Two more independent community pharmacists have been appointed to the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership.
NPA board member Reena Barai and Sheelin McKeagney from Lurgan in Northern Ireland will join 25 other commission members, including Ash Soni who was the only practising community pharmacist on the initial list published in June.
Welcoming the announcement, the National Pharmacy Association chief executive, Mark Lyonette, said: “To their great credit, the co-chairs of the commission and the UK’s chief pharmaceutical officers have listened to our request for more community pharmacy presence on the commission. They have acted swiftly to achieve a better balance in its membership and we thank them for responding to our representations.
“Around 70 per cent of pharmacists practice in the community. With more voices from community pharmacy within the leadership commission, there is a greater sense that the profession as a whole will be able to own the final recommendations when they are ultimately made.”
The commission is being established to make recommendations for the purpose and functions of future pharmacy professional leadership in the UK. The first appointments to the commission were announced on June 7.
Sukhi Basra