Position overview

The Lead Pharmacist Medication Safety and Quality provides advanced leadership, expertise and coordination for medication safety and quality improvement across Canberra Health Services. The role leads and manages the organisation-wide medication safety activities and supports compliance with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards, particularly Standard 4: Medication Safety.

Working within the Quality Use of Medicines, Research and Education Team, the position collaborates closely with pharmacists, clinicians, quality officers, digital health teams, and consumers to improve the safety, effectiveness and experience of medicines use across Canberra hospital and associated facilities.

The position provides direct line management to the Clinical Development Nurse, Medication Safety and rotational pharmacists assigned to safety and quality projects, as well as professional supervision to other clinical staff involved in medicines governance activities.

The role also contributes to broader departmental services, including rostered weekend, public holiday, and after-hours clinical pharmacy services.

Key Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

The responsibility of this position is to provide clinical leadership, management, and coordination of medication safety and quality activities.

1. Lead, coordinate and evaluate the CHS-wide medication safety and quality program, ensuring alignment with NSQHS Standards and CHS strategic frameworks.
2. Provide expert oversight of medication incident investigation, analysis and reporting, ensuring appropriate corrective actions, learning dissemination, and system improvement.
3. Develop, implement and evaluate strategies to reduce high-risk medication incidents, improve medication-use processes, and strengthen safety culture.
4. Provide direct line management, leadership, mentorship and performance development for the Clinical Development Nurse, Medication Safety and pharmacists working within in the area of medication safety and quality.
5. Represent Pharmacy and CHS on internal and external medication safety committees, working groups and expert advisory groups.
6. Lead development, review and implementation of CHS medication policies, procedures, guidelines, protocols and digital workflows (including within the Digital Health Record).
7. Provide advanced clinical and systems advice on safe and quality use of medicines to clinicians, executives and governance committees.
8. Design, coordinate and deliver education on medication safety principles, high-risk medicines, safe systems and NSQHS Standard 4 requirements to pharmacists, nurses, doctors, and students.
9. Support onboarding, upskilling and continuous professional development of staff in medication governance competencies.
10. Lead and support medication-related quality improvement initiatives, safety audits, and targeted interventions.
11. Use digital systems (e.g., DHR analytics, incident reporting systems) to monitor trends, identify risks and report key performance indicators.
12. Contribute to or lead practice-based research, publications and external presentations relating to medication safety and quality.
13. Provide a range of pharmacy services on weekends, public holidays and after hours as rostered, including participating in an On-Call roster and working across hospital sites as necessary.
14. Undertake other duties appropriate to this level of classification which contribute to the operation of the organisation.

Competencies

Specific responsibilities include but are not limited to the following.

The competencies defined within the National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia¹ describes 5 Domains. The competency level required within these domains for this role is at the advanced practice level.

• Domain 1: Professionalism and ethics: To comply with legislative standards, including a legal responsibility to work within their competence, and commit to life-long learning and professional development to maintain and build competence. Uphold ethical standards, demonstrate the professional behaviours reasonably expected of a registered health professional and strive to improve quality and safety within the health system. Able to apply expert knowledge and skill, use reasoning and judgement, demonstrate accountability and responsibility use professional autonomy at an advanced level.

• Domain 2: Communication and collaboration: To communicate and work effectively with professional colleagues, patients (which includes carers, guardians and families), other clients as well as members of the general public. Able to work across workplace boundaries, provide expert advice and collaborate effectively at an advanced level.

• Domain 3: Medicines management and patient care: Apply their expertise to promote wellness or work in direct consultation with patients or in collaboration with other health professionals to improve health. Including participation in public health and health promotion activities, the assessment of patients to develop a patient-centred medication management plan and the provision of medicines (prescription and non-prescription) and compounded products. Able to demonstrate the ability to assess complex clinical situations and make informed decisions regarding medication management.

