BREAKING: Janet Morrison is new chief executive of PSNC

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has appointed Janet Morrison OBE as its new chief executive.

Her appointment follows months of search for a new CEO by the pharmacy negotiator's appointments panel to fill the position left vacant since September 2021 by the resignation of Simon Dukes who left the Committee to head up a charitable organisation.

Morrison -- who has been working in a strategic policy capacity in the charity sector for most of her career -- is currently chair of a philanthropy umbrella body, the Association of Charitable Foundations.

She will formally take up her role as PSNC's principal advisor from March 1.

Although new to community pharmacy, PSNC's incoming CEO is experienced in the fields of health and social care and has a strong track-record in influencing public policy, as well as working with commercially driven enterprises.

More recently as chief executive of the Black Stork Charity, she worked very closely with the NHS -- developing the charity’s strategic options, professional networks and pilot programmes, collaborating with clinicians, academic bodies and think tanks as well as royal colleges and patient groups.

Morrison was awarded with an OBE in the 2019 New Year's honours list for her work as a founder and chair of the Campaign to End Loneliness.

Her previous roles include leading Independent Age, an influential national body for older people, as CEO for 12 years, where he was credited for overseeing a significant transformation of the charity and the range of services it offered.

Morrison has also worked at the BBC and was deputy chief executive at the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

'Pharmacy is vibrant and important sector'

Commenting on her new job, Morrison said: “Community pharmacies offer so much to the nation and play a vital role at the heart of their communities as so many of us have found out throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. This work cannot have been easy for pharmacy contractors and their teams, nor those who support them, and I hope to learn more about their experiences very soon.

"I am looking forward to representing this vibrant and important sector to policy makers, as well as working to build wider recognition of, and better support for, community pharmacies. I know that PSNC has a lot of difficult work ahead of it, including some possible changes to the way that it works on behalf of pharmacies, and I am excited about taking up these challenges.”

Panel voted unanimously

Sue Killen, PSNC chair, said: “We are delighted to welcome Janet to PSNC and to this important role at the helm of the community pharmacy sector. The members of PSNC’s Appointments Panel, all of them either contractors or contractor representatives, were very cognisant of the importance of this role to the sector, and Janet was an exceptional candidate: the Panel voted unanimously to appoint her.

"The interview process combined with Janet’s impressive career history showed us that she has both a clear view of the job to be done, and the skills to influence and lead effectively on behalf of community pharmacy. She joins at a challenging time for community pharmacies, and I know all in the sector will welcome her to the role and support her in it.”

CCA ready to support Morrison

Malcolm Harrison, chief executive of the Company Chemists' Association, said that Morrison's appointment comes at a critical time when the sector "is facing a workforce crisis and desperately needs funding and investment to ensure it can deliver for patients and members of the public and take pressure off other parts of the healthcare system. We stand ready to support Janet in advocating for this investment and for greater recognition and support for all of the excellent work that pharmacy teams do.”