CIPR  Health & Medical Group 
A forum for all communicators working in the health & medical sector

Jean-Pierre is currently Head of Corporate Communications and Membership at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the professional and regulatory body for pharmacists in England, Scotland and Wales.

From 1996 to 1999, Jean-Pierre was the PR Manager at St Mary's Hospital NHS Trust, London. He also sits on the National No Smoking Day communications group.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is the professional and regulatory body for pharmacists in England, Scotland and Wales. It also regulates pharmacy technicians on a voluntary basis, which is expected to become statutory under anticipated legislation. The Society leads and supports the development of the pharmacy profession within the context of the public benefit.

The Society has responsibility for a wide range of functions that combine to assure competence and fitness to practise. These include controlled entry into the profession, education, registration, setting and enforcing professional standards, promoting good practice, providing support for improvement, dealing with poor performance, dealing with misconduct and removal from the register.

PR in this sector involves promoting the pharmacy profession’s policies and views to the media, general public and government and will lead to experience across the full spectrum of pharmacy including community, hospital, primary care, industry and academia.

NHS Authorities and Government representative - Matthew Willis
Matthew is currently Media Relations Officer at the NHS Counter Fraud and Security Management Service, the body with responsibility for tackling fraud against the NHS and ensuring that the staff and resources of the NHS are secure from violence, abuse, theft and vandalism.

From 2002 to 2004 he was Press and PR Co-ordinator at Surrey Oaklands NHS Trust, a large mental health and learning disabilities trust in the South East. Prior to this he worked for East Surrey Health Authority as a communications officer and regional website editor. Matthew has a background in motorsport journalism from a three-year spell with Haymarket Publishing.

PR for government and NHS arms-length bodies is uniquely challenging and rewarding. The chief aim of PROs in this sector is to present government and NHS policy to patients, staff and the public, and to ensure that the media is well informed about the work that is going on to ensure the continuing improvement of NHS services.

PR Professionals in this sector will have to work closely with government, often with ministers and will have a unique opportunity to keep their finger on the pulse of national policy. These professionals have a singular insight into the way government and national bodies interact with the media and with the largest employer in Europe, the NHS.

PR Agency representative – Justin Wilkes
Justin has been a Director of Spink for the past 18 years, specialising in PR and marketing campaigns for the pharmaceutical, health and lifestyle sectors. Spink predominantly works with pharmaceutical companies and healthcare service providers, offering strategic and creative marketing consultancy and PR campaigns targeted at healthcare professionals and the consumer or patient.

Justin and his agency aim to encourage healthcare marketers to be more adventurous and dynamic with their brands and campaigns and ensure that PR is one of the primary marketing tools in the health and medical arena.

Freelance representative – Michael Smeethe
Michael is Managing Director of iCommunicate Consulting, an independent agency that he founded in 2005 that specializes in corporate and public affairs and issues based communications, particularly in the health sector. He has worked for a wide range of clients across the private, public and third sectors.

Prior to establishing iCommunicate Consulting Michael was Head of Healthcare for Fleishman Hillard UK and Managing Director of Good Relations Healthcare. Before becoming a consultant Michael was Director of Communications for a London based NHS Trust and the National Officer responsible for media and campaigns for one of the largest trade unions in the UK.

Michael has a degree in chemistry from the University of Nottingham and a Post Graduate diploma in Public Relations from the CIPR. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts..



Medical Research representative – Adrian Penrose
Adrian Penrose was appointed as the first MRC Regional Communications Manager (Cambridge) in December 2004 and has 25 years experience as a communications and public relations professional.

Adrian Penrose is a Regional Communications Manager at the London based Medical Research Council and has 25 years experience as a communications and public relations professional.

He works with MRC staff to identify opportunities and to develop and implement ideas to communicate the work of the MRC, including public engagement activities, education, media promotion, publications, local stakeholder relations, parliamentary and decision-maker influencing, policy consultations and promoting science through art.

For three years, Adrian managed communications at the MRC Human Nutrition Research Centre in Cambridge, which researches the links between nutrition and health, and worked particularly with Dr Susan Jebb to raise the profile of obesity as a serious public health concern.

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