The Society

News

Twelve seek election to Council as Bill Darling completes 39 years
Inspector's preregistration talk in Stockport rescheduled
Chiltern looks at local challenges
Relaunch of the Industrial Pharmacist

Twelve seek election to Council as Bill Darling completes 39 years

Twelve candidates are contesting this year’s election of seven members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council. Missing from their number is the “father” of the Council, Bill Darling, who is retiring after 39 years' service — having served 13 consecutive three-year periods of office.

Mr Darling is a community pharmacist in South Shields. Now aged 66 years, he registered as a pharmacist in 1955 and was first elected to the Council in 1962. He was Vice-President of the Society from 1968 to 1970, President from 1970 to 1972 and Treasurer from 1992 to 1995. He is currently chairman of the Council's Health Act working party and ethics working party.

Mr Darling was awarded the Society’s highest honour, the Charter gold medal, in 1985. Outside the Society, he has served on a wide range of local, national and international bodies concerned with pharmacy and other aspects of health care.

Mr Darling told The Journal that he would continue to be active in pharmaceutical and health service affairs and had no intention of retiring from his profession.

The candidates contesting the seven vacancies include the other five Council members who complete three-year terms of office this year. The remaining vacancy is the position formerly occupied by Professor Clare Mackie, who recently resigned from the Council before completing her term of office.

The retiring Council members who are seeking re-election are Mr Andrew Burr, Mr Sultan Dajani, Mr Marshall Davies, Professor Bill Dawson and Mrs Helen Remington. They are joined in the election by Mrs Sarah Cockbill, Mr Wally Dove, Mrs Sally Greensmith, Mr Ashwin Tanna, Mrs Vanessa Taylor, Mr Alan Woodcock and Mr Ben Zatland.

Biographical details of the election candidates appear here. Voting papers and a booklet containing candidates' statements of policy are to be posted to members shortly.

Inspector's preregistration talk in Stockport rescheduled

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Professional Standards Directorate has rescheduled one of this year's presentations by Society inspectors for preregistration trainees (PJ, March 10, p333).

As the result of a misunderstanding, the session planned for Stockport on March 28 did not take place. The Society offers its apologies to those trainees who travelled to the venue on that date.

The presentation will now take place on May 22, from 9am to noon, at the Postgraduate Medical Centre, Stepping Hill Hospital, Poplar Grove, Stockport. The rescheduled presentation is open to all preregistration trainees who wish to take advantage of it. There is no need to reserve a place in advance, but any trainee needing further information about the event can contact Mr David Young (tel 01204 597734).

Chiltern looks at local challenges

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Chiltern region has hosted the second of the Society's meetings organised to explore how the Society's local network can meet the challenges of the future, including those arising from the Government's modernisation programme for the National Health Service.

Following the success of the Wessex region meeting (PJ, February 17, p219), the Chiltern region’s “Shaping up for the future” meeting took place on April 1. It brought together representatives of the Society's branches, local pharmaceutical committees, pharmacy development groups, health authorities and the pharmaceutical industry.

The meetings are being facilitated by the Society’s membership services team and are sponsored by Council members Nicola Gray and Alan Nathan. Dr Gray told The Journal: “The day provided an excellent opportunity for Society members from all sectors of the profession to compare experiences and share ideas.” She added that some of the participants were able to take away ideas that they would be able to implement immediately at a local level.

Relaunch of the Industrial Pharmacist

The Industrial Pharmacist — one of the casualties of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's budget-trimming exercise for 2001 — has been relaunched with backing from major pharmaceutical companies. The four companies supporting the publication are AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Reckitt Benckiser.

The relaunch follows a decision by the Society's Council at its February meeting to allow publication to continue during 2001 provided that commercial sponsorship could be obtained to cover its total editorial and production costs. A proposal that sponsorship should be sought from three or four multinational companies had been put to the Council by the Industrial Pharmacists Group Committee, which had earlier rejected a scheme that would have allowed publication to continue in electronic form only.

In anticipation of sponsorship being obtained, the editor, Joe Ridge, has continued working on future issues of the Industrial Pharmacist, and publication of the first is expected shortly. The newsletter is now being published by Mr Ridge's company through a third-party contract.

The group’s chairman, Mel Smith, told The Journal that the continuing publication of the Industrial Pharmacist was due to hard work and negotiation by members of the group committee. He said that the committee had been inspired by all the support it had received from people who appreciate the publication.

The Society's Veterinary Pharmacists Group Committee is also investigating the possibility of obtaining sponsorship to support its newsletter, which was another victim of the budget cuts. Whether or not sponsorship is forthcoming, the Society hopes to be in a position to issue at least one brief newsletter for veterinary pharmacists during the year.