Society summary

Possibility of paid regional co-ordinators raised in consultation on local network

The appointment of salaried regional co-ordinators for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is among ideas being considered as part of the Council’s consultative review of how the Society’s local networks can contribute to the future of the profession.

A report sent out to branch and regional secretaries, and now available to all members through the Society’s website, says that calls for paid local co-ordinators were made by a large number of members during the meetings held across Britain earlier in the year to consider how the Society locally can best support the profession’s development.

The report says that members clearly feel the need for local leadership and a source of information about national and local pharmacy plans and health policy in general. However, it says that the consultation provided no clear picture of the role envisaged, which appeared to be based in part on the Society’s former Pharmacy in a New Age co-ordinators.

Entitled “Shaping up for the future”, the report sets out the main themes arising from the 13 meetings held across Britain during the first six months of the year to explore how the Society’s local network can best meet the challenges of the Government’s “Pharmacy in the future” programme.

The document also incorporates the main findings of a postal survey carried out among a random sample of members to canvas the views of those who did not attend branch meetings.

On the subject of the role of the local network, the report says that many members were unsure of the purpose of the branches and, in particular, the regions. Those who did identify a distinct role for the branches saw them as a support organisation for pharmacists in the locality. They supported the development of the profession by helping members develop themselves through life-long learning, they supported opportunities for debate, for exploiting new ideas and for sharing perspectives, and they supported members at all stages of their lives through fellowship and peer guidance in a non-sectoral, non-commercial environment.

The regions were seen as being able to provide an umbrella body for the branches, acting as a conduit of information to and from the Council and to and from external health networks. It was felt that, once the future shape of the National Health Service at local level became clear, the Society’s regional boundaries should be redrawn to match those of the NHS commissioning authorities.

Another theme arising from the consultation was that branches and regions were hungry for a role as a sounding board on Council policy and responses to government policy. It was widely felt that Council members should be more fully involved with the work of the branches and regions — but through “dialogue” rather than through “presentations”.

A further theme arising from the meetings was that the burden of administration for branch and regional officers was excessive, particularly with regard to sending mailings to members. Suggestions included paying branch secretaries for their time, paying for local administrative support and buying labour-saving equipment (such as word processors and fax machines). Although there was currently no bar on using branch funding to support any of these practices, they were not encouraged.

The consultation detected regret that branches had lost their continuing education role when the national centres for pharmacy postgraduate education were established. However, the move towards life-long learning through continuing professional development could open up a role for the branches in supporting pharmacists’ learning opportunities. A number of branches had reported that branch continuing education meetings tended to attract more members than meetings on pharmacy politics.

At some of the consultation meetings, a view had been expressed that branches and regions needed more funding. But it appeared that, although some active and focused branches felt starved of adequate funding, others struggled to devise ways of spending their allocation at all, let alone on programmes that optimally met professional needs and attracted younger members.

The report was presented to the Council at its August meeting but was not debated (PJ, 18 August). The Council agreed that the document should be issued immediately to branch and regional secretaries for local discussion and consultation. It would also be published on the Society’s website so that individual members could comment on the issues it raises.

The Council has approved a tight timetable for consultation on the document. In a covering letter accompanying the copies of the report sent to branch and regional secretaries, the Society acknowledges that branches and regions may not have local meetings during the summer at which to discuss the document. But, because of the timetable for the project, the Society hopes that branch and regional secretaries will be able to find “creative solutions” to sharing the paper with their members.

The Society has also sent copies of the report to national organisations whose members participated in the local meetings.

The Council agreed that comments should be sought before 10 October, when the report would be the main discussion topic at the annual meeting of branch and regional secretaries. Normally the branch secretaries and regional secretaries meet on separate days, but this year the Council has agreed to combine the meetings and devote most of the proceedings to a discussion of the report.

Following the branch and regional secretaries’ meeting, a final report, containing recommendations, is to be prepared for the Council’s December meeting. The Council’s aim is to agree a way forward at that meeting and implement changes during 2002.

Members can download “Shaping up for the future” from the Society’s website as a PDF file. It can be accessed at www.rpsgb.org.uk/society by clicking on the “Branches” link. Members wishing to comment on the report should do so before 10 October, either via their branch secretaries or direct to Membership Services, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN (e-mail b&ra@rpsgb.org.uk).

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