Vice-Chair - Independent
Michael Ball -
- Current CPL Board member: 2014 - present
- Current CPL Vice Chair: 2022 - present
- Current CPL HR Subgroup member: 2020 - present
- Former CPL Chair: 2018 - 2022
- Current Choose Health LPC Director: 2016 - present
- Superintendent Pharmacist: 2017 - present
- Independent Pharmacy contractor and business owner: 2019 - present
I am a fiercely passionate advocate for community pharmacy and in showcasing its ever expanding potential to seize opportunities that can address the challenges that our NHS, and citizens accessing its services, currently face.
My experience over the last 13 years within independent pharmacy practice, with the last four as a business owner, has equipped me with the skills and network that I believe has allowed my to effectively support and represent my peers as one of their elected members during the last 9 years of my time on the board.
Undoubtedly community pharmacy is at a major crossroads, and the next four years are, in my opinion, incredibly critical. As a consequence, the newly formed board needs the right balance in terms of experience, skill mix and energy, and I believe I can contribute on all of these to ensure the right and effective strategic leadership.
I am not afraid of making the difficult decisions, and campaigning for what our many brilliant contractors and their teams rightfully deserve in terms of the appropriate opportunities and importantly, the recognition for their contribution.
I will ensure we work tirelessly at a local, regional and national level to lobby for the interests of community pharmacy to reach its potential. I will set high expectations to ensure we position ourselves as an equal partner amongst all stakeholders across the complex and ever evolving nature of NHS organisations. We will continue to be the ever present trusted partner, whilst we persist with our messaging that this MUST be valued considerably more than it currently is.
Whilst we continue to pressurise for significant uplifts financially across both nationally and locally commissioned services, it is also somewhat necessary that we carefully demonstrate our potential to make significant contribution to clinical service delivery from our ideally located pharmacy practices. With this in mind, it is also a key priority of mine for my own pharmacy team, and to support all my community pharmacy colleagues, that we seek to engage in how best to transition into these new models of working. Reviewing all of our systems and processes to seek out where efficiencies and capacity can be yielded is also a ‘must do’ whilst we also remain at the negotiating table to improve how our value is perceived.
I hope I am able to continue to contribute by representing and supporting my peers across Lancashire & South Cumbria, and I am grateful to my own pharmacy team that I can be afforded the time to prioritise working on behalf of the sector, to maximise professional fulfilment alongside improving access to great healthcare for citizens.
Read More