I qualified as a pharmacist in 1995 and, after completing a number of roles for Boots in Cheshire and North Wales, spent two years with Voluntary Services Overseas as Principal Pharmacist in Vanuatu (South Pacific). Returning to the UK in 2001 I joined P. Williams Chemists Ltd. (a regional multiple based in Cheshire) in a combined pharmacy management and head office role. I joined Rowlands Pharmacy in 2003 as Deputy Superintendent Pharmacist and, as this role developed and after a secondment to the CCA,, became NHS Contract and Policy Manager. Currently my role at Rowlands includes being a director of the Company Chemists' Association, membership of the Community Pharmacy England committeec(PSNC), the board of Community Pharmacy Wales, a member of the Welsh Pharmaceutical Committee, chairman of the group which develops the Declaration of Competence (DoC) frameworks and a member, since 2004, of Cheshire and Wirral LPC (and predecessors).