The Royal Pharmaceutical Society could lose its role in regulating the profession, according to the Independent for July 17.
The newspaper reported that the national plan for the National Health Service, which is expected to be published in the week commencing July 24, would include a proposal to create an NHS disciplinary body which would cover all professions.
In the longer term, the newspaper said, the Government was considering a more radical option to create a single regulatory body for the medical and nursing professions, which might ultimately oversee other professions, including pharmacy.
The Society's Secretary and Registrar (Miss Ann Lewis) told The Journal on July 19: "We are only too aware that our powers need modernising to ensure continued excellent standards of professional practice."
Miss Lewis said that there would be formidable obstacles to creating a single regulatory structure to deal with all the health professions. The Health Act 1999 made it easier for existing regulatory bodies to secure changes to their regulatory legislation. This had appeared to indicate support for individual bodies for each of the main professions. However, she acknowledged that there were strong demands for more effective self-regulation. One key issue was a higher degree of lay involvement, which the Society endorsed.
"Our proposals for reform of our legislation, prepared in 1998, provide for greater lay representation, wider powers and more flexible sanctions. We believe that they would meet the justifiable demands of the public," Miss Lewis said.
"One of the great strengths of the Society's arrangements is our inspectorate. This allows us to handle complaints personally and to resolve many informally, to the satisfaction of complainants."