Paul qualified as a pharmacist in 1983 and spent his early career in Middlesex before returning to Essex, the county where he was born. He managed community pharmacies in Grays and Clacton-on-Sea before becoming an Area Manager for Lloyds Chemist. In 1994 he went into partnership and ran a busy community pharmacy in Clacton-on-Sea that specialised in supporting nursing and residential care homes. On the sale of the pharmacy in 2001, he started a portfolio career.

He has a Master’s degree in Health Sciences and a Doctorate in Health Literacy. He has worked as a senior lecturer in pharmacy practice at the University of East Anglia. Paul works as the pharmacy dean for NHS England in the East of England and is involved in regional and national delivery of pharmacy workforce education and training.

Paul has been a trustee for a school, a pharmacy faculty, and for the charity, Coeliac UK. He was a board member for two Primary Care Trusts, Health Education England’s Primary Care Board and Suffolk and Northeast Essex Sustainability and Transformation Partnership Board.  Paul has been a trustee of Havens Hospices since 2019 and the vice chair since 2021. He is also a Director of Havens Hospices Trading Company and chairs the Care Committee.

Paul has been married to Delia for forty years, and they have two grown-up children and three grandchildren. He is an Ipswich town supporter and a keen Argentine tango dancer.