President will urge every member to vote “Yes” in Charter ballot
The President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Nicholas Wood, is to write to every member of the Society urging them to use their voted to give their approval to the new draft Royal Charter.
The President’s letter is being included with the ballot paper
and explanatory notes that are to be distributed to the membership by
Electoral Reform Services on or around 16 July.
The President says that, although the Society’s current Royal Charter
has served the profession well for over 50 years, the profession now
needs an up-to-date Charter that will serve it well into the future.
The Charter is important, the President says, because it provides the
Society with an independent constitution and enables it to undertake
a much broader range of activities than is set down in legislation. In
particular, he adds, a new Charter would underpin the Society’s
ability to function as a strong professional leadership and development
organisation — roles that the Council is committed to strengthening
and further developing.
He points out that the latest draft is the end product of lengthy, sometimes
controversial but ultimately constructive work by successive Councils
and across the wider membership. “We believe that this is a Charter
truly fit for the future, one that will serve the profession and the
members well over years to come,” he says, noting that the overwhelming
majority of the members of Council support this draft.
Calling on members to vote, the President says: “With the membership
behind it, our draft Charter can go forward in parallel with the legislation
that the Government is preparing for our profession through its Section
60 Order of the Health Act 1999. There is a huge benefit in having these
twin pillars of our constitution — Charter and legislation — developed
in a complementary way. The window of opportunity is very narrow, so
please use your vote and use it to say ‘Yes’ to our new Royal
Charter.”
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal