The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7385 p114
28 January 2006

Society summary

Byelaw change allows more pharmacists to nominate themselves for Society fellowship

An amendment to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Byelaws, approved by the Privy Council on 11 January, allows more members of the Society to nominate themselves for fellowship. But it also introduces a fee for the assessment of applications.

Self-nomination was previously open only to those who wished to be designated as fellows for an outstanding original contribution to the advancement of pharmaceutical knowledge. The amendment means that it is now also available to those seeking recognition for their original contributions to the advancement of pharmacy practice.

The Byelaw amendment also gives the Council the power to charge a fee of up to £500 for applications in either category. The fee is to cover the cost of an independent assessment of the application.

Another change is that the independent assessors will be appointed by, and submit their report to, the Panel of Fellows, which will then make a recommendation to the Council. Previously the assessors were appointed by the Council and reported to the Education Committee.

A further effect of the amendment