Results of National Pharmacy Association Board Officer Elections

01 May 2020

The NPA board of management on 27 April elected the positions of Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer for the period of 2020-2022.

  • Andrew Lane will continue as Chair.
  • Nick Kaye picks up the vacant position of Vice Chair.
  • Michael Guerin will continue as Treasurer.
  • Reena Barai becomes an NPA nominee to PSNC alongside Umesh Patel.

The period in office for all these roles is two years.

Andrew Lane said: “I will carry on ensuring the NPA is fully focused on its mission to support independent community pharmacies, as they in turn help patients across the UK, during the coronavirus crisis and beyond. The support of Nick and Michael (as Vice Chair and Treasurer respectively) will be invaluable to me, in these very testing times for the sector and the sector’s leadership bodies. I only hope that the circumstances are very much better for pharmacy and the country as a whole by the time we reach the end of this period of office, in 2022.”

Newly elected Board member Sanjeev Panesar who represents members in the West Midlands, attended his first formal meeting of the NPA Board.

During the meeting which was conducted remotely online, the NPA Board discussed coronavirus support for members across the UK. They recognised the incredible hard work of all NPA members on the frontline to limit the impact of coronavirus and keep people well. They reiterated the urgent need for a financial package from the Government to meet all the additional costs of dealing with Covid-19. The Board also thanked all those members that had submitted data which supported the PSNC submission to government.

They also heard about the latest development of NPA’s economic impact survey. An expert team from global consultancy firm EY are assessing the robustness of the community pharmacy funding and policy framework in England. In the next week or so EY will be launching a detailed member survey to gather evidence on the financial health of the sector which will form a key part of the evidence in this report. The NPA Board is asking as many members as possible to contribute to this external survey to ensure that the findings are as reflective of the financial position as possible.