Band 8a Highly Specialist Pharmacist Prescriber – CAMHS

Job summary

We are looking for a motivated and innovative pharmacist, with a strong background in mental health and/or children's services, to deliver a specialist clinical pharmacy service to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) across AWP. The post holder will be a fully integrated member of the multidisciplinary CAMHS team, providing expert pharmaceutical advice and support to clinicians, young people and their carers.

The role includes responsibility for delivering specialist medicines optimisation, supporting safe and effective psychotropic prescribing, and leading on medicines-related quality improvement initiatives within CAMHS. The post holder will provide independent prescribing clinics (or be willing to work towards this) and hold their own caseload of young people, undertaking medication reviews, treatment initiation and ongoing monitoring as appropriate. The scope of practice and service base will be agreed in line with service requirements and the experience of the successful candidate.

The successful candidate will have experience in mental health pharmacy or paediatrics and have a passion for improving outcomes for children and young people. They will be keen to further develop their advanced clinical, leadership and service development skills.

Please note: Base will be confirmed on appointment. The post includes participation in the pharmacy on-call rota and some weekend and bank holiday working (currently 1 week in 20).

Main duties of the job

Lead the development, delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement of pharmacy services within CAMHS, identifying opportunities to improve patient outcomes, medicines safety and service transformation in line with local and national priorities.

Provide specialist pharmaceutical expertise to multidisciplinary CAMHS teams, including literature searches and the provision of verbal and written advice on the safe and effective use of medicines in children and young people (CYP).

Clinically assess CYP referred for medicines optimisation support, undertake comprehensive medication reviews, and identify required clinical management, including initiating, adjusting or discontinuing medication within an agreed scope of practice and in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team.

Work as an independent non-medical prescriber (or be willing to work towards this), delivering pharmacist-led clinics and managing an independent caseload of CYP receiving psychotropic medication. Support safe prescribing, treatment optimisation, adherence, physical health monitoring and shared decision-making with CYP and carers, in line with Trust policies and evidence-based guidance.

Provide specialist CAMHS and psychopharmacology advice across primary, secondary and tertiary care settings, and lead or contribute to medicines optimisation, medicines safety, audit, quality improvement and service development projects to support high-quality, evidence-based care.

About us

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provideHigh Quality, Compassionate Careeverywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all-round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Details

Date posted

14 September 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£57,528 to £64,750 a year per annum

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Full-time, Part-time, Job share, Flexible working, Home or remote working

Reference number

342-CS043-0926

Job locations

Callington Road Hospital

Marmalade Lane

Bristol

BS4 5BJ

United Kingdom