The NHS in England has today confirmed the appointment of the next Chief
Pharmaceutical Officer for England.
Following an open recruitment process, David Webb, currently Chief Pharmacist
and Clinical Director for Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation at Guy’s and St
Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, will join the Medical Directorate and
lead the national pharmacy team from February.
In his new role, David will be a member of NHS England and NHS Improvement
Medical Directorate’s senior management team, the UK Government Chief
Medical Officer’s senior clinical group, Head of the Pharmacy Professions in
England and the principal advisor on pharmacy and medicines use in the NHS,
which includes supporting the Department of Health and Social Care.
David will be the Senior Responsible Officer for reducing inappropriate prescribing
of antibiotic medicines as part of efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance and the
programme to address overprescribing in the NHS.
He will lead the NHS’s medicines optimisation strategy which aims to enable
patients and clinicians to make the best use of medicines in English healthcare, as
well as ongoing pharmacy educational reform, the promotion of inclusive pharmacy
practice and transforming the practice of hospital, primary care network and
community pharmacy in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
David will also lead a team of pharmacy professionals, working at both national
and regional level, to ensure pharmacy professional advice is deployed effectively
to improve patient care as well as being the professional leader to over 70,000
pharmacists and pharmacy technicians registered in England.
Pharmacy professionals have played an invaluable role in the NHS COVID-19
vaccination programme with more than 21 million jabs delivered through
community pharmacies alone.
The new appointment follows Dr Keith Ridge CBE retiring from the role, after 16
years in post.
David said: “The last two years has been an extremely challenging time for all
NHS colleagues, but it has also highlighted the absolutely vital and positive role
that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians play as clinical professionals in the
NHS team.
“Whether it’s been hospital teams supporting the care of over half a million very ill
patients, community pharmacy teams delivering over 21 million jabs across the
country, or primary care teams being at the forefront of the vaccination
programme in local communities, they have been central in every part of the NHS
COVID-19 response – in addition to pharmacy teams everywhere continuing their
usual clinical roles of supporting patients and delivering safe and effective health
services.
“I’m very proud to be appointed to be Chief Pharmaceutical Officer and to lead the
next stage of the transformation of pharmacy practice working with colleagues
across the healthcare system to support them, listen to them and enable them to
continue to deliver to the highest standards, helping the NHS recover services,
improve the use of medicines for patients in the 21st century and deliver on
important Long Term Plan commitments.”
Mr Webb has been at the forefront of the pharmacy response to the pandemic in
South East London, been the regional chief pharmacist for London, director of
regional specialist pharmacy services for London, East and South East England
and led the review of specialist pharmacy services for England in 2014.
He undertook a secondment to the Department of Health where he was part of
the team which developed the 2008 White Paper Pharmacy in England: Building
on strengths – Delivering the future, and is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society.
Biography
David Webb, who first registered as a pharmacist in 1986, has been appointed as
Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England. Prior to his appointment, David was
Chief Pharmacist and Clinical Director for Pharmacy and Medicines
Optimisation at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) and joint
chair of the South East London (SEL) Pharmacy Leadership Team.
At GSTT, he was responsible for pharmaceutical oversight of the COVID-19
vaccination centres and the COVID medicines delivery unit. At system level, he
has been joint chair of the leadership team bringing together pharmacy
professionals from community pharmacy, primary care, commissioning and acute,
specialist, mental and community health practice to deliver vital COVID-19
responses and the optimisation of medicines, building on experience as
professional lead for the SEL integration of NHS pharmacy and medicines
optimisation programme board.
Key achievements include: a plan for new ways of working and a systems
perspective on overprescribing, medicines safety and antimicrobial stewardship;
the COVID-19 vaccine programme; a system-wide palliative care medicines
service; a community pharmacy vaccine champions scheme; and new pilot
initiatives including referral from hospital to community pharmacy for stop smoking
services.
Up until the start of 2018, David was Regional Chief Pharmacist for NHSE&I in
London. He provided support to the national policy unit during the development of
the medicines value programme (MVP) and was a member of the MVP Board and
working group. He contributed to the strategy on regional medicines optimisation
committees (RMOCs) and played a key role in establishing the London RMOC.
Between 2008 and 2013, David was director of regional specialist pharmacy
services for London, and East and South East England, and chair of the network
of London trust chief pharmacists and primary care pharmacy leads. He was NHS
lead for the review of specialist pharmacy services in England published in 2014
and, during secondment to the Department of Health, was actively involved in the
2008 White Paper on Pharmacy in England.
He has held a number of academic appointments at the UCL School of
Pharmacy, including that of Visiting Professor, and – more recently – has been a
senior member of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Clinical Academic Group of King’s
Health Partners’ Academic Health Sciences Centre.
David has a keen interest in educational reform and the development of practice
and is a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
