Chief pharmaceutical officer for England appointed at DoH
New CPO Keith Ridge |
Keith Ridge, currently director of pharmacy at University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, has been appointed chief pharmaceutical officer at the Department of Health.
Dr Ridge is expected to take up his new post at the beginning of March
2006. His first tasks will be to drive forward work on independent prescribing
by pharmacists and the DoH pharmaceutical public health strategy. He
will also be responsible for overseeing changes to the management of
Controlled Drugs in the wake of the Shipman Inquiry.
Dr Ridge said: “Over the past few years, patients have demanded
change to how health services are delivered, including pharmacy. The
Government and the pharmacy profession have listened and are responding,
putting pharmacy practitioners right at the front line of patient care.
Prescribing of medicines by pharmacists and the new community pharmacy
contract will increase access to health care. I intend to help make sure
patients benefit from these and other
initiatives.”
Dr Ridge has been chief pharmacist at North Glasgow University Hospitals
NHS Trust and an adviser to the Scottish chief pharmaceutical officer.
He has previous experience of work at the DoH and worked in community,
industrial and academic
pharmacy.
Hemant Patel, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: “I
look forward to meeting Dr Ridge at the earliest opportunity to discuss
how we can continue to maximise the contribution that pharmacists make
to the health of the nation.”
Dr Ridge succeeds Jim Smith, who left the DoH at the end of August to become
professor of pharmacy practice and policy at Sunderland University. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader