Royal Pharmaceutical Society
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has announced the names of eight pharmacists in England and four pharmacists in Wales who have successfully been elected to positions on its national pharmacy boards.
The election results, published on 21 May 2024, follow a ten-day voting period in England and Wales.
No election took place in Scotland, where seven candidates ran unopposed for eight substantive vacancies on the Scottish Pharmacy Board.
The eight members elected to the English Pharmacy Board were: Claire Anderson, Martin Astbury, Steve Churton, Ciara Duffy, Sue Ladds, Mike Maguire, Tase Oputu, Ankish Patel and Matthew Prior.
In Wales, Gareth Hughes and Dylan Jones were elected to the two community pharmacy sector posts on the Welsh Pharmacy Board, while Aled Roberts and Eleri Schiavone were elected to the two ‘any sector’ posts.
Helen Davies was elected unopposed for the primary care sector vacancy, as were Rafia Jamil and Geraldine McCaffrey for the two hospital sector vacancies.
The seven members elected unopposed to the Scottish Pharmacy Board were: Jonathan Burton, Lucy Dixon, Laura Fulton, Catriona Sinclair, Amina Slimani-Fersia, Richard Strang and Audrey Thompson.
Turnout for the national board elections in England increased from 7.3% of members in 2023 to 10.1% in 2024. In Wales, 19.1% of members cast a vote.
Commenting on the election results, Paul Bennett, chief executive of the RPS, said: “I am delighted to welcome all our newly elected board members across Great Britain.
“I’d like to say a big thank you to all the candidates who participated in the election this year and for the time and effort they invested. It has been encouraging to see a range of candidates from diverse backgrounds put themselves before the membership and with a shared goal of wanting to see the RPS flourish as a professional leadership body.
“It’s very positive to see that voter participation in England has increased by nearly 3 [percentage points] to 10.1% this year (7.3% in 2023), along with a strong showing in Wales, where the turnout was 19.1%.”
The full election results are available here.
