The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, as the regulatory body for pharmacists, is to be part of a new UK Council of Health Regulators which is to be established as part of the National Health Service modernisation plan (see p182).
The new body is to act as a forum in which common approaches to regulation across the professions could be developed for dealing with issues such as complaints against practitioners.
Other members of the council will be the General Medical Council, the General Dental Council, the General Optical Council, the General Osteopaths Council, the General Chiropractic Council and two newly formed bodies, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Health Professions Council (HPC).
The NMC is to be the successor body to the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting and its four national boards.
The HPC will replace the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine and its 12 professional boards. The HPC will also have scope to regulate new professions which are not currently regulated.
The formation of the two new councils follows independent reviews commissioned by the Government. The reviews recommended streamlined procedures and greater lay involvement in regulation.
A three-month consultation period on the new councils has been started.