New members of Council

CMHP Council welcomed two new members recently: Kiran Hewitt and Amanda Parkinson.

Kiran Hewitt, Chief Pharmacist at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was co-opted during the CMHP election cycle, and was confirmed as a Council member at the CMHP AGM in October. She joins Amanda Parkinson, Lead Pharmacist at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, who is the other most recent newbie. Amanda was co-opted earlier in the year to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Steve Buckley.

Kiran started her career in community pharmacy and then very swiftly moved to a large acute hospital in Liverpool as a basic grade pharmacist. Before committing to doing the general clinical diploma, Kiran decided to give mental health pharmacy a try, and agreed to cover a colleague’s maternity leave post for 6 months in a neighbouring mental health trust.

She never did go back to the acute trust and when offered a substantive post, she jumped at the chance to stay and establish herself as a mental health pharmacist. There, she gained a wide range of experience, covering inpatient services for older adults, adult acute, substance misuse and rehabilitation specialities. She completed both the psychiatric certificate and diploma at Aston University during that time and was fortunate to gain experience in and help develop education and training for patients, carers, other healthcare professionals, and participated in undergraduate and postgraduate psychiatric pharmacy teaching at John Moore’s University. She has been a UKPPG and CMHP member since 1997.

Last year, whilst undertaking a leadership masters degree, Kiran was appointed as Chief Pharmacist at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Since qualifying as a pharmacist, Amanda worked in a variety roles including community, teacher practitioner, practice pharmacist in a GP practice before moving into hospital pharmacy in Lancaster 2001. Whilst working in a GP practice she achieved an MSc in clinical pharmacy looking at the role of pharmacists in managing the discharge pathway in primary care.

As part of the role at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary she was given responsibility for the psychiatric wards which is where her passion for mental health began. She achieved the diploma in psychiatric therapeutics just as she moved to work for Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust in 2004 as Lead Pharmacist for the North Lancashire locality. This role has evolved over time and she now is now the pharmacy lead for the mental health network and clinical lead for electronic prescribing having led on the successful roll out across all inpatient wards. Amanda has a special interest in complex trauma having been an independent non-medical prescriber within the Lancashire Traumatic Stress Service (LTSS) for the last 10 years. She has a particular interest in developing close working between psychological practitioners and prescribers to improve patient outcomes.

Amanda is a credentialed member of the College.

CMHP President Juliet Shepherd said: "I am so pleased to have two great people joining us as co-optees to the CMHP council to make our small team stronger for 2019.  Welcome Amanda and Kiran!"

Read more about our Council members here: https://www.cmhp.org.uk/about-us/governance/council-members/