Principal Pharmacist – Safety, Governance and Audit

We are looking for a motivated and experienced pharmacist with a genuine passion for patient safety to join the West Suffolk Pharmacy team. This role offers an exciting opportunity to shape and deliver both local and national medication safety priorities, working alongside a dedicated team of pharmacists and patient safety specialists. You will join us at a pivotal moment as we lead key patient safety and digital medicines initiatives across the Trust.

To thrive in this post, you will bring:

Empathy, curiosity, and a commitment to understanding the systems around you.

Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to build positive relationships.

Knowledge of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, along with practical experience of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework

Experience--or a readiness to develop expertise--in human factors, ergonomics, improvement and implementation sciences, and project management.

Confidence with digital systems and data management

Flexibility and adaptability, enabling you to respond to evolving priorities, partnerships, and organisational needs.

This role offers meaningful opportunities for both personal and professional growth. You will work closely with colleagues and patients across the Trust to design and deliver improvement initiatives and contribute to the development of risk and safety expertise. You will also have the chance to shape Trust-wide policies and guidelines, promote safe medicines use, and represent the Medication Safety and Pharmacy teams at local, regional, and national levels.

The post holder will serve as the Trust's Medication Safety Officer, leading the organisation's approach to medicine safety and acting as the key link to national medication safety networks. They will oversee medication incident reporting and learning, provide expert analysis of medicine-related risks, and guide the work of the Medication Safety Committee. A core part of the role involves shaping, maintaining, and promoting Trust-wide medicines policies, contributing specialist advice to a range of governance groups, and ensuring compliance with national guidance and safety alerts.

The post holder will also lead the pharmacy clinical audit programme and support medicine safety audits across the Trust.

#BeKnown at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. By us. By our patients. By our community

We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high-quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings.

The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children's ward). It has 500+ beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.

Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital.

We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and team work guide how we work and behave as a team.

With nearly 5,000 staff, from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be.

We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyones voice counts and you can #BeKnown for whoever you are.

Join us. What will you #BeKnown for?

Alongside their corporate responsibilities, the post holder will play a senior leadership role within the pharmacy service. This includes managing risk registers, chairing the Pharmacy Governance Group, overseeing medicines optimisation standards, and driving quality improvement programmes to reduce harm from medicines. They will contribute to strategic planning, business cases, and…