The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has announced a series of measures designed to improve services to its members. They include the establishment of a dedicated membership team to handle and develop membership services and provide a point of contact for members' inquiries. In addition, improved methods for handling telephone inquiries are being introduced throughout the headquarters building and plans are in hand to make the building more welcoming to visitors.
The Society's plans are in response to the 1998 report of a working group on links with the membership, which highlighted the need to encourage members to make better use of the services and facilities available from the headquarters building.
The Society hopes to have its new membership team in place by May. The team is to be established within the Public Affairs Directorate as a new responsibility for the head of public relations, Mr Jean-Pierre Moser. The team will manage branch and regional affairs and "champion customer care". It will also have a remit to promote the development of new membership services.
The new team will be led by Ms Amanda King, who has worked as part of the public relations team for several years. Two new assistant posts are being created to help handle branch and regional matters and to establish a members' inquiry help desk, which it is hoped to have up and running by mid-summer.
The Society's head of professional and scientific support, Mr Roger Odd, will provide pharmaceutical input into the team's work in an advisory capacity and continue to be involved in membership meetings. The leader of the current branch and regional administration team, Ms Cathryn Andrews, is to help establish the new team before she leaves the Society later in the year.
As part of a plan to improve the handling of inquiries generally within the Society, a "customer care" training programme is to begin soon.
Although the training programme will involve several aspects of customer services, a particular emphasis will be on protocols for handling telephone calls. A guide to who does what within the building has already been distributed to staff to facilitate better referral of calls.
Also under way is a project to replace the Society's current switchboard with new communications equipment to allow easier access to callers' destinations, effective call management and performance audit. It will also have the potential for future interface with information technology and data systems. The Society hopes to install the new system by the autumn.
As part of the plan to improve services for visitors to the building, a visitors' guide is now available from the reception desk. In the longer term, the entrance foyer may be remodelled to provide a more welcoming and practical environment, including integrated switchboard and reception facilities. This is part of a headquarters refurbishment proposal currently under consideration by the Council (PJ, February 5, p208).
Commenting on the announcement, the Society's Director of Public Affairs, Ms Beverley Parkin, said: "I believe that the Society gives its members exceptional value for money in terms of the services and support on offer. What we are doing now is focusing a wide range of skills from across the directorates on membership matters. By this time next year, when most of the changes will have been rolled out, I am confident that members will notice a real difference."