Another chance to influence the Charter
As announced in last week's Council
report (p521), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is issuing the text of a completely revised draft Royal Charter for the Society for further consultation, incorporating major changes to reflect the views expressed by members and others in the consultation in the summer.
The revised draft Charter appears as part of an eight-page centre pull-out
section (PDF 100K) in this issue of The Journal, and a feedback
form is also enclosed with the issue. The pull-out section and feedback
form
can also be downloaded
from the “Making the Society fit for the future” page of
the “About
the Society” section of the Society’s
website.
The document includes the text of the revised draft Charter, the text
of the existing Charter and a table comparing the new draft with the
current Charter. An explanatory introduction says that the changes made
to the draft seek to address all the major issues raised in the summer
consultation:
• The omission from the previous draft of the Object “to maintain
the honour and safeguard and promote the interests of the members in
their exercise of the profession of pharmacy”
• The proper balance between the Society’s regulatory and professional
roles
• Devolution
• The need to represent all sections of the profession (including non-dispensing
pharmacists)
• The position of technicians within the Society
• The checks and balances on the power of future Councils, including
the balance between what should be specified in the Charter and what
should be left for future Regulations/Byelaws.
While addressing all these points, the document highlights two for special
mention. The first is the omission of the third Object found in the current
Charter, ie, “to maintain the honour and safeguard and promote
the interests of the members in their exercise of the profession of pharmacy”.
In response to many comments, an additional Object has been added to
the new draft: “to safeguard, maintain the honour, and promote
the effectiveness and interests of the profession of pharmacy”.
The document says that “the profession of pharmacy” has been
substituted for “members in their exercise of the profession of
pharmacy” to make it clear that the Society cannot represent or
champion the interests of individual members but must concern itself
with the effectiveness and interests of the profession as a whole.
The second issue chosen for special mention is devolution. The paper
says that those who raised the issue believed firmly that the Charter
did not properly address the implications of the devolution of health
policy to Scotland and Wales. New articles place an obligation on the
Council to create appropriate structures to reflect the implications
of devolution and provide a framework for devolution within the Society
to ensure that the new structures work.
The document warns that time is tight because the plan is to update the
Charter alongside legislation so that, between them, they create a robust
framework to secure a broad, integrated remit of the Society well into
the future.
Because the Government is moving ahead with drafting the new legislation,
the petition for a new Charter needs to be finalised by December at the
latest. The consultation period is therefore shorter than before, with
comments being sought by 14 November.
Comments are invited from anyone with an interest in the new Charter.
Comments can be made on the feedback form or by letter, fax or e-mail
to Christine Gray, Modernisation Project Manager, Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN (fax 020 7572 2501; e-mail
cgray@rpsgb.org.uk).
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