The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) yesterday (February 10) announced the appointment of Canice Ward as its new chief executive after nine months with only a “caretaker” leader in place.
He is set to join the society on a “two-year secondment” from the Northern Irish Department of Health (DH), starting his role on March 3, the PSNI said.
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Ward registered as a pharmacist almost 20 years ago and worked in numerous community pharmacy managerial roles before joining the DH as a pharmacy inspector in 2013, according to the regulator.
In 2018, he became the head of the DH medicines regulatory group, monitoring the “production, import/export, possession, supply and administration of medicines and controlled drugs”, the PSNI added.
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Alongside this, Ward lectures on pharmacy legislation at Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Ulster and he previously assisted with the delivery of pharmacy technician courses at one of Northern Ireland’s regional colleges, the society said.
He also worked with the NI Centre for Pharmacy Learning and Development to “provide continuous professional development opportunities to pharmacists”, it added.
“Strategic vision”
“The society welcomes this appointment and looks forward to working with Ward going forward,” the NI pharmacy regulator said.
And PSNI Council president Dr Geraldine O’Hare said that Ward has “considerable experience and expertise in pharmacy across Northern Ireland and beyond”.
“I am confident that his knowledge of the pharmacy profession, his strategic vision and wide-ranging connections across the sector will prove invaluable as the society strives to become a modern fit-for-purpose regulator,” she added.
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It comes after the PSNI revealed in September that it had failed to appoint a permanent chief executive after a “recent competition”.
It said at the time that it was “unfortunately unable on this occasion to recruit a suitable candidate” but would “resume [its] efforts” to fill its leading role.
Director of operations Joan Duffy stepped into the role of “caretaker chief executive” in the same month, taking over from Jonathan Patton who had held the position since May when former chief executive Michaela McAleer stepped down.
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Meanwhile, the NI pharmacy regulator last week launched a consultation on a raft of education and training reforms that will remain open until April 2.
These include allowing newly qualified pharmacists to practice as independent prescribers (IPs) straight away and scrapping “blanket recognition” offered to pharmacists who trained overseas.
