The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7313 p255
21 August 2004

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· Retention fee
· Shipman inquiry
· Politicians
· Simvastatin
· EHC
· Careers in pharmacy
· Packaging
· Wildlife
· The Charter
· Council elections

Letters to the Editor

The Charter

Current Council should be thanked

From Dr V. L. Bull, MRPharmS

The profession has recently been brought to a near standstill by the constant, tedious arguments over the contents of the Charter. We have been told all along by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society what would not be acceptable to the Government in relation to changes being proposed by members. Indeed, on occasion these views were ostensibly confirmed in the press, though unfortunately not attributed at the time to a specific source. The statement, “The word on the street is that the Government would not accept models like that suggested by the Young Pharmacists Group” (PJ, 13 July 2002, p42), springs to mind.

I was therefore resigned, albeit reluctantly, to the fact that the previous revised Charter petition was the best that could be achieved and that no improvement was possible. Now it transpires that such perceived intransigence was incorrect. Seemingly at the eleventh hour, the new Council with a Save Our Society group majority have pulled not just a rabbit, but a veritable warren of them out of the bag.

Despite this, I am now astonished to read that some members (PJ, 7 August, p186) want the previous Council to be recognised for its fine efforts. What I cannot understand is how on earth the former Council and its advisers apparently so badly misjudged the reality. Furthermore, Mr Ranshaw attributes a “fortuitous” delay in the timetable for the Section 60 Order as being a key factor in allowing a revision of the draft Charter.

However, rather than accredit good fortune, I would concur with Ms Goulding’s opinion (PJ, 14 August, p221) that it was in reality due to the enlightened activities of certain members and their dogged opposition to the original proposed revision of the Charter. It is to them we owe a debt of gratitude.

Vincent Bull
Otley, West Yorkshire

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