Pharmapod Board Member elected as President of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU)

Pharmapod has the great pleasure of having Rajesh Patel MBE as a valued member of its board since 2014. As owner of the Hollowood Pharmacy group where his team are dedicated to providing excellent service to their local communities, to representing his profession at both a European and a global level, Raj has deep expertise and experience across all areas of the pharmacy profession. This has led to his appointment by the Queen as MBE for his services to pharmacy.

Raj also currently serves as a Member of Management board for the National Pharmaceutical Association (NPA) UK, where he held the role of chairman in 2006. Formerly serving on the board of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), Raj is currently a Member of PSNC’s negotiating team. Graduating from Manchester University Pharmacy in 1986, Raj is now also on the external advisory board of the University of Manchester.

To add to his long list of achievements Raj has recently been elected as president of the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) for 2017. The PGEU is the European association which represents more than 400,000 community pharmacists. It represents national associations and professional bodies of community pharmacists from 33 European countries and works to influence legislative and policy initiatives at EU level. These initiatives directly affect both the pharmacy profession and public health on a local and European level.

This is a difficult time for the European economy as stressed by Raj in his acceptance speech: “The European economy is not in a great shape. Efficiency savings and cost-effectiveness are sound bites commonly used by our governments, which often results in community pharmacy having to foot the bill through reduced remuneration. Despite these challenging times community pharmacy is committed to advance, innovate and ensure it is clinically engaged with our patients’.

The Pharmapod team would like to congratulate Raj on this prestigious appointment. With his strong provenance as a pharmacy politician, ambassador and negotiator, it is clear that Raj will make a dynamic contribution to improving the health of communities across Europe.