The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7360 p131
30 July 2005

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Consultant pharmacist appointed in critical care

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed what is thought to be the first consultant pharmacist recruited using the Department of Health’s recent guidance (PJ, 9 April, p409).

Mark Tomlin, who has worked as a hospital pharmacist for over 20 years, has been appointed consultant pharmacist for critical care. He will spend five sessions a week on expert practice, two sessions each on leadership, and research and practice development, and one on education and training. He was previously a directorate pharmacist at the trust. His new role will focus less on management and more on education and research.

The pharmacy department at the trust made a proposal to create the consultant post, which was approved by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority. The interview panel consisted of a clinical pharmacy manager, the chief pharmacist, a critical care medical consultant and a member with experience of non-medical consultants.

Mr Tomlin was asked to present a portfolio showing experience in all six competencies for consultant practice (expert professional practice, building working relationships, leadership, management, education, training and development, and research and evaluation). The post, which will be managed through the pharmacy department, has been allocated band 8c under Agenda for Change.

“This is an exciting development and we are fortunate that we had a local practitioner who had developed the skills to forward the expert practice and research elements of this new role,” said Martin Stephens, chief pharmacist for the trust. He highlighted patient safety and managing cost as two of the key challenges of the post. “We have a local strategy to develop the workforce to manage finances and the consultant’s responsibility in this area was key to the support we received from the trust and the strategic health authority,” he added.

Mr Tomlin was a member of the team that developed the adult critical care career pathway document (PJ, 2 July, p3), which he hopes will help others develop their career in the specialty. He expects around a dozen consultant posts in critical care to be created.