Appointment of a Vice President and Five Council Members to the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland

The Department of Health has announced the appointments of a Vice President, a Lay Member and four Registrant Members to the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland. Mr Jonathan Patton is appointed as Vice President, Mrs Carol Moore as a Lay Member and Ms Chanel Jones, Mr Mark McCrudden, Mr Barry Mimnagh and Mrs Alison Ragg are appointed as Registered Persons from 1 March 2019 for a maximum period of four years.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland Council comprises of 14 Non-Executive Members – 7 registered persons and 7 lay members. 

Council members are remunerated by an attendance fee, summarised as follows:

The procedure for these appointments is not bound by the Code of Practice issued by the Commissioner for Public Appointments for Northern Ireland. However the appointment process was carried out in the ‘spirit of the code’.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland was established by the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Northern Ireland) 1925, and has been based at 73 University Street, Belfast since 1933.

It is the regulatory and professional body for pharmacists in Northern Ireland.  It maintains a register of over 2300 pharmacists, 210 pre-registration trainees and over 500 pharmacy premises across the country.

As the regulatory body it protects patient and public safety by:

• setting and promoting standards for pharmacists' admission to the register and for remaining on the register;
• maintaining a publicly accessible register of pharmacists, and pharmacy premises;
• handling concerns about the Fitness to Practise of registrants, acting as a complaints portal and taking action to protect the public; and
• ensuring high standards of education and training for pharmacists in Northern Ireland

Notes to editors: 

1. Mr Jonathan Patton (VP) brings a breadth of knowledge and experience from the Private, Public and Charity Sectors. Since 2005 he has been running his own Management Consultancy business working primarily with Small Business and Charities on governance, health and safety and performance improvement.
   
   Having worked with large multinational and local companies across several industry sectors in Belfast, Edinburgh and London at senior management and Director levels, he now serves as a Non-Executive Director with the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, as a Lay Advisor to the Strategic Management Board for the Public Protection Arrangements in Northern Ireland and as a Lay Representative with the Northern Ireland Medical and Dental Training Agency.
   
   Jonathan has extensive experience in the Regulatory Sector working on Fitness to Practice Committees with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland and the Bar Council for Northern Ireland.
   
   He currently sits as Chairperson of Community Rescue Service who provide an NI wide resource to search for high risk and vulnerable missing persons.
   
   Jonathan is a member of the Institute of Directors.
    
2. Ms Chanel Jones (Reg) was born in The Bahamas and grew up in the Turks and Caicos Islands. She then went on to study pharmacy at Kingston University in London and completed her pre-registration year in Belfast in 2016. Immediately after qualifying, she went to work as a locum community pharmacist, for a large chain store and a number of independent pharmacies. She has also worked as clinical writer for Pharmacy in Focus and Scottish Pharmacist.
   
   Chanel currently works as a clinical and procurement pharmacist in the Ulster Hospital and in her spare time she enjoys watching Japanese anime, gymnastics and playing the bass guitar.

3. Mr Mark McCrudden (Reg) graduated from Queens University Belfast in 2008 and qualified as a pharmacist in 2009. Having begun his career as a locum community pharmacist, Mark moved into the hospital pharmacy sector in 2010. He began his hospital career in Causeway Hospital working as a clinical pharmacist before moving to Antrim Area Hospital later that year.
   
   Throughout his career at Antrim Area Hospital, Mark has worked across various roles including both clinical pharmacy, a pharmacy representative within GP practices and in regional pharmaceutical procurement. Whilst undertaking his role in regional procurement, Mark served on the NICE PASLU committee from 2013 to 2016 as the representative for Northern Ireland.
   
   In 2016, Mark was appointed as a GP Practice Specialist Case Management Pharmacist working in two GP practices within the Northern Trust.
   
   Mark’s current role is as the Lead Pharmacist for Unscheduled Care in Antrim Area Hospital.
    
4. Mr Barry Mimnagh (Reg) has worked in healthcare since 1996, serving first as a psychiatric nursing assistant, then as a pharmacist, qualifying in 2003 as a Master of Pharmacy.
   
   Since then Barry has practised extensively across the pharmaceutical spectrum serving in hospital, community and research areas of pharmacy.
   
   Barry currently serves as Alternate Vice-Chair of Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care Research Ethics Committee A (HSC RECA). At RECA, Barry practises as an Expert Member reviewing HSC research, as well as being a Lead Reviewer of Clinical Trials performed in NI and the UK. His specialities are First-In-Human Clinical Trials and HSC research applications involving Adults who Lack Capacity, indeed in this respect he also serves as an Expert Referee.
   
   Barry loves science and its application (i.e. the role of pharmacy) in maintaining and improving the health and wellbeing of the people of Northern Ireland.

5. Ms Alison Ragg (Reg) graduated from The University of Nottingham in 2002 and qualified as a Pharmacist in 2003.  She gained experience as a hospital pharmacist working in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland before moving into the clinical trial industry where she spent 10 years as a Project Manager and Pharmacist. Alison is a qualified PRINCE2 practitioner (Project Management) and has a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Pharmacy. She has been a Continuing Professional Development Facilitator with the Pharmacy Forum NI since 2013. She is currently working with Victoria Pharmaceuticals at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust to set up a new service supplying medicines to Elective Care Centres within Northern Ireland, and is moving into a Practice Based Pharmacist role in April 2019.

6. Mrs Carol Moore (Lay) is a retired senior civil servant who served in policy roles in a range of Northern Ireland departments, including Finance and Personnel; Health; and Justice. Since retirement she has served on the board of a local mental health charity, where she focussed on governance; and on the Ethics Group of the Home Office’s National DNA Database. She was awarded the CB in the 2011 New Year’s Honours.

7. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. All appointees have declared they have not engaged in any political activity in the last five years.
    
8. For media enquiries please contact the DoH Press Office team on 028 9052 0575 or email pressoffice@health-ni.gov.uk  Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer on 028 9037 8110. Follow us on twitter @healthdpt

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