A new chief pharmacy officer and deputy registrar has been appointed at the UK’s General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to help provide pharmacy leadership across the organisation and ‘influence progress at an exciting and challenging time’ for the profession.
Roz Gittins has been named as the new chief pharmacy officer and deputy registrar of the GPhC, while Dionne Spence will take up the position of chief enforcement officer and deputy registrar. Both will start their roles on 3 January 2024.
They join existing members Mark Voce, chief strategy officer and deputy registrar, and Jonathan Bennetts, chief operating officer and deputy registrar, to form the new executive structure of the GPhC.
Ms Gittins – a GPhC registered pharmacist who has worked in several senior leadership roles within the third sector – will provide pharmacy leadership across the GPhC, representing the organisation in public and acting as the executive lead on pharmacy inspection and regulatory insight.
‘I’m looking forward to joining the GPhC team in the new year,’ she said. ‘I hope that this new role, alongside Dionne and other GPhC colleagues offers a unique opportunity to influence progress at an exciting and challenging time for the pharmacy professions.’
Ms Spence – previously director of regulatory operations for the General Optical Council – will have oversight on all enforcement action by the GPhC.
She said: ‘Coming in at the inception of this innovative approach to leadership, with a team so committed to streamlining our regulatory functions and improving the service provided to all users, is incredibly exciting and will provide great benefit to the sector.’
Duncan Rudkin, GPhC chief executive, welcomed Ms Gittins and Ms Spence to the regulator, commenting: ‘Both roles are critical in making sure that our organisational structure supports stronger engagement with the pharmacy professions and effective delivery of our regulatory services.
‘We’ll be working together to make sure the organisation is driven by desired outcomes set out in our vision, rather than processes and procedures.’
This week, the regulator announced it had extended a revalidation deadline, giving pharmacists due to submit their revalidation by 31 October an extra week to do so, following technical issues with its website.
A version of this story was originally published by our sister publication The Pharmacist.
