The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7199 p704
25 May 2002

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

The challenge of changing Council [more]
Quality and control of entry [more]

The challenge of changing Council

It will come as no surprise that the Council has decided to retain both regulatory and professional roles for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (p739). It was an important decision for the Council to make but, in the event, not an historic one. It would have been truly historic if the Council had opted, for example, just to develop as a modern regulator, which was also under discussion, but even then, modern regulation encompasses so much professional activity the difference would, perhaps, seem academic to the vast majority of practising pharmacists.

The decision does not mean, however, that there are not challenges ahead for the Society, both at Lambeth and for the membership at large. One major question still to resolve is how the Council should be reconstituted.

This may be the last year that the Council is elected in a familiar way (the results (PDF*, 25K) of the ballot, in which one in five members of the Society voted, can be seen on p747). This time next year, even though the Council elections may be just as familiar, the vote will take place against a backdrop of speculation, argument and decisions as to what the Council will look like in the years ahead.

There are numerous concerns to be addressed. As the Society remains a joint body will it be possible to retain a pharmacy-dominated Council (with the exception of the Privy Council nominees) and have the greater lay input required for regulation devolved to a new structure overseeing the Statutory Committee and other committees of regulation, such as a Health Committee? If that is not possible, what will a reformed Council look like? Will it be able to satisfy the Government by having only 40 per cent lay membership, as the General Medical Council has done (see p709)? How will the different sectors of pharmacy be selected or elected? And will that satisfy the vociferous members of the Society who worry that their professional interests are being eroded, not enhanced, by the modernisation programme and that their professional interests are being sacrificed on the altar of the public good.

Over the next few weeks, The Journal will be examining the constitution of other regulatory bodies, as well as exploring the options for the Society's Council as it moves forward.

Back to Top

Quality and control of entry

Ending control of entry could lead the Department of Health to think of new ways to control and regulate the quality of pharmacy services (see p705) — the sting in the tail or the silver lining for pharmacy?

Back to Top