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Letters to the Editor
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Reciprocity
From the Society’s perspective
From Mr G. S. Phillips, MRPharmS
As the recently appointed chairman of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s
Education Committee, I would like to take the opportunity to respond to
the concerns of Ian
Dean (PJ, 13 August, p194) and other colleagues.
When the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council took its decision
in 2003 to end reciprocal agreements with Australia and New Zealand it
did so knowing the decision would be controversial. As Mr Dean points out,
the Society thought a continuance of the existing agreements could be “construed
as being discriminatory and risk legal challenge”. A key part of
our thinking was the knowledge that new legislation stemming from the 1999
Health Act would not allow for reciprocal arrangements (not just for pharmacists
but other professions too). Clearly the Society has no choice but to take
this into account. This being the case I must correct one assertion made
by Mr Dean: that the Society is out of step with other health care regulators
in ending historical agreements. The reverse is true and the General Medical
Council and General Dental Council have done the same thing recently for
the same reasons.
David Newgreen (PJ, 27 August, p252) is right that EEA nationals can register
in the UK but, unlike reciprocal agreements, that is a matter of EU law
and we, like the competent authorities in all member states, are bound
by it.
Furthermore it is not accurate to say applicants are accepted as a formality:
every application is scrutinised fully by expert staff to ensure education
and training is appropriate and in accordance with clearly defined EU requirements.
I accept Mr Newgreen’s points about standards of pharmacy education
in Australia and New Zealand, which we know to be high and, for this reason,
staff in the Society’s Education and Registration Directorate are
actively exploring alternative mechanisms for recognising the competence
of overseas pharmacists where there is a sound professional case for doing
so. However, in a modern, regulatory environment, mechanisms must be transparent
and no matter how seductive, not based on assertions such as “Britons
and Australians are the most compatible of people, blending seamlessly
and unnoticeably into each other’s communities” (Ian
Dean,
PJ, 13 August, p194).
There is a clear difference between pharmacy graduates in the UK and those
from Australia and New Zealand in that we now require registrants to be
educated to master’s level, whereas education in Australia and New
Zealand remains at bachelor’s level. This is not to say that the
education in Australia and New Zealand is inadequate, but it is different
and we do have to acknowledge this.
It would not be fair or equitable to let applicants enter the Register
in the knowledge that they have received different education to their UK
equivalents, no matter how good it may be. We have to be sure that at the
point of first registration in the UK all overseas pharmacists (not covered
by EU legislation) have met the same criteria.
I would like to assure colleagues that there really is no hidden agenda
in the action that the Society has taken — as a working community
pharmacist I am all too acutely aware of the shortages within the profession.
The Society is continuing to work with pharmacy regulators overseas and
is seeking to develop properly evaluated processes to assist the exchange
of pharmacists between the UK and other jurisdictions. This process has
already begun and I am aware that the President is taking a personal interest
in this and in maintaining the best possible relations with our pharmaceutical
cousins in Australia and New Zealand. Society staff will be meeting with
colleagues overseas in the next few months to explore mutually acceptable
ways forward.
Graham Phillips
Member of Council,
Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Education Committee |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal