Response low but members vote “yes” in Charter ballot
Members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have voted “yes” in the ballot on the draft Charter which closed this week. However, the response was low.
Members were balloted
on the revised draft Charter published last month
(PJ, 17 July, p75). Only 9.3 per cent of members voted. Of those who
returned a valid ballot paper, 84.4 per cent voted “yes”.
This equates to a “yes” vote by 7.9 per cent of members.
A break-down of the results is given on p297.
The Society’s President Nicholas Wood commented: “This historic ‘yes’ vote
is very welcome and tells us that the profession is content with the
Council’s agreed version.”
The Society needs to demonstrate the support of members in its application
for a new Charter. Privy Council guidance is that an application should
state the authority under which it is submitted, eg, a resolution of
members. This week, a Privy Council spokesman told The Journal that it
is a matter for the Society to decide whether the number of voters represents
enough of the membership to proceed with its application.
The next steps will take place in September. “The ballot results
and comments received will be presented to the Society’s Council
on 15 September when it will decide whether to present the new draft
to the Privy Council,” the Society said this week.
Once it has received the final version, the Privy Council procedure will
be to seek the approval of the Department of Health and then the Government
law officers before recommending the new Charter to the Queen. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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