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Cheryl Way, Thorrun Govind and Andrew Carruthers have been elected as the new chairs of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) Welsh, English and Scottish National Pharmacy Boards, respectively.
Votes were held on 22 June 2021, during an open session of the three national pharmacy board meetings. The meetings marked the first time that the new boards had sat since the 2021 election results were announced on 14 May 2021.
Way was the sole candidate for chair of the Welsh Pharmacy Board (WPB) and, taking up her seat, she offered thanks to board members Sudhir Sehrawat and Ruth Mitchell for nominating and seconding her nomination, adding that she would “do my best to represent you and take your views into account in everything we do”.
Ruth Mitchell was elected as vice chair of the WPB, having been nominated by Jamie Hayes and seconded by Richard Evans. Mitchell was elected to take up a seat on the RPS Assembly, alongside Way who — as board chair — automatically takes up an Assembly seat.
Elen Jones, director for RPS Wales, said that Geraldine McCaffrey, a secondary care pharmacist at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, would join the board as a co-opted member to fill a vacant hospital pharmacy post.
On the English Pharmacy Board (EPB), Thorrun Govind was elected, having been nominated by Alistair Jones and seconded by Ciara Marie Duffy.
Govind thanked outgoing chair Claire Anderson and the rest of the board for their work, adding that she was looking forward to working with the new board.
“I want to make this an inclusive board — that is very important to me,” she said. “We are accountable to each other, but also to our members and the wider profession.”
Martin Astbury was re-elected as vice chair of the EPB, having been nominated by Claire Anderson and seconded by Sibby Buckle.
Four EPB members were elected to sit on the Assembly, in addition to Govind and Astbury, who take up automatic seats by dint of their roles. The elected Assembly members were Claire Anderson, Sibby Buckle, Tase Oputu and Alastair Jones.
Andrew Carruthers was the sole candidate for chair on the Scottish Pharmacy Board (SPB), following a nomination by Tamara Cairney, which was seconded by Lucy Dixon.
Taking up his seat, Carruthers said: “[I] might not be the most obvious choice, being just outside of the early years bracket, but this sends a message of a dynamic and inclusive board.”
He thanked Jonathan Burton as outgoing chair and the rest of the outgoing board, and offered his welcome to new board members.
Kathleen Cowle was elected as vice chair of the SPB, having self-nominated, which was then seconded by John McAnaw. Cowle was also elected to sit on the Assembly alongside Carruthers.
