**Trustees Annual Report and Statement of Accounts**
**Pharmacists Advice and Support Services**
**For period ended 31 May 2025**
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CCNI No: 101811 **73 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL**
## **Contents**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
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|---|---|
|Governance Arrangements|..................................................................................................... 3|
|Background|........................................................................................................................... 3|
|Governance Structures and Documents|........................................................................... 3|
|Information and Administration|.............................................................................................. 4|
|Trustees|................................................................................................................................. 4|
|Objectives and Activities|......................................................................................................... 5|
|Financial Support|................................................................................................................. 5|
|Counselling and Support Services|..................................................................................... 5|
|Summary of Financial Position|............................................................................................... 6|
|Trustees Signatures of Approval|......................................................................................... 6|
**----- End of picture text -----**
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CCNI No: 101811 **73 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL**
## **Governance Arrangements**
Pharmacy Forum NI (the Forum) is the professional leadership body for all pharmacists registered to practice in Northern Ireland. The elected Board Members of the Forum are also the Trustees of the Pharmacists’ Advice and Support Services (PASS). The remit in which the Forum and Trustees operate is set out in a legal Scheme of Delegation between the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (the Society) and the Forum.
## Background
The Society is legislated through the 1976 Pharmacy Order (NI) and subsequent amendments to regulate and to provide leadership for the pharmacy profession in Northern Ireland.
The Forum was set up in 2011 to provide the professional leadership function enabling the Society to have a regulatory and leadership remit and yet achieve the separation of function consequent to the Government’s wish to decouple professional leadership and regulation.
A legal Scheme of Delegation exists between the Society and the Forum which outlines the remit, delegate powers and responsibilites of the Forum specifically in relation to the PASS under Item 1 _Delegated Functions to the Pharmacy Forum Management Board (PFMB), (d) to provide relief for distresses persons as defined in the Pharmacy Order._
## Governance Structures and Documents
The governing document for PASS is the Declaration of Trust, Pharmacists’ Advice and Support Services Trust.
Organisational Chart
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CCNI No: 101811 **73 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL**
## Information and Administration
Pharmacists Advice and Support Services (PASS) Society House, 73 University Street Belfast BT7 1HL Northern Ireland NIC: 101811
PASS employed a Coordinator who dedicated the equivalent of two working days per week to supporting the charitable activities of PASS, including receiving and processing enquiries and signposting to appropriate sources of support, information, guidance and advice.
During the reporting period, the postholder secured alternative employment and left the organisation in November 2024. Following her departure, the Forum Team ensured continuity of service by assuming responsibility for processing applications and both establishing and supporting panels in their consideration of submissions.
## Trustees
All Trustees are elected members of the Pharmacy Forum NI Board. Please see below the list of members and their Board positions for the period ended 31 May 2025:
- ➢ Sheelin McKeagney, Chair of the Board
- ➢ Anne McAlister, Vice Chair of the Board
- ➢ Philip Boyle, Elected Member
- ➢ Neill Elliott, Elected Member
- ➢ Judith Gray, Elected Member
- ➢ Glynis McMurtry, Elected Member
All Board Members receive general governance training delivered by an experienced external provider. In addition, Trustees receive in-house training, at which they are provided with the relevant Trust Deeds for each of the charities for which they act. This rolling programme aligns with the Forum’s Board Election process and term of board membership. A skills audit is conducted in the year following each election to inform and enhance ongoing training requirements.
Trustees have delegated certain responsibilities to the PASS committee, as set out in its Terms of Reference. Regular updates on the activities and recommendations from the PASS Committee are provided to the Trustees.
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CCNI No: 101811 **73 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL**
## **Objectives and Activities**
PASS exists to provide support services to pharmacists and pre-registration trainees of the Society, as well as former pharmacists, surviving spouses/civil partners and their dependants in times of need. PASS meets the public benefit requirement through:
- ➢ The prevention or relief of poverty
- ➢ The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
PASS meets these purposes through the provision of information and signposting, counselling services, and short to medium term financial support in the form of grants and interest free loans. Direct benefits include improved outcomes for beneficiaries experiencing personal, professional or financial difficulty, including alleviation of financial hardship and enhanced decision-making as an outcome of availing of counselling and advice. Impact is monitored through ongoing beneficiary feedback and periodic surveys of members and service users.
Trustees do not identify any harm arising from the Charity carrying out its purposes. The ‘poverty exception’ applies as the relief of poverty is regarded as providing public benefit even where beneficiaries are drawn from a restricted group. No private benefit arises.
## Financial Support
During the reporting period PASS provided financial assistance totalling £9,000 through grants and interest-free debt consolidation loans to alleviate financial hardship.
## Counselling and Support Services
PASS renewed its annual contract with the Inspire Wellbeing Group to provide confidential telephone, online and face-to-face counselling sessions across Northern Ireland.
During the period 1 June 2024-31 May 2025 seven individuals (one male and six females) availed of counselling sessions with three being in the 20-29 age range, one in the 30-39 age range, one in the 40-49 age range and two in the 50-59 age range, both of whom were returning clients.
Of 24 sessions scheduled, 17 were delivered face-to-face, four via structured telephone calls, one was unspecified, one was a late cancellation and one was a non-attendance.
A further breakdown in the issues presented were that three were work-related stress, one anxiety, one bereavement, one personal stress and one a family-related matter.
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CCNI No: 101811 **73 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL**
## **Summary of Financial Position**
Trustees are satisfied with the investment management of funds and the level of expenditure on charitable objectives, operational costs and service development. The Trustees remain committed to further raising awareness of PASS.
## Trustees Signatures of Approval
Signed and approved on behalf of the Board of Trustees for the Pharmacists’ Advice and Support Services on 10 March 2026.
**Signature:**
## **SHEELIN McKEAGNEY**
**Chair of the Board of Trustees, Pharmacy Forum NI**
**Date: 10 March 2026**
## **Signature:**
**GLYNIS McMURTRY**
**Chair of PASS Committee and Board Member, Pharmacy Forum NI**
**Date: 10 March 2026**
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CCNI No: 101811 **73 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL**