Lead Pharmacist Cancer Care

Health Care Assistant (HCA)

Administrator / Care Coordinator

Health Care Assistant (HCA)

Administrator / Care Coordinator

Want to trial new medicines? Interested in Science?

A lead pharmacist in cancer care is responsible for the safe and effective delivery of the service including the support and development of their team. They are highly experienced pharmacy professionals who strive to provide patients with the best possible care and most up to date treatments.

As a lead pharmacist you are most likely to:

Have a strong understanding of all medicines and potential risks, side effects and interactions;
Be responsible for delivery of a safe and effective pharmacy service;
Train and develop your team to ensure they deliver high quality patient care;
Research and keep up to date with changing medicines and practices;
Be involved in delivering clinical trials to test new medicines;
To act as a practicing pharmacist to patients as well as supervising junior staff;
Communicate complex medical information to other clinicians;
Analyse, interpret and evaluate highly complex specialist medicines-related information or data, using clinical and professional judgement

Entry Requirements

You will need a degree to become a pharmacist, most universities ask for three A-levels or equivalent typically in Chemistry, a second science and maths.

Entry requirements do vary and those offering a foundation year may have lower grade requirements so always check with you preferred university.

Training Routes

To become a pharmacist you would need to complete a four year university degree to achieve a Masters degree in pharmacy. You would then undertake a paid 12 month work placement called your foundation training year. Upon passing your exam at the end of this year you can register with the General Pharmaceutical Council and practice as a Pharmacist.

To become a lead pharmacist you would require significant post registration hospital experience.

Key Skills

You will:

Have excellent clinical knowledge and understanding of how different medicines work and interact with each other and what side effects they can cause;
Be an excellent communicator, able to support patients, work with other clinicians and build relationships with external teams like trial sponsors;
Be an effective leader able to engage and motivate your team;
Be interested in research and helping to identify new treatments;
Have strong attention to detail making sure that all procedures are adhered to;

Pay and benefits

Pharmacists are paid on the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay system. As a newly qualified pharmacist you would typically start on a Band 6, progressing to a Band 9 as a Chief Pharmacist.

Career Development

Once employed within a hospital Trust pharmacists undertake ‘rotations’ where they work in different areas gaining experience and finding their area of interest which could be in oncology (cancer care).

It is expected that all pharmacists will continue to learn and to undertake regular training to maintain their professional registration

Within cancer care pharmacists can progress into more senior roles working in research, clinically or in management of the entire pharmacy team.