Pharmacist Support appoints five new trustees

Independent charity group, Pharmacist Support has appointed five new trustees to its board - David Downham, Karen Harrowing, Mohammed Hussain, Mala Khiroya, and Alison Scowcroft, for a term of three years.

The new recruits will join the existing Board members Anita Cawley, Catherine Harper, Paul Johnson, Steve Lutener, Esther Sadler-Williams, Mark Sweeney and Sarah Willis.

Harrowing, Downham and Hussain have begun their 3-year term in January 2022, while Scowcroft and Khiroya would join the board in June.

The new appointments are in line with the Charity’s plans, announced last year, to enhance its volunteer schemes.

“Since the launch of the charity’s new strategy in January 2020, the profession has been faced with many new challenges. We are really proud of the work we have done in the last few years to address some of these challenges,” said Pharmacist Support chief executive Danielle Hunt.

Key initiatives led by the group include launch of new counselling offer and Wellbeing Learning Platform, expansion of ACTNow wellbeing campaign and development of a new website.

Hunt added: “We still have lots of work to do, especially with the continued high levels of stress and potential burnout present within pharmacy. We are really pleased that the five new trustees bring with them a plethora of experience and skills that will further support us in the next phase of our journey.”

Who are the new trustees

David Downham: A graduate of Cambridge University, Downham qualified as a chartered accountant in the Business Assurance division of Coopers & Lybrand. He worked as head of finance for a small chain of community pharmacies in Yorkshire, from which his own business ET Downham was spun out.

Karen Harrowing: Having a rich experience of 4o years in public, private and voluntary healthcare settings, her portfolio includes independent advisory roles on regulation, quality governance and safety, an associate and partner role at the GPhC, honorary member of APTUK and a fellow of the RPS.

Mohammed Hussain: He has worked at senior level in a portfolio career spanning national regulation, education, national health care technology and service redesign. He is the senior clinical lead for Live Services at NHS Digital and a non- executive director at Bradford NHS Teaching Hospitals Trust and chair of the Quality Academy.

Mala Khiroya: Having worked as a pharmacist for over 15 years in various community and hospital pharmacy roles, Khiroya is currently the managing director and superintendent pharmacist of the outpatient pharmacies within Leicester Hospitals.

Alison Scowcroft: She is a community pharmacist with 20 years’ experience in front line pharmacy. She worked for Co-op and then Well pharmacy for 17 years, eventually moving into a variety of head office roles. Currently, she is serving as director of strategic programmes at the not-for-profit Greater Manchester community pharmacy provider company CHL.

The profession’s charity has also appointed Esther Sadler-Williams as its new chair, who took over the role in January 2022 from Steve Lutener. Sadler-Williams has over 35 years’ experience in a variety of pharmaceutical roles, and will be joined by Anita Cawley, who remains in the post of vice chair.