We are a world leading Trust in research, working closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London. Our services include the Maudsley Hospital, Lambeth Hospital and Bethlem Royal Hospital. We are also part of King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.

The pharmacy department provides dispensing services from the Maudsley, Lambeth, Bethlem hospitals and Ladywell unit and a clinical pharmacy service to 1,000 inpatients and 3,000 community patients. The Medicines Advice Centre at the Maudsley is the national centre for information on psychotropics. The department produces the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines, now on its 15th Edition, and is the world’s leading pharmacy centre for research in psychiatry, having published over 300 clinical papers in the past 25 years.

The pharmacy is also part of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Clinical Academic Group (PSCAG) which incorporates more than 1,800 staff and students and includes staff from all four organisations within King’s Health Partners with the aim to integrate the work across all partner organisations to improve practice, research and healthcare/academic education and training strategy.

About the location

Bethlem Royal Hospital is based in a beautiful setting in over 200 acres of green space in the London Borough of Bromley. The hospital has easy access to nearby main roads and offers free parking. The site is within walking distance from Eden Park and West Wickham overland stations.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

About You

• Registered pharmacy technician with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
• Significant experience in hospital pharmacy, including operational management and leadership roles, experience in a mental health setting would be an advantage.
• Strong understanding of NHS policies, medicines legislation, and pharmacy governance.
• Excellent communication, organisational, and problem‑solving skills.
• Ability to lead teams through change and deliver measurable improvements.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a forward‑thinking pharmacy team committed to innovation and excellence.
• Opportunities for professional development and leadership training.
• Supportive working environment within a respected NHS Trust.

To view the main duties and responsibilities, please see the attached Job Description and Person Specification.

Only those applicants who demonstrate clearly how they meet our person specification will be shortlisted for interview.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Qualified Pharmacy Technician registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council
• Member of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians
• Education and training qualification

Experience

• Extensive service delivery and change management experience.
• Good understanding of root cause analysis and other quality initiatives.
• An extensive and specialist knowledge and understanding of hospital pharmacy services.
• Extensive experience of implementing policy and procedural changes.
• Experience of performance management and effectively line managing staff.
• Recruitment and selection training / experience.
• Expert experience of audit, project management and data analysis.
• Working strategically and effectively within the local and national environment.
• Finance analysis – Can demonstrate expert knowledge in the manipulation of various sources of systems data and experience of budget management.
• Extensive dispensary management experience.
• Education and Training Experience.

Knowledge and Skills

• Medicines Management knowledge and experience.
• Knowledge and experience of delivering Ward Pharmacy services.
• Proven service delivery skills and change management skills in hospital pharmacy.
• Excellent communication skills written and verbal.
• Promotes and develops medicines safety initiatives.
• Clear vision of the future of pharmacy technician roles and how to affect changes.
• Experience with EPMA systems.

The Trust is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and that promote equality of opportunity. We are a Disability Confident Employer, we welcome applicants from all sections of the community and people of all protected characteristics. We provide reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability and are committed to treating people fairly with compassion, respect and dignity and in promoting equality and human rights. We aim to put this commitment into practice by:

• Embedding our commitment to tackling inequality, eliminating discrimination and harassment; promoting equality of opportunity and fostering good relations in our everyday practice.
• Ensuring that all our services and all staff understand and support our commitment.
• We believe that people who use our services, their carers and our staff, should be treated with compassion, respect and dignity.

Important Information

• All applications for this post will need to be made online.
• You read and understand the Job Description and Person Specification attached to the role. Your Statement in Support should reflect the requirements specified as your application will be judged against these criteria.
• The closing date listed is a guide only and the vacancy may close earlier should a sufficient number of applicants have been received. We advise that you submit your application as early as possible.
• Once you have submitted your application you agree to your application being transferred to a 3rd party e‑recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs.
• That should you not have heard from us within three weeks from the closing date your application has not been successful.
• Priority consideration for applications may be given to at‑risk NHS employees.
• That should you be successful and appointed, you authorise South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust to confirm your previous NHS service via an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) process.
• We are a smoke‑free Trust.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion. Stonewall is the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans (LGBT) rights charity in Europe.

Helpful Resource: How to Use TRAC for Job Applications

How to Use TRAC for Job Applications – If you’re preparing to apply for a role, this guide provides step‑by‑step instructions on how to use TRAC effectively throughout the application process: Using TRAC to apply

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.