Section 60 Order consultation likely to start in the autumn
The Government is set to issue a formal consultation on the Section 60 Order under the Health Act 1999 that will underpin the future regulatory functions of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. The Society said that the latest indication was that the consultation would be published in the autumn.
Jim Smith, the chief pharmaceutical officer for England, Department of
Health, wrote to the Society this week to restate the Government’s
policy on self-regulation in pharmacy. In it, he quashes suggestions
of a two-board model for the Society.
Dr Smith states that a model of the Society in which regulatory functions
are discharged by a board or committee “could not form the basis
of a satisfactory proposal”.
Certain functions are central to what the Society does, including keeping
a register, determining standards of education, and administering procedures
about conduct and fitness to practise, he says. “We see no coherent
way in which they could be exercised other than under the authority of
the Council.”
Dr Smith says that the Section 60 Order will contain “among other
proposals, changes to the constitution of the Society’s Council
to provide the necessary level of public and patient representation”.
The Council discussed the letter at its meeting this week. |
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