Independent Chair Sir Hugh Taylor reflects on progress as we mark the anniversary of publication of the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership’s report

Since my appointment as Independent Chair for the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board in October 2023, I’ve had a warm welcome from the leaders of the pharmacy professional leadership bodies (PLBs) and specialist professional groups (SPGs) which are members of the Board.

Setting up the Board is an important initiative that will further support, enable and empower the PLBs and SPGs to shape and lead the future for the pharmacy professions in these important times.

To ensure it can carry out its remit effectively and guide future-focused leadership for the pharmacy professions, the Board has been established by the Department of Health and Social Care as an independent public body. Working within its remit, the Board will set its own agendas and provide advice to the PLBs and SPGs, which are its constituent Ex Officio members.

I’ve had fruitful and positive initial discussions with my PLB and SPG colleagues, and Board development sessions, and currently we’re working productively towards our first Board meeting on 19 March 2024.

Meanwhile I’m continuing to immerse myself in the pharmacy landscape, as well as taking forward the recruitment of our Independent Expert Members. Like me they need to go through a process of official HR onboarding, but I hope we’ll be in a position to share their names during February.

Now that the Board has been established as an independent public body, the UK Chief Pharmaceutical Officers have stepped back into an advisory role and I’ve taken the lead responsibility.

So, I’m keen to get going with the work of the Board. We’ll meet four times a year and one of the first things we’ll do collectively is set up a patient and public involvement group, as well as a stakeholder forum. These will feed advice and views into the Board meetings to ensure we’re in touch with the full range of pharmacy bodies, enabling us to involve even more colleagues in the work of the Board and ensure the greater transparency we’re keen to achieve.

We’re also making great progress in identifying leaders to join the Board as Independent Expert Members: people of the highest calibre with an outstanding track record in, strong understanding of, or lived experience in, health and care in any country of the UK. This will ensure the Board is broad, balanced and inclusive of appropriate diversity.

The interviews have yielded a great field of enthusiastic and independent-minded pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who I’m confident will be an enormous asset to the Board, shaping and supporting its work, as we seek to ensure greater collaboration across the UK PLBs and SPGs over a three-year period. I’m also delighted that the Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Dr Jeanette Dickson, has agreed to join the Board as an Ex-Officio member.

All this makes for exciting times. Next month, the Board will begin its discussions about the delivery of the recommendations and ambitious vision set out by the UK Commission to:

  1. Support and enable collaborative working
  2. Develop credible and authoritative leadership that is effective and speaks with one voice to Government, regulators, patients, employers and others in the public interest
  3. Develop the future arrangements for UK pharmacy professional leadership, that will contribute to the ambition to realise the future potential of pharmacy professionals in the NHS and other settings.


As the independent UK Commission report outlined, there is an urgent need for the pharmacy professions to work collaboratively to deliver on their potential and, together, address a wide range of professional issues.

The creation of the Board will support and steer a process of evolution for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK, matching the speed of change in healthcare and pharmacy professional practice more widely. It is ultimately for members of the professions and the bodies that represent them to determine the form and structure in the longer term.

All this will require engagement with pharmacy professionals across the UK – seeking your input to our ambitions as we enter this new and dynamic phase of collaboration.

I hope pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across all four countries will join with us to create this positive future and I look forward to working with you all.