Chancellor, Trevor Beswick is a pharmacist of national standing who has held a number of significant leadership roles regionally and nationally in the profession. Trevor has driven change in the pharmacy profession throughout his career in order to enable the pharmacy workforce of the future to take on new roles and as a result, has significantly enhanced patient care. The Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at University of Bath, formally the School of Pharmaceutical Chemists in Bristol has produced pharmacists for over 100 years. It is therefore fitting as the MPharm at Bath undergoes further significant transformation in 2022 that we are able to honour his contribution to the profession and to pharmacy education.
Trevor graduated from the University of Aston in 1979 with a BSc in Pharmacy and an MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1983. He worked in a variety of roles in hospital practice in the South West and the Midlands. In 1993 he took his first regional role becoming the South West Regional Pharmaceutical Advisor. During this time, he set up the South West Medicines Information and Training centre in Bristol which over the past 25 years has supported the delivery of high-quality medicines information and trained thousands of pharmacy staff. His passion for education was clear at this time and he led national work as the Chair of the NHS Pharmacy Education & Development committee which drove many pharmacy education reforms.
In addition to senior NHS posts in hospitals and at a regional level, he also held positions as Head of Medicines Management at Bristol Primary Care Trust and moved outside of pharmacy to become the Associate Director of Primary Care Commissioning. At a national level, Trevor also worked in the Office of the Chief Pharmacist at the Department of Health and contributed towards the work of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). He has been a member of numerous national committees and advisory groups, most significantly being on the NHS ‘Modernising Pharmacy Careers’ programme board. He also worked with the World Health Organisation during 1997/98 in Bosnia-Herzegovina advising the government on initiatives to promote clinical and cost-effective medicines use.
Over the years, Trevor has been a strong advocate and supporter of the University of Bath. He has been on degree scheme review panels, boards of management at undergraduate and postgraduate level and more recently on the University of Bath Pharmacy Education Advisory Group. This group was set up in 2015 to provide strategic input to the re-design of the curriculum of the current MPharm undergraduate degree. His unique insight helped us to meet the accreditation requirements of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and ensured we continue to produce pharmacy graduates fit for the workplace.
One of Trevor’s key achievements was working with academic staff at the University of Bath to design and deliver a postgraduate diploma and Masters programme in Clinical Pharmacy in the early 1990s. The programme at Bath continues today and is a UK leader in post-graduate pharmacy professional education where we currently have over 600 part-time distance learning students. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in May 2017 which is one of the highest honours for pharmacists and recognises the distinction that Members have attained in their pharmacy career. Shortly after this Trevor was appointed as one of the first Pharmacy Deans for Health Education England.
Trevor’s wide portfolio of work has had a direct impact on patient care by driving change in the NHS in terms of skill mix and the provision of high-quality education and training for the qualified workforce. His work supporting individual learners, regional teams and strategic leadership influencing national policy has significantly shaped the pharmacy profession.
Chancellor, I present to you Trevor Beswick, who is eminently worthy to receive the degree of Doctor of Health, honoris causa.