Annual lecture prescribes pharmacy education
Integrating pharmacy education into the NHS to improve patient care and health outcomes were explored at this year’s Hope Winch Memorial Lecture.
Professor Chris Cutts, Director of the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) and Sunderland graduate, delivered this year’s lecture.
Chris, originally from Liverpool, graduated in pharmacy from Sunderland in 1990. Early on in his career, Chris specialised as a Paediatric and Neonatal Pharmacist at the Children’s Hospital, Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Chris left Leicester to work in Australia as a lecturer at the University of Queensland and develop an education programme with GPs in rural Queensland. He completed his Doctorate investigating influences on GP prescribing and their value to social marketing techniques. He returned to the UK to become Head of Medicines Management at St Helens Primary Care Trust in 2002.
He has since been Director of the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) from October 2005 and was appointed with a personal Chair at the University of Manchester in 2011, becoming Professor of Professional Development and Practice. Chris split his University position in 2012 to take on the role of Associate Dean for Social Responsibility for the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences. He completed his MBA in 2010 at Lancaster University.
Talking about the opportunity of delivering the lecture, Chris said: “It feels strange to be back and slightly unnerving because you can’t let people down. But I also feel honoured to have been invited to be this year’s speaker.”
He continued: “I have been to Sunderland a few times since I graduated. I came back three years ago for a reunion as I still have a lot of friends I made while at Sunderland. People in the North East are so nice and that is the thing I loved the most when I was here.”
During his presentation Chris reinforced the need to integrate pharmacy due to NHS and social care demand, poor medicines use, poor health outcomes and health inequalities and professional aspiration and morale.
The talk was preceded by the presentation of two cheques for £450 to Parkinson’s UK and to the Hope Winch Benevolence Fund. This Fund provides annual scholarships to current undergraduate pharmacy students who may be experiencing serious financial challenges impacting upon their academic potential. The £900 was raised by the Sunderland Pharmaceutical Students’ Association over the academic year 2015-2016.
Event's photos can be found on Flickr.
SPSA President and Treasurer handing cheque to Paul Carter.
Professor Chris Cutts with fellow alumni.
SPSA President and Treasurer handing cheque to Parkinson's UK.