Eight to contest Council election

Home > PJ (current issue) > The Society / News Centre | Search

The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7391 p299
11 March 2006

Society summary

Eight to contest Council election

Eight candidates are contesting this year's election of five pharmacists to unreserved places on the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The eight include only three of the five Council members who have to retire from the Council this year (ie, those who received the lowest numbers of votes when all the 14 unreserved places for pharmacists were filled last year). Missing from the list of candidates are Shiv Bagga, who has been a Council member for the past two years, and Bharat Nathwani, who joined the Council last year.

The eight candidates are as follows:

David Carter — Mr Carter, aged 45, is managing director and superintendent pharmacist of D. L. Carter & Son Ltd, South Shields

Chris Cooper — Mr Cooper, aged 48, is health care technology programme director for Boots The Chemists

Brian Curwain — Dr Curwain, aged 59, is chief pharmacist and research and development lead for New Forest Primary Care Trust

Dorothy Drury — Mrs Drury, a Council member since 2005, is a 53-year-old locum pharmacist in community practice

Andrew Gush — Mr Gush, aged 43, is a pharmacy business consultant and locum pharmacist

Andrew McCoig — Mr McCoig, a Council member since 2005, is a 57-year-old community pharmacist

Pradip Patel — Mr Patel, aged 51, is pharmacy superintendent for Boots The Chemists

Douglas Simpson — Mr Simpson, a Council member since 2003, is a 65-year-old freelance pharmaceutical journalist and consultant who edits Independent Community Pharmacist

A booklet containing biographical information and candidates’ statements of policy will be posted to voters with the voting papers at the end of March. The biographical details are also scheduled to be published in The Pharmaceutical Journal of 1 April. The closing date for the return of voting papers will be 5 May and the election result will be published in The Journal of 13 May. The elected candidates will serve for three year.

Mr Bagga told The Journal that it had been a privilege to serve on the Council, albeit only for a short period, but his pharmacy commitments made it increasingly difficult to devote the hours needed to fill a demanding role as a Council member. His commitments had been extended with the opening of a consortium pharmacy at the Church Road health centre, the first NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust site.

Thanking those who had supported him in the past two elections, he assured them that the Council now had a vision and strategy to elevate the profession to great heights.