In People news

Follow this topic

Bookmark

Record learning outcomes

Bill Scott, who was chief pharmaceutical officer for Scotland for 22 years from 1993 to 2014, died last month aged 76.

He graduated from the School of Pharmacy at Heriot-Watt University in 1973 after initially leaving school at 15. A Master of Science in Industrial Pharmacology from Strathclyde followed in 1974. He began his professional career with pre-registration training at the Western Infirmary in Glasgow and held one of the UK’s earliest resident pharmacist posts at Nottingham City Hospital.

After spells at Eastern General Hospital and later at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh he moved to Tayside Health Board, where he served as chief administrative pharmaceutical officer. Around this time, he was instrumental in encouraging the establishment of the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association at a time when other national bodies in pharmacy saw little value in a body dedicated to the emerging specialism.

In 1993, he was appointed chief pharmaceutical officer for Scotland, a role he held until 2014. As CPhO, he was instrumental in shaping two landmark pharmacy strategies – The Right Medicine (2002) and Prescription for Excellence (2013). These strategic visions fundamentally redefined pharmaceutical care in Scotland and positioned pharmacists as key clinicians within the healthcare system.

In the late 1990s, under the auspices of the Clinical Resource and Audit Group, he published the first Clinical Pharmacy Practice Frameworks for both hospital and community-based NHS pharmaceutical services.

Over the span of his career he played a pivotal role in reforming the community pharmacy contract in Scotland, transforming it from a dispensing focus to practice that was clinically led. He was responsible for introducing a professional allowance payment. A Minor Ailment Service, which was underpinned by a general practice-type capitation payment model, a world first for pharmacy, followed, then a Public Health Service, which allowed community pharmacists to provide smoking cessation services and free emergency contraception on the NHS.

He was instrumental in founding the Scottish Medicines Consortium in 2000. Comprising clinicians, including pharmacists, NHS and pharmaceutical industry representatives, and members of the public, this committee appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of all newly licensed medicines.

In recognition of his outstanding service to pharmacy, Bill was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours in 2016. He also received honorary doctorates from both Schools of Pharmacy in Scotland and was a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.