Candidates for 2018 RPS pharmacy board elections take part in online hustings

Neal Patel, head of corporate communications at the RPS

Candidates standing for election to the English and Welsh Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) national pharmacy boards joined members for an online hustings on the evening of 19 April 2018.

The conversation was hosted on Telegram, and moderated by Neal Patel, head of corporate communications at the RPS, and Boyana Atanasova, digital communications assistant at RPS Scotland.

Patel opened the discussion by asking candidates why members should vote for them and what their first priority would be should they be elected on to the board.

The discussion was then opened up to questions from members. Aditya Aggarwal asked English candidates how they plan to work with NHS England to support delivery of its five-year forward view, and improve patient care and safety. On a similar theme, Babir Malik wanted to know if English candidates knew the name of, and had engaged with, their sustainability and transformation partnerships lead.

Anthony Cox asked candidates what they thought the RPS should have said about workforce pressures on community pharmacists. Reena Barai asked what candidates considered to be the key characteristics of a successful board, and Ruby Mughal wanted to know if boards had collectively thought what skill set is needed to move forward as a professional body.

On a different note, Umer Ayyaz asked if pharmacy has a PR problem and, if so, what should be done to address it. And Nahim Khan let candidates know he would expect to see results. “Are candidates happy if I ask in The Pharmaceutical Journal letters [section] what they have achieved in six months? Nine months?”, he said.

The candidate’s response to these and other questions can be seen in the full transcript of the evening, available on the RPS website. Voting in the 2018 elections opens on 30 April 2018 and closes on 18 May 2018.

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, Candidates for 2018 RPS pharmacy board elections take part in online hustings;Online:DOI:10.1211/PJ.2018.20204709

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