![Ravi Sharma, director for England at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society](https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Ravi-Sharma-RPS-18-927x617.png)
Royal Pharmaceutical Society
NHS England has appointed Ravi Sharma, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) director for England, to the new NHS Assembly, which was set up to support the delivery of the ‘NHS Long Term Plan’.
At its board meeting on 28 March 2019, NHS England announced that 56 individuals drawn from national and frontline clinical leaders, patient leaders, staff representatives, health and care system leaders and voluntary, community and social enterprise sector leaders would form the new assembly.
It was first announced in early March 2019 as an advisory board to NHS England and NHS Improvement on implementing the ‘NHS Long Term Plan’.
NHS England has said that the Assembly, which will meet for the first time in spring 2019 and then quarterly afterwards, will have an agreed programme of work to allow for engagement activity in advance of meetings to help bring wider insight.
Sharma said the appointment was “an exciting opportunity” and that it was “a privilege to put the pharmacy point of view on the Assembly”.
“The ‘NHS Long Term Plan’ is the blueprint for the future of the NHS in England and pharmacists are an integral part of it. I look forward to working with colleagues to shape the future delivery of the plan,” he said.
The Assembly will be co-chaired by the GP Clare Gerada and Sir Chris Ham, former head of the King’s Fund think tank.
More than 500 people applied to sit on the Assembly, with the successful applicants chosen based on their individual knowledge, skills and experience.