Director of All-Wales Pharmacy Technical Services announced

Following a robust recruitment exercise we are pleased to announce Colin Powell to the post of Director responsible for the new All-Wales Pharmacy Technical Services.

Colin will have responsibility as Service Director as well as Programme Director for the Services’ Implementation Programme as well playing as a key role as part of the All-Wales Chief Pharmacist Group.

In a wide ranging and varied career, Colin began his career working within sterile production and aseptic services in a number of roles including that of All-Wales Production Pharmacist over a nine year period. This included the setting up and chairing the All-Wales Aseptic Services and Production Pharmacist Group (WASPP), a group that was rebranded to Clinical Pharmaceutics and Technical Services (CPTS) and still exists today. This was followed in 2014 by a ‘stocktake’ of the aseptic facilities in Wales where a report was presented to the Chief Pharmacist Group with the then All-Wales QC Pharmacist.

Colin has honed his leadership skills becoming a Year 2000 Project Manager in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Clinical Design Lead for Informing Healthcare (now Digital Health and Care Wales) and as Chairman of the Pharmacy Implementation Group (PIG) for the national WellSky pharmacy computer system.

More recently Colin was the Chief Pharmacist for Acute Services at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board having responsibility for all acute Pharmacy services provided from the four pharmacies within the Health Board, situated in the Royal Gwent Hospital, Nevill Hall Hospital, Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr and the new Grange University Hospital which opened in November 2020.

On the announcement of his appointment Colin said: ‘I am extremely honoured and proud to be have been appointed into this post, and can’t wait to get started.  We are extremely lucky to have the opportunity to consolidate the existing service and expertise into the 3 regional hubs, as it will allow us to develop a truly national service, for the people of Wales.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank NWSSP, the Chief Pharmacist Group and my colleagues from around Wales for their hard work in getting us to this point, and to Welsh government for making the funding available.’