The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7231 p65
11 January 2003

Society summary

Thirty-five branches now have websites

The home page of the Chelmsford branch website

More than a quarter of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's 130 branches now have their own websites. Following the launch of the first site 10 months ago, the number has now risen to 35.

The first six branch websites (Moray and Banff; Bradford; Harrow and Hillingdon; Morgannwg; Edinburgh and Lothians; Sefton) were launched in March 2002 (PJ, 23 March 2002, p411). They were joined within a few weeks by a further 12 branches (Birmingham; Bristol; Clwyd; Hull; Ipswich; Leeds; North Hampshire; Northern Scottish; Slough; Stockport; Torbay; West Surrey) (PJ, 8 June 2002, p821).

Since then, the number of live sites has almost doubled with the addition of a further 17 branches. They are: Aberdeen and North East Scottish; Bedfordshire; Brighton; Chelmsford; Colchester; Crawley, Horsham and Reigate; Doncaster; Dorset; Durham; Halifax; Northamptonshire; Northumbrian; Reading; Scunthorpe; Sheffield; South West Metropolitan; and Swindon. A number of other branches and regions of the Society have expressed an interest in developing websites and have been provided with the necessary information and access facilities.

All the branch sites can be reached by clicking on the "branches and regions" link from the "About the Society" section of the Society's website.

The sites are maintained by branch members, and all content is the responsibility of the branch concerned. The Society has given the branches considerable freedom to use their sites as they wish, with no rigid rules about content or design. Each site is, however, required to include a disclaimer stating that the Society has no role in determining its content, bears no responsibility for its accuracy and makes no representation, express or implied, concerning its accuracy, completeness or appropriateness.

All the sites give details of meetings and information about the branch committee, though the amount of information offered varies from branch to branch. Some have a home page with general information about the branch, some have a news section and some provide links to other websites of interest to local pharmacists. Three of the branches (Bristol, Dorset and Sefton) provide a form or a questionnaire for feedback.

Other branches or regions wishing to have their own space on the Society's website should e-mail the website editor, Mary Snell, at msnell@rpsgb.org.uk. Each branch will need someone with word processing skills, an internet connection and FTP (file transfer protocol) software for loading files on to the site. Special web editing software is not needed, but may be used.