Protection of members' privacy is behind changes made to Register
A series of changes to the publication of the annual Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists has been implemented by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to help protect members from unwanted attention from individuals or commercial organisations.
As previously reported (PJ, 31 January, p134), the Privy Council has
approved a Byelaw
amendment allowing the register to give only the postal
town element of each member’s address. The Society has now decided
to implement the change with immediate effect and also to cease producing
a printed version of the register for purchase. The register will continue
to appear on the Society’s website (www.rpsgb.org) and a paper
copy will be held in the Society’s library.
The Byelaw amendment was requested by the Society’s Council early
last year because of concerns that some pharmacists, worried about personal
safety, are inhibited from submitting their home address as their registered
address. The Society wants pharmacists to register their personal residential
addresses for its own purposes because home addresses are more likely
to be kept up to date, thus allowing members to be contacted more readily
and directly.
The Byelaw change brings the Society into line with other regulatory
bodies, which generally publish postal towns rather than the full addresses
of their members.
Philip Green, the Society’s deputy secretary and registrar and
director of education and registration, said: “The Society appreciates
that some members may have relied on the printed register as a valuable
resource to maintain relationships and keep up to date with friends and
colleagues. The Society must protect the public and secure the personal
safety of pharmacists. Although prevented from releasing labels or names
and addresses, the registration section is happy to forward prepaid correspondence
to members where the name and registration number of the member is known.”
The Society says that no fee will be levied when forwarding correspondence
to pharmacists. Staff will make every effort to identify the pharmacist
concerned but because pharmacists in many cases share the same name and
initials registration numbers can be important in correctly identifying
the particular individual. Where registration numbers are not known,
a register search conducted on the Society’s website can provide
them.
A £25 fee is levied for a manual register search, where written
confirmation is provided by the Society that an individual is or is not
registered.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal