Bitter pills
Anger and disappointment over the Government's handling
of pharmacists' remuneration spread to the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society last week. A motion proposed that the President should seek immediate
discussion with the chief executive and chairman of the Pharmaceutical
Services Negotiating Committee with a view to a supportive, professionally
based, joint approach to the Secretary of State for Health to ensure that
account is taken of the profession's views. After a lengthy debate, which
in the main was not controversial, the motion was carried (p871).
The strongest case came from Digby Emson who was
concerned that the huge increase in volume of prescriptions currently
dispensed could have serious consequences for patient safety and was counter
to the Government's own espousal of the principles of clinical governance.
However, many of the other points made, although
acknowledging the role of the PSNC as the body that had responsibility
for remuneration and other commercial considerations, seemed to suggest
that in this instance, the President should also take up the financial
cudgels.
It must not be forgotten that the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society is not a trade union or membership organisation (like the British
Medical Association) but a regulatory body with a remit for professional
standard setting (a cross between the General Medical Council and the
Royal colleges). And although patient safety is well within its remit,
remuneration is not.
It took two of the three Privy Council-nominated
members of the Council to remind their colleagues that this type of debate
would not be deemed suitable for the GMC and the Council should be careful
about the basis on which it supports the work of the PSNC.
This will be a bitter pill to swallow for many community
pharmacists who still view the Society as a membership organisation.
But there will also come a time when it could be
a bitter pill for some Council members to swallow. The Privy Council nominees
are the independent voice on Council. At the moment they constitute a
small minority. When the Council is reconstituted — which it will have
to be, in order to fulfil the Government's requirements of a modern regulatory
body — that small independent minority will rise to 40 to 50 per cent
of the Council membership. If nothing else, that independent voice will
sharpen the Society's and the Council's view of its remit and ensure that
it does not stray into others' territories.
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