The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7215 p378
14 September 2002

Society summary

Questions and answers on the Society's pharmacy workforce census

What should you do if you need to amend your register entry and your registration certificate because of a name change?

Because the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists must provide an accurate list of all pharmacists, it is important that you are registered in the name you routinely use at work. To amend your registration certificate and the register you will need to return your current registration certificate to the Society's registration section along with proof of your change of name in the form of a photocopy of your marriage certificate or decree absolute or a copy of the deed poll document, as appropriate.

If you would like to have your old certificate discreetly cancelled and returned to you rather than destroyed you will need to state clearly this in the covering letter. Further details are available from the registration section of the Society's website.

Two sizes of certificate are available — A3 and A4. The A4 certificate can be laminated at a cost of £2.50. Your covering letter should state which size of replacement certificate you would like and, if A4, whether you would like it laminating.

Why does the Society collect ethnicity data?

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2001, which came into force on 2 April 2001, imposed a new statutory duty on public authorities to promote race equality. Although the Society is not strictly a public body it performs functions of a public nature and is bound by the general duty within the Act in respect of its statutory and regulatory functions.

Registration is a statutory duty and therefore in order to meet its obligations under the Act the Society has to monitor the ethnic make-up of its register. This concept is not, however, new. Before the enacting of this legislation the Society had in fact collected ethnicity data. A survey of ethnicity was included in the 1999 retention fee collection exercise and ethnicity data has subsequently been collected at the point of entry on to the register.

Collectively the ethnicity data will be a powerful tool in assisting the Society in meeting its obligations and in other areas of the Society's work. If the Society did not comply with this general duty it could be challenged by an action for judicial review made by anyone with an interest in the matter or by the Commission for Racial Equality.

As is indicated in the census covering letter, the urgent need to collect accurate and appropriate workforce data led to this being given a high priority in the Society's research programme and offered a cost effective opportunity to update the Society's ethnicity data in line with the categories used in the 2001 National Census.

What does ethnic origin mean?

A working definition of ethnic origin as used by the Government is "a group of people who share common background characteristics such as common ancestors, geographical origin, language, culture and religion. This provides them with a distinct identity as seen by both themselves and others." The categories in the Society's workforce census are the same as those used in the 2001 National Census, therefore pharmacists should tick the category they ticked on the National Census.

What about other pharmacy educational qualifications?

We realise that pharmacists who have been qualified for some time may not have a pharmacy degree because the profession has been degree-entry only since 1970. It would be helpful if pharmacists who do not have a degree could write the name of the qualification they hold (eg, pharmaceutical chemist, chemist and druggist) and indicate where this qualification was obtained for Question 5.

Return of census forms

Completed census forms should be returned as soon as possible using the Freepost (no stamp required) envelope provided.

If you have not received your census form by the end of September, or if you require further information about the census, please contact Zoe Whittington, Research Manager, Practice Research Division (e-mail zwhittington@rpsgb.org.uk; tel 020 7572 2276).