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Letters to the Editor
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The profession
Time for a wide-ranging debate on pharmacy organisations
From Mr D. R. Knowles, FRPharmS
The letter from Ross
Ferguson (PJ, 29 January, p112) is important for
the whole future of pharmacy. I wrote in similar
terms, but in a different climate, in 2002 (PJ, 23 March 2002, p401).
It is self-evident to any diligent reader of the six reports of the Shipman
Inquiry that the General Medical Council is set for major review and that
there are implications for other health care professions. As Mr Ferguson
notes, the GMC strongly asserts that its role is “to protect patients” and
claims not to protect doctors. Even so it will probably lose its long-prized
disciplinary function for medical practitioners.
Given the regulatory and representational roles of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, it is obvious that, in the public and professional interest, this
dual function cannot continue. Inevitably the new Charter will rapidly
become irrelevant. Unless pharmacy is prepared to put its own house in
order in line with current thinking, the Government will do it for us.
Against this background, debates about membership categories will pale
into insignificance.
The time for a wide-ranging debate about the future of pharmaceutical organisations
is now. This is the real issue for the Society’s Council, which must
take the lead.
David Knowles
Exeter,
Devon |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal