Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has named the three new representatives joining its committee after it announced in September that it was making “changes to its composition” to “better reflect the make-up” of community pharmacy.
Jardines managing director Has Modi and Pearl Chemist superintendent pharmacist Mayank Patel “have become the first members to be nominated by the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA)”, the negotiator revealed last week (November 14).
The “additional interim independent” committee representative will be Healthy-U Pharmacy superintendent and Sussex local pharmaceutical committee (LPC) member Dervis Gurol, it added.
Read more: CPE to change committee structure to ‘better reflect’ pharmacy sector
Following a period “as observers to the committee”, Modi and Patel now have “full voting rights” and will sit on the committee alongside the existing three members elected by the non-Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) multiples, CPE said.
Meanwhile, Gurol joins the “regional representatives” – the 10 independent pharmacy owner committee members who are “elected on a regional basis”, it added.
And “longstanding committee member” Rowlands Pharmacy’s Clare Kerr has “stood down” as the number of CCA representatives on the committee has been reduced by one, the negotiator said.
“Appropriately represented”
According to CPE, these changes “ensure all categories of pharmacy owners are appropriately represented” on its committee and are part of “wider work” to “further strengthen governance”.
It noted that its executive team “moved quickly” to implement the committee changes ahead of its November committee meeting.
Read more: The pursuit of harmony - can CPE find it?
And it added that the new representatives will take up their posts from this month and will sit on the committee until CPE’s “next election in April 2027”.
Chair of CPE’s governance and people subcommittee Adrian Price said that the committee is “pleased” to be “increasing representation from the independent and 10-plus (non-CCA) multiple parts of the sector”.
Read more: Proposals to reduce CCA power in CPE committee voted down
Modi, Patel and Gurol will “begin feeding into the critical day-to-day work of CPE with immediate effect”, he said, adding that the committee “[looks] forward to working with them”.
It comes after CPE explained in September that the changes follow “independent expert recommendations to increase the number of 10-plus multiple members” on the committee and “give the IPA appointment rights” to CPE.
