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Thorrun Govind is a practicing pharmacist, healthcare lawyer and former Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in England. As a key educator, expert and leader in the healthcare industry, Thorrun makes health information more accessible, while shining a light on critical challenges within the sector. She has been involved in high profile women’s health campaigns; supporting the public but also educating healthcare professionals. She regularly comments on healthcare in the media with appearances on ITV’s This Morning, BBC Breakfast and Sky News.

What’s one of the biggest challenges facing the healthcare industry today?

Workforce burnout is the biggest challenge facing the healthcare industry today. We’ve got a huge number of healthcare professionals and healthcare workers who are incredibly burnt out, so staff retention is going to be key. How do we encourage people to come into healthcare?

Burnout [in healthcare] can be impacted by the level of autonomy people feel they have, and the issue of wages, which is also a big problem. Also, staff not feeling recognised — this did change to an extent during the pandemic, but that hasn’t really translated into anything meaningful for healthcare staff on the ground.

Medicine shortages is another major challenge facing the health and pharmacy industry. We are spending so much time trying to source medication, and this also impacts the workforce as it’s a very stressful job.

What three leadership qualities or principles do you consider most important, particularly in healthcare?

The ability to understand something from another person’s point of view — most particularly the patient — is key. Secondly, I think reverse mentorship has a really important part to play in leadership and learning from people who are junior, or who have different perspectives on the world.

Thirdly, not being afraid to embrace learnings from people who work outside of healthcare, because they can give you some really agile responses and things to think about.

What excites you most about the future of pharmacy?

The most exciting thing about the future of pharmacy, for me, is the use of more digital tools, which are going to enable us to branch out beyond the traditional pharmacy, to be able to support our communities even more.

It also means that we may be able to support patients within their own homes, which is key as it all becomes about prevention and the self-care agenda — so, helping people stay well for longer without actually needing more help, or more routine healthcare services.

RELATED: The NHS Confederation’s CEO Matthew Taylor discusses the future of healthcare and empowering individuals in their health.

What has been a personal career highlight?

One career highlight for me was being invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the late Queen. It was just such an incredible experience and for the first time in my life I was absolutely speechless!

What would you love to achieve in your career?

Thorrun speaking to ITV News in 2023.

For 10 years I have been working really hard to make sure that the public and the media are more aware of what pharmacists do. There was one week recently where I was on various different media, including the BBC and ITV Breakfast shows, and that was incredible for me personally, because it felt like a culmination of a lot of years of hard work.

What are some of your favourite aspects of working as an expert in healthcare?

Working as an expert in this industry has brought me a lot of joy actually. It’s the ability to support patients to stay well, but also to be a trusted member of the local community.

What’s a favourite motto that you often draw on?

My favourite motto is “shy bairns get nowt”  (‘shy children get nothing’, a reference to the shyness of children when making requests) because I think you’ve got to put yourself forward and not be worried about what people think.

You’ve just got to think, ‘I’ve got something to offer, and if people want to embrace that, they can’. I ask myself:  ‘Am I doing what I think is best for my patients, and actually for the wider public? And I think that’s the best way to think of anything.

 

Explore our 2024 programme Advancing Healthcare

In our Advancing Healthcare programme we explore the UK’s national healthcare system, and the work going on to achieve better outcomes for patients, clinicians and communities.

Watch our thought leader interviews here, including our discussion with Matthew Taylor, CEO of NHS Confederation and with NHS Supply Chain’s CEO, Andrew New.