From Dr D. H. Maddock, FRPharmS
SIR,-I have received an invitation from the chief executive of our health authority to attend a health community meeting to discuss national plans for modernising the National Health Service. The accompanying 13-page documentation truly reveals the status of our profession in the eyes of the Government. It includes details of modernisation action teams:
Partnership Chairman - Minister of State, Department of Health; 22 members including the chairman of the council of the British Medical Association, the controller of the Audit Commission, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing and the president of the Association of Directors of Social Services.
Professions Chairman - Minister of State for Health; 22 members including the head of health at Unison, the vice-chairman of Patients Forum and Mr Nick Ross, the broadcaster.
Performance Chairman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health; 23 members including the chief medical officer, the director of the Commission for Health Improvement, the chairman of the Academy of the Medical Royal Colleges, the chairman of the council of the Royal College of General Practitioners, the chief executive of the British Association of Medical Managers and the chief executive of the NHS Confederation.
Patient access Chairman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lords); 21 members including the National Heart Director, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, the chairman of the council of the British Dental Association, and the director of the College of Health.
Patient empowerment Chairman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State; 21 members including Professor Alison Blenkinsopp (department of medicines management, Keele University), the chairman of the BMA's general practitioners committee, the general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, the chairman of the Long Term Medical Conditions Alliance, the Proprietary Association of Great Britain, the chairman of the British Diabetic Association and the Carers National Association.
Prevention Chairman - chief medical officer; 21 members, including the chairman of the Joint Consultants Committee, Community Action Network, the chairman of the National Heart Forum, the chief executive of the UK Public Health Association, the Social Exclusion Trust, the chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Relief.
I have selected only 32 of the 128 members to demonstrate the communities from which they have been drawn. Many of the remainder can be described as either senior department officials or having been selected from local bodies. One eminent academic pharmacist is listed who has no connection with any of our profession's national bodies and is not even a member of one of our recognised undergraduate schools of pharmacy. The one national body with any pharmacy connections is the Proprietary Association of Great Britain.
The Government's assessment of our place in the firmament of health care is clear for all to see. No public representations appear to have been made to remedy this sad state of affairs. I can certainly state that at least one Past President would have not accepted such a professional affront.
D. H. Maddock
Padstow, Cornwall (Past President, Royal Pharmaceutical Society)