Interim chief pharmaceutical officer for Scotland Alison Strath will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Independent Pharmacy Awards.

The Awards, which celebrate the achievements of independent community pharmacists and their teams across the UK, will take place on October 8 at the House of Commons, Covid restrictions permitting.

This year there is a new category – The Extra Mile Award – which recognises the ways in which independents have gone beyond the call of duty to meet the needs of their local community. 

Ms Strath is the senior professional advisor on pharmacy and medicines issues and provides professional and strategic leadership to the pharmacy profession in Scotland.

She leads and advises on pharmacy and medicines-related policy and legislation on issues such as community pharmacy service negotiations, access to newly licensed medicines via the Scottish Medicines Consortium and the UK Voluntary Pricing and Access Scheme.

Ms Strath has also held a variety of posts including principal pharmaceutical officer in the Scottish government, professor of community pharmacy practice at Robert Gordon University’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences and chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Scotland.