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Layer On 24 April, Henry
William Tansley Layer, MRPharmS, aged 85, of 12 Hogarth Avenue, Brentwood,
Essex CM15 8BE.
Mr Layer registered in
1944. (See tribute)
Parness On 20 March, Arnold
Parness, aged 94, of 8 Gilgarran Park, Gilgarran, Workington, Cumbria
CA14 4RA.
Mr Parness registered in 1937 and retired from
the Register in 2007.
Refson On 22 April, Gerald Refson,
of 421 The Colonnades, Albert Dock, Liverpool L3 4AG.
Mr Refson registered in
1959 and retired from the Register in 2006. |
Tributes
Layer In a tribute to the late Henry William Tansley
Layer,
KEN FREE writes:
Henry Layer served his apprenticeship with Herbert Saunders
in Coggeshall, Essex, in 1939. After qualifying from Chelsea College,
he undertook locum work in London hospitals before conscription into the
army,
where he saw service with the Paratroop Regiment, training as a glider
pilot, followed by a stint in the Medical Corps in Palestine after the
end of the war.
On returning to the UK in 1948, Henry took up a career in psychiatric
hospital pharmacy. He worked for all of his civilian professional career
at Warley Hospital,
near Brentwood, where he devoted himself to the care of mentally ill patients,
most of the time as the pharmacist in charge.
He played a full role in the
hospital from guiding medical and nursing staff through the therapeutic
revolution that
was to take place during the 1950s and ’60s, to participating in the
social life where his make-up skills for the Christmas pantomime were doubtless
based
on sound pharmaceutical products. Later he assumed responsibility for pharmacy
services for nearby Harold Wood Hospital.
Although the psychiatric hospitals were very much the Cinderella of the Health
Service, Henry Layer had a vision of the profession far beyond his own hospital.
Having been in post when the NHS was set up, he rapidly became involved in
all aspects of the provision of pharmaceutical services.
Henry served for many years on the regional pharmaceutical advisory committee
for the North East Metropolitan Region, much of the time as its chairman, until
it was wound up in 1974. As such he and the secretary, Stan Shaw from the North
Middlesex Hospital, were responsible for providing advice to the regional authority.
They established co-operative working between the various hospitals, including
the establishment of the regional drug contract.
He was also instrumental in “being
flexible” in interpreting the committee’s constitution to allow,
for instance, the London Teaching Hospitals within the region to be represented
and involved in forming regional policy long before they were more generally
integrated.
In 1967, when 47 per cent of the pharmacy posts in the region were unfilled,
they agreed with the regional board to set up a full review of services to
every hospital in the region with recommendations on how to maximise the
use of resources
and improve services. The report covered all aspects of staffing, facilities
and services and was used by the region as its evidence to the Noel Hall
review that was set up shortly afterwards.
The conclusions and recommendations
for
the region were a remarkable forerunner of those in the Noel Hall report,
which in
turn formed the basis nationally for hospital pharmacy services for many
years to come.
Henry was active in his local branch of the Pharmaceutical Society and
in the Guild of Public Pharmacists, where he served for many years on the
London
branch
committee, including periods as chairman. He was a familiar figure at the
annual weekend school and other social events, where his ballroom dancing
skills made
him a popular target after the dinner for ladies looking for an accomplished
partner. For a number of years he served as London district member on the
guild council.
Henry retired in 1986 after 38 years at Warley Hospital. He retained a
keen interest in pharmacy, a profession of which he was extremely proud
to be
a member. He
leaves a widow Renée and two sons Graham and Martin, a family of whom
he always spoke with tremendous pride.
I first got to know Henry Layer in 1960 when I became chief pharmacist
at Severalls Hospital, Colchester. Henry was quick to encourage me as a
fellow
psychiatric
pharmacist and soon twisted the rules for membership of the regional advisory
committee to allow me to be co-opted to it.
His support and encouragement was a major factor in the way my career developed,
and I shall always be grateful to him for that and his ongoing friendship
over the years. He has been a true friend to the profession and will be
very much
missed. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal