A new Scottish Pharmacy Clinical Leadership Fellowship scheme is aiming to provide NHSScotland with a group of senior pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who are committed to pharmacy development and have enhanced capability to offer leadership in their work place and potentially at national and international levels.

From this month, four Scottish pharmacist clinical leadership fellows will be responsible for taking forward some of the key actions from the Scottish government pharmacy strategy, ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care’. A new joint clinical leadership fellow – pharmacy technician has also been recently appointed.

The scheme was launched recently by Scotland’s Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Dr Rose Marie Parr, in conjunction with NHS Education for Scotland (NES).

Dr Parr said, ‘I am delighted that we now have our clinical fellows in post and I look forward to working together with them to take forward some of the priority actions from ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care’. These posts will have a vital role in service redesign and improvement, and are key to helping us achieve our vision for pharmacy as an integral and enhanced part of a modern NHS in Scotland’.

Professor Anne Watson, NES Postgraduate Pharmacy Dean, said, ‘We look forward to co-ordinating and hosting the very first cohort of Scottish clinical pharmacy fellows in this exciting new opportunity. I am sure that the individuals involved will be hugely successful in these roles and will be leaders in the profession of the future. They will drive forward key areas of professional development for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. We look forward to also linking them with the other clinical leadership Fellows from the medical and dental professions.’

Seconded to NES for three days a week, the newly-appointed fellows will spend the next 12 months working closely with Scottish government, NHS Scotland pharmacy leaders, and other key stakeholders to take forward national initiatives linked to service redesign and improvement in all NHS pharmacy sectors and care homes. They will be provided with national leadership training, coaching, and mentorship, and will undertake a tailored development programme with other pharmacy clinical leadership fellows within the UK, as well as other professions, including medicine and dentistry.

In addition, the Scottish government and the General Pharmaceutical Council, in conjunction with NES, have recently appointed a new joint clinical leadership fellow – pharmacy technician. This senior pharmacy technician secondment post will involve both leading and working on projects across both the Scottish government and the General Pharmaceutical Council priority agenda areas; including the Scottish pharmacy technician workforce and career framework development across all sectors, leading a project aimed at understanding the drivers and barriers of professional behaviours for pharmacy technicians, and contributing to the initial approach to evaluation of revalidation.

The four Scottish pharmacist clinical leadership fellows are:

  • Mr Shady Botros, Principal Clinical Pharmacist for Surgery, Orthopaedics and Critical Care, NHS Tayside, who will focus on the hospital pharmacy service transformation
  • Mrs Laura McElroy, Regional Manager for Rowlands Pharmacy, who will focus on community pharmacy
  • Dr Pamela Mills, Principal Pharmacist Redesign, NHS Ayrshire & Arran, who will focus on the Integration of Pharmacy Services
  • Mrs Elaine Paton, Senior Prescribing Advisor, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, who will focus on primary care pharmacy – pharmacotherapy implementation