Professor Claire Anderson was today elected as president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) for a further two years.
She said that she had decided to stand again in order to offer ‘much needed continuity’ in a time of ‘unprecedented change’.
And Alisdair Jones was elected unopposed as the new RPS treasurer, replacing outgoing treasurer Sibby Buckle.
Mr Jones was already a member of the English Pharmacy Board and RPS Assembly, and part of the RPS Finance and Investment Committee.
Professor Anderson said in a statement to the RPS Assembly that she was ‘not afraid of leading the profession through the tough decisions that we will inevitably face’.
She pointed to several changes facing pharmacy, including:
- the transformation of pharmacy education and the increase in the number of pharmacist independent prescribers
- the implementation of the recommendations of the independent commission into Pharmacy Professional Leadership
- changes to supervision, as the government prepares to reform legislation and discussion takes place between pharmacy bodies
- the profession’s workforce crises
- the upcoming RPS constitutional and governance review
And she promised to ‘lead the profession proactively’, to ‘not just react to a changing policy and professional landscape’ but to ‘be adaptive and agile, never afraid to innovate’.
She added that under her leadership, the RPS would expand its scope of influence ‘to ensure that the RPS is seen as essential, not only to pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical science, but also to everyone who develops, prescribes, administers and takes medicines’.
Professor Anderson was congratulated by the former chair of the RPS England Pharmacy Board, Thorrun Govind, who also stood for RPS president.
In a statement on Twitter, she added: ‘Although I wasn’t successful during this election, rest assured that I will continue to advocate for this profession, to focus on what is important for pharmacists, and champion the voices of the next generation.’
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