The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7352 p676
4 June 2005

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

PDF 80K, Acrobat Reader

· Medication review
· Clinical trials
· The Council
· Annual general meeting
· Pharmacology
· General election
· Technicians
· Ischaemic events
· Complementary therapies (2)

Letters to the Editor

The Council

Call for debate!

From Mrs E. A. Mishon, MRPharmS

Graham Phillips et al (PJ, 14 May, p580) addresses the issue of those pharmacists who feel they have been disenfranchised. They emphasise the importance of the debate moving on from “who sits on the Council as of right?” to “how can the Council best represent the profession?”. They use the word “debate”, again inviting the membership to write to the columns of the PJ, or writing “direct to us at Lambeth”.

Here, we have four of the successful Save Our Society Council candidates demonstrating a willingness to listen. Does this invitation set a precedent? Will it be ignored? The membership now certainly have a chance to be heard: we should take advantage.

Before their letter was published, Mr Phillips invited members of the “Private-Rx” discussion forum to contribute their views about how to encourage Society members to make their wishes known. The response was an overwhelming silence except for me. My suggestion that the PJ was the proper place for such a debate was ignored or met with disdain.

If the present lack of debate is an indication of the level of interest in the Society, its leadership, and where the Society is heading, then it is not surprising that decisions in the past were made without consultation. We can all criticise, constructive suggestions are harder to find. Mr Phillips is asking us to make our views known. Let us debate!

Anne Mishon,
Laurac le Grand, France

Send your letter to The Editor

Previous Topic (Clinical trials)
Next Topic (Annual general meeting)