José Moss (1965–2025)

On 10 January 2025, José Moss MPharmS, FFRPS, aged 59 years, of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire. Dr Moss registered with the Society in 1992.

Tribute

I first met José in 1997 when she was appointed to the role of pharmacy manager in Worthing, West Sussex, for supermarket chain Safeway, where I was then the superintendent pharmacist. It soon became apparent that José was someone with high professional values and moral integrity. However, little did I know at the time that she would become someone that I, and very many of those who would go on to work with her, would come to rely upon so strongly.

Even in those early days, she was never afraid to give honest and constructive insights into the professional challenges of being a pharmacist at the forefront of patient care. Back then in-store pharmacy was still a relatively new concept. As the pharmacy that José led was positioned right at the very entrance to the store, she and her team were often the first members of staff that patients and customers interacted with. In that sense, José was showcasing what good pharmaceutical care could look like in an in-store pharmacy environment and she ran a very professional operation.

José exemplified the role of a pharmacy professional and was always there for her patients, often going above and beyond expectation to make sure people received great care. Through forming strong relationships with local GPs and other pharmacies, she soon built a reputation as a trusted professional in her community and was greatly liked by her colleagues.

After nearly six years at Safeway, José was encouraged to move to Alliance Pharmacy — Moss Chemists as it was at the time — where she joined the head office team in Feltham, Greater London, to become a professional support manager. Our paths were to cross again when I too joined Moss Chemists in 2005. Having worked as her general manager and later to again become her superintendent pharmacist, I was delighted when José agreed to take on the role as legal and ethical support manager, as part of our new team. We worked closely together over the subsequent years to modernise the clinical governance framework and professional support team.

With the encouragement of the business, José studied law to compliment her pharmacy qualifications, while concurrently performing her challenging role as part of the superintendent’s office team. She was a pharmacy technician before studying pharmacy at the University of Brighton, so self-development came instinctively to her. José completed her PhD at King’s College London, just prior to working for Safeway. Like everything she set her mind to, José passed her law qualification with distinction. José was recognised for her strengths in clear thinking, planning and organising. She then went on to become a general manager and the company secretary of the Alliance Pharmacy business.

Following the merger of Alliance Pharmacy and Boots in 2008, José again agreed to join my newly combined team, as I became professional standards director and superintendent pharmacist at Boots. She was appointed as senior professional regulation and clinical governance manager and relocated during the week to work in Nottingham, while maintaining her home base in Sussex. José embraced the challenge of joining a new and larger team. Together, we shaped the clinical governance framework of the newly merged organisation, working with new colleagues who were to become among José’s closest friends.

It was with José’s unrelenting support that we undertook a fundamental review of clinical governance and leadership, which helped to design an autonomous professional leadership structure to work in support of colleagues in operations and where the highest professional standards were to be championed. José took on responsibility for leading the patient-centred professional support team and became an integral part of the superintendent’s office leadership team. She was a beacon for professional leadership and worked with many others, both within the business and across the wider profession, to further professional standards, develop guidance and support for colleagues and a new incident management process.

After I left Boots in 2013, José continued to support my successors. I know that each of them will have greatly valued her wisdom and support in the same way that I have. We kept in touch, and I was delighted to hear that in 2015 she was promoted to the role of deputy superintendent pharmacist; in 2021, she gained her MBA, again with distinction, from Nottingham Business School; and in 2024, she became vice-chair of the Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group.

José shared her passion for professionalism with everyone she met, by championing pharmacy and the importance of professional integrity and doing the right thing for patients. She then attained her Royal Pharmaceutical Society Faculty Fellowship in 2015.

Her professional values were among the highest of anyone I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She was also a colleague I and others will never forget. Of all my many fond memories of the years that I had the pleasure of working alongside José, the one thing that I will treasure the most is her friendship and warm spirit towards others. She was a very special person and will be greatly missed by those who were lucky enough to know her. My deepest sympathies go to her husband, Simon, her family and all her many friends.

Paul Bennett, chief executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society