Pharmacist Scott was awarded with an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list in 2016. 

He received honorary doctorates from two schools of pharmacy in Scotland and was a Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) fellow. 

In 1993, Scott was appointed as CPhO for Scotland and stayed in this role until 2014. 

He helped shape pharmaceutical services within Scotland during the devolution era and contributed to white papers on health. 

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Working alongside fellow CPhOs across Great Britain, he advocated for the establishment of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). 

An obituary from current CPhO for Scotland Alison Strath, former CPhO for England Keith Ridge, and former CCA chief executive Rob Darracott, said he was “an inspirational leader” and “one for whom the word visionary can be rightly applied”. 

“Bill was known for his intellectual rigour, strategic foresight, and unwavering belief in the potential of pharmacists to elevate patient care,” they said. 

Disruptor 

The trio said Scott “took no prisoners” and “many will know what it was like being on the end of a Bill ‘ticking-off’”.  

They added: “He was not afraid to ruffle feathers to get a job done. Bill was a disruptor and had a way of cutting through all the red tape and bureaucracy, to make things happen. 

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“He was a mentor and guide to countless pharmacists across the UK and beyond, known for his wise counsel, constructive challenge, and infectious enthusiasm.  

“His sharp intellect was balanced by a wicked sense of humour. Those who had the privilege of working with him admired his authenticity, warmth, and unwavering loyalty.” 

Career 

Scott grew up in Shotts, North Lanarkshire and graduated from Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University in 1973. He received a Master of Science in industrial pharmacology from the University of Strathclyde the following year. 

His appointment as one of the UK’s first resident pharmacist posts at Nottingham City Hospital “marked the beginning of his pioneering work in hospital pharmacy services”. 

Scott introduced clinical pharmacy services and developed aseptic dispensing practices, therapeutic drug monitoring, and intravenous additive services at the Eastern General Hospital and Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. 

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He served as chief administrative pharmaceutical officer (CAPO) for Tayside Health Board where he restructured the pharmaceutical services. He also established the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association with his life-long friend Professor Steve Hudson. 

Scott revised post-qualification education programs for pharmacists and created collaborative academic posts within the two Scottish schools of pharmacy. 

In the late 1990s, Scott published the first Clinical Pharmacy Practice Frameworks for both hospital and community-based NHS pharmaceutical services which “expanded the clinical scope of pharmacists” and enhanced their role in both primary and secondary care. 

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Scott also inserted a pharmacy strategy in the first Scottish Government policy document on health a year after the Scottish Parliament was re-established at Holyrood in 1999 with the then director of primary care Hamish Wilson CBE. 

And he founded the Scottish Medicines Consortium in 2000 with Professor David Lawson CBE, a committee that assesses the “clinical and cost-effectiveness of all newly licensed medicines”. 

Scott was also integral to shaping two pharmacy strategies, The Right Medicine in 2002 and the Prescription for Excellence in 2013, and these strategic visions “fundamentally redefined pharmaceutical care in Scotland”. 

Scott introduced a director of pharmacy in each health board to manage primary and secondary care pharmaceutical services, as well as provide broader leadership for community pharmacy services. 

Community Pharmacy 

He also helped to reform the community pharmacy contract in Scotland from “a dispensing focus to practice that was clinically led” and sought investment into this clinical vision by introducing professional allowance payments. 

The Minor Ailment Service followed from this, as well as smoking cessation services and free emergency contraception on the NHS. 

He also helped drive initiatives such as implementing needle exchange schemes in community pharmacies. 

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Strath, Ridge and Darracott said Scott’s dedication to the profession has “left an indelible mark on pharmacy in Scotland and far beyond” and he will “be remembered with deep respect, gratitude, and affection by all who knew him”. 

He married his wife Catherine, a nurse, in 1974 and has two children Fraser and Fiona and two grandchildren Katie and Jamie, who were “his pride and joy”. 

Scott passed away on July 29, 2025 aged 76.