The North Hampshire branch of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is consulting its members on the future direction of the branch. It is also calling for the whole branch structure and boundaries to be reviewed.
The executive committee of the branch has written to all 239 members in its area asking for their views on why they do not attend local branch meetings and what could be done to change this. The committee took the decision to do this after its recent annual general meeting saw only 11 members turn up, less than 5 per cent of those eligible to attend. Members are also being asked if they want to stop receiving mailings from the branch. This is being done to save money and to reduce the amount of work that the committee members have to undertake.
Mr Sultan Dajani (a member of the branch's committee) told The Journal on January 10 that the committee was concerned about the Society's branch network as a whole. Some branches were closing and others were being forced to amalgamate.
"We see these as indicators that a major revamp of the branch system is needed," he said. "We need to modernise and adapt our branch network to fulfil its true potential. If we do not, then we will lose a network which is the envy of other health care professions."
The North Hampshire branch is hoping to have the subject raised at the Society's branch representatives' meeting in May. It also wants to have branch boundaries redefined. For example, the North Hampshire branch is long and thin and the distance which some members have to travel was seen as a reason for not attending meetings.