Sheila Beaumont (1936–2022)

On 20 May 2022, Sheila Beaumont, aged 85 years, of Brighton, East Sussex. Ms Beaumont was a former member of the Society.

Tribute: Sheila Beaumont

Friends and colleagues of Sheila Beaumont were very sad to hear that she had died suddenly on the 20 May 2022.

Sheila studied at the Leicester School of Pharmacy, registering as a pharmaceutical chemist in 1960. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in 2008. 

Sheila began her career in hospital pharmacy but later bought a community pharmacy in Patcham on the outskirts of Brighton with friend and business partner Astrid Byrne. Sheila and Astrid successfully juggled running their business with bringing up their children. From this small dynamic pharmacy, Sheila engaged with individuals and groups to deliver person-centred care, ensuring that patients got the maximum benefit from their medication. They were also one of the few community pharmacies in Brighton at the time to offer placements to pharmacy students. 

Sheila later went on to become the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) tutor for East Sussex and was also persuaded to help with dispensing classes at the University of Brighton’s School of Pharmacy. Teaching and instructing undergraduate students turned out to be her real passion.

Sheila was also a key player when the postgraduate diploma in pharmaceutical healthcare, a distance learning course, was developed in 1997 and voluntarily spent time with students at residential weekends as teacher, mentor and adviser.

After Sheila and Astrid decided to retire from community pharmacy, rather than settle for a quieter lifestyle, Sheila continued with her CPPE work and teaching role at the University of Brighton’s School of Pharmacy for many more years. She also found time to study with the Open University.

Sheila went on to become a pharmaceutical adviser at the Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust. When she finally did retire, she joined the RPS ‘Retired Pharmacists Group’ steering committee when it was set up in 2011, helping to organise a number of events in Sussex for the group.  

Most pharmacists in Sussex knew Sheila, either as the local CPPE tutor or through the Brighton and Hove branch of the RPS, of which she was the honorary secretary for many years. She was unstinting in the time she gave to this role, and organised local branch meetings as well as representing us at other RPS meetings and much more. She was also very involved with the South East Regional Committee, helping to organise the Annual Regional Conference. Then, with the phasing out of the local branch structure, her help with the formation of the Sussex Local Practice Forum was invaluable.

Above all, many of us remember the welcome she gave and the kindness she showed to pharmacists moving into the area and coming to our meetings for the first time.

Sheila could see the bigger picture when it came to delivering pharmacy patient care and the role that pharmacy technicians, preregistration and support staff played in this. The pharmacists and pharmacy students she came into contact with through her work with the university and CPPE are now practising throughout the UK and, in some cases, internationally. As a result, her ideas and positive approach to person-centred patient care have had a far reaching effect and her loss will be felt widely.

Sheila was a true ambassador to our profession and a role model to us all. 

Our thoughts are with her husband Jim, children Victoria and Benedict, and their families at this sad time.

Jennifer Boncey, Roy Daisley and Catherine McClelland