The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7361 p157
6 August 2005

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National boards too costly

The increased cost to members of establishing national boards of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will be out of proportion to any benefits gained from such boards, the Association of Independent Multiple pharmacies says in its response to the Society’s consultation on the establishment of national boards.

AIMp says it has a number of severe reservations about setting up the boards. “At the present time we would not, on balance, support the establishment of national boards for England, Scotland or Wales,” it adds.

Implementing the recommendation will, the AIMp warns, result in the Society becoming the regulatory authority for the profession, while the three national boards will take on the representational role, thereby separating the two roles. “It is our opinion that the majority of the Society’s functions, as well as the profession of pharmacy, stretch across the national borders and that a strong, central pharmaceutical society can best represent and regulate the whole of the profession,” it says.

This week the Society’s Council agreed to establish three national boards (see p155 and p173).