From Mr C. Friedland, MRPharmS
SIR,—Both Sally Haynes and Idris Hughes in their letters (PJ, September 11, p379) clearly articulate the frustration that members feel at the distance that separates them from a remote Council. Both make strong cases for an element of regional representation to be incorporated into the way that members are elected to the Council.
At one stroke this would achieve, not only the degree of accountability that is lacking within the current structure, but it would open the way for the Society's branches to develop a much stronger role within the organisation. Most branches have a predominantly social and educational agenda and, apart from a brief flurry when Pharmacy in a New Age was launched, they have shown neither the political drive nor the ability to influence the workings of Council. Branches, however, have the potential to become a powerful conduit between the membership and the Council. Regional representation could provide the switch to activate that conduit and to re-energise the political potential now lying dormant within the branches.
Mr Hughes laments the impotence of a "large, disparate, scattered and disorganised collection of members and voters". Properly empowered, branches could provide the way forward by gathering, representing, and organising the current generation of lost sheep.
Colin Friedland
Welwyn, Hertfordshire