Paul Stuart
Erutase Oputu has been elected as chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) English Pharmacy Board (EPB) following elections to positions across all three RPS country boards and Assembly.
Oputu works as hospital lead pharmacist, medicines commissioning and pathways, at Barts Health NHS Trust in London. She replaces Thorrun Govind, a healthcare advisory and inquest lawyer at Hempsons, who is also a trained pharmacist, as chair of the board. Govind had chaired the EPB since June 2021.
Brendon Jiang, senior clinical pharmacist at North Oxfordshire Rural Alliance Primary Care Network and PCN clinical lead pharmacist for Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board, was elected as vice chair.
Andrew Carruthers was re-elected as chair of the Scottish Pharmacy Board (SPB), while Geraldine McCaffrey was elected as chair of the Welsh Pharmacy Board (WPB), taking over from Cheryl Way who was elected as chair in June 2021.
Ciara Duffy, Thorrun Govind, Alisdair Jones and Sorbi Khattak from the EPB, and Cheryl Way from the WPB, were elected to the RPS Assembly.
Oputu’s career has included working in Tanzania with Voluntary Services Overseas, public health strategy with the Healthcare Commission and several senior hospital pharmacy manager roles in hospitals in London and the South East of England.
In her address to the board, she said: “The three pillars on which I am putting myself forward for chair of the EPB are ‘collaboration’, ‘connection’ and ‘allyship’.
“I believe these three areas will be crucial to how the EPB navigates its way through a pivotal moment in the history of the pharmacy profession.”
In his address, Carruthers said: “I want to see an increase in membership engagement at the RPS as a strategy to increase the membership numbers.
“As chair [of the SPB], I have advocated for members being able to attend and observe RPS board meetings and have worked to see a move to open business as the default.
“In my second term I want to continue to support and drive the introduction of RPS Ambassadors and the creation of an online RPS community,” he added.
McCaffrey said: “I will present a strong voice on behalf of our board and our members in Wales, ensuring the views and priorities from Wales are taken into account at a Great Britain level.”
- This article was updated on 21 June 2023 to correct which board Alisdair Jones sits on
