From Dr A. Alexander, FRPharmS
SIR,—In reply to the letter from Mr J. D. Khan (PJ, April 8, p543) and the "Broad Spectrum" article by Martin Palmer (PJ, March 11, p404), I would like to outline the route which the Slough branch has taken to achieve change and the subsequent action taken by the Council.
At the 1999 branch representatives' meeting, our motion, which called for the Council to "reconsider the use of the single transferable vote for the election of members of Council", was carried. In response the Society prepared a background paper for discussion at the December meeting of the Council. The motion, together with the background paper, was then referred back to the branch in January for a decision on how we wished it to proceed. As the motion had been carried at the BRM we felt that this decision was no longer for the Slough branch alone to make and we asked for it to be taken to all branches and included in this year's BRM.
I understand the background paper is being sent to branch secretaries and will be included for discussion at the BRM in May. Members who have views on the current voting procedure may wish to contact their branch secretaries to ensure that their views are known.
At this year's BRM, the Slough branch, together with the Bristol branch, will be proposing a motion that the Council "reconsider the restrictions on canvassing by candidates at Council elections, including the use of the internet". We wait to see what response this receives at the BRM. Again, if you have views, let your branch representatives know.
The mechanism for dialogue between the Council and the membership, and vice versa, via the branches and through the BRM does work, albeit slowly. With the current development of branch websites, for which Slough is a pilot, we hope that, through use of the internet, communications can be both strengthened and accelerated, to the benefit of the Society and its members. After all why should the dot.com entrepreneurs be the only ones to benefit?
Angela Alexander
Chairman
Slough Branch,
Royal Pharmaceutical Society