From Mr P. Walton, MRPharmS
SIR-Mr Justice Holman has ruled that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's "three attempts only at the registration examination" rule is legal (PJ, August 5, p185).
I was very surprised at the grounds for the application, bearing in mind that the candidates have passed their degrees in pharmacy under the tutelage of qualified lecturers and have failed an examination under the tutelage of pharmacists, who may have very little knowledge of the teaching process and who may even be incompetent at it. It is not unknown for bad teachers to blame their pupils for their failures.
Recent history should suggest to the profession that the monitoring of preregistration tutors requires substantial improvement, and even then the number of placements is so large that there are bound to be failures in the system.
The number of times a candidate may need to enter a practical examination to pass is not logically an indicator of the quality of the pupil, as practical assessment is subjective and the starting position of each postgraduate will vary enormously. Some pupils will have previous experience over a long period working in a pharmacy; some will have hardly seen the inside of a real dispensary.
I wonder how Mr Justice Holman would view people attempting their driving test many times, after all driving is an occupation that can cause real risk to other people's lives. I feel sure that this issue will return to haunt the Society, as a matter of human rights violation.
Philip Walton
Swinton, Manchester