Sandra Gidley has been re-elected as chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) English Pharmacy Board for a third term.

Following the appointment Gidley commented: "I recognise that for both hospital and community pharmacists, recent reforms and funding reductions have had a big impact on meeting this ambition. The English Pharmacy Board will not shy away for asking for investment in both community and hospital pharmacy as we know both of these services are vital to the health of the public. 

"I am proud of our track record in improving the number and variety of roles available to pharmacists; the £112million investment in GP Pharmacists is testament to our ability to create change. We have seen, as a result of lobbying and partnership working, £7.5million invested in community pharmacy access to summary care records.

"We know much more needs to be done and will ensure that the new Government sees the benefit of a sustainable network of community pharmacies in the coming year. This is equally important to the board as the development of hospital pharmacy and new roles for example in care homes and urgent care.”

Sharon “Sibby” Buckle was elected as vice-chair of the Board for a tenure of two years.

David Carter, Sultan “Sid” Dajani, Mahendra Patel and Ashok Soni alongside the chair, vice chair and sitting president Martin Astbury were elected to the RPS Assembly. 

• In other people news this week, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) announced the appointment of Elisabeth Davies as chair of the Appointments Committee, for an initial four-year term, with effect from 1 August 2017.  The Appointments Committee is responsible for the selection and recruitment of statutory committee members. Elizabeth Filkin CBE, who has served as Chair of the GPhC’s Appointments Committee since its inception in September 2010, will retire from the role on 31 July 2017, when her second and final term of office expires.