Alliance Healthcare has set up a board of experts including three pharmacists, a former Labour politician and a one-time Conservative health minister who became a peer to advise the company on its UK strategy.

In a statement yesterday, Alliance Healthcare said it had made five appointments to the board, including Lord James O’Shaughnessy (pictured), a senior partner at consultancy firm Newmarket Strategy who was appointed by the government in February to carry out an independent review into the challenges facing commercial clinical trials in the UK.

Other appointees to the board are Claire Ward, the Labour MP for Watford between 1997 and 2010 who has also worked as director of public affairs for the Pharmacists’ Defence Association, Fin McCaul, managing director of Prestwich Pharmacy in Manchester, and Jeanette Howe, former head of pharmacy at the Department for Health and Social Care. The board’s chair is Alliance Healthcare’s non-executive adviser Chris Martin.

The company said the board, which has met twice this year at Alliance Healthcare's headquarters in Chessington and will meet on a quarterly basis, will ensure its "strategic programme is aligned to NHS priorities and delivers real value to UK patients."

Alliance Healthcare managing director Marie Evans said: “The Advisory Board is an invaluable resource, bringing great knowledge and experience to challenge Alliance Healthcare UK’s strategy as we continue to support community pharmacy and ensure that our service development priorities align to those of the NHS and improve the lives of patients.”