• Domain 4: Leadership and management: Demonstrate self-leadership as well as their leadership role in sharing a vision for the future and promoting the use of initiative and innovation to respond to change and drive progress. This includes applying management skills to undertake organisational and business planning, including the management of finances, human and other resources, the professional environment and the service delivery arrangements at an advanced level.

• Domain 5: Education and research: To contribute to the education of professional colleagues. Including the ability to analyse and synthesise information from medical and pharmaceutical literature, identify and respond to gaps in the evidence-base by conducting research, share research findings and apply evidence in practice at an advanced level.

Reference: 1. National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia. Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. 2016.

Qualifications

Essential

• Be registered or eligible for registration as a Pharmacist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
• Postgraduate qualifications, such as = in Clinical Pharmacy, Management, Education or Research, or relevant field, or experience deemed equivalent.
• Have an understanding of how the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) indicators align with this role.

Desirable

• Membership of a professional organisation linked to the area of specialty.

Experience

Essential

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience as a hospital pharmacist.
• Experience of working professionally as a registered pharmacist in an Australian hospital environment (or in a country where reciprocal arrangements apply with the Australian Pharmaceutical Council Competency Stream Skills Assessment method).
• Able to demonstrate competency standards at the Consolidation Level of the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Framework for Australia as a minimum, in a relevant specialty area

Desirable

• Experience of working in a leadership and management role is highly desirable.
• Research experience and/or publication in peer reviewed journals.
• Experience or knowledge of the CHS Exceptional Care Framework, and all other related frameworks.

Prior to commencement

Appointment to this position is conditional on being granted and retaining appropriate clearances:

• Pre-employment National Police Check.
• Comply with Canberra Health Services Occupational Assessment, Screening and Vaccination policy.
• Comply with CHS credentialing and scope of clinical practice requirements for allied health professionals.

Important information

All employees are required to:

• Adhere to the Canberra Health Services Values and the ACT Public Service Code of Conduct.
• Act in accordance and comply with all relevant Safety and Quality policies and procedures.
• Comply with all relevant clinical and/or competency standards.
• Be available for weekend and after-hours work.

CHS is leading the drive to digitally transform health service delivery in Australia through the implementation of a territory wide Digital Health Record. Computer literacy skills are required which are relevant to this role as you will be responsible for completing required documentation and becoming a proficient user of the Digital Health Record and/or other Information Technology systems; once proficient, you will need to remain current with changes, updates, and contingencies.

What you Require (Key Selection Criteria)

These are the key selection criteria for how you will be assessed in conjunction with your resumé and experience.

1. Demonstrated advanced understanding of medication-safety principles, NSQHS Standard 4, incident reporting systems, human factors, and system-based risk mitigation and an ability to lead safety reviews, interpret complex data, and translate findings into actionable, sustainable improvements.
2. Extensive experience as a hospital pharmacist with the ability to provide advanced clinical advice on safe and effective medicines use. Ability to apply expert judgement in complex or ambiguous situations, and to guide system-level decision-making related to high-risk medicines, digital workflows and quality-of-care issues.
3. Demonstrated ability to design, deliver and evaluate education programs related to medication safety, quality improvement and high-risk medicine management. Experience building organisational capability across multiple professions and contributing to a culture of continuous learning and reflective practice.
4. Proven ability to influence and collaborate effectively with clinicians, managers, governance units, executives and external partners. Demonstrated ability to build trust, resolve conflict and maintain effective relationships in complex clinical environments.
5. Highly developed written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare high-quality reports, proposals, and briefing documents.
6. Demonstrates understanding of, and adherence to, safety and quality standards, Work Health and Safety and the positive patient experience. Displays behaviour consistent with CHS’s values of reliable, progressive, respectful, and kind.

Work environment description

The following work environment description outlines the inherent requirements of the role and indicates how frequently each of these requirements would need to be performed. Please note that the ACT Public Service is committed to providing reasonable adjustments and ensuring all individuals have equal opportunities in the workplace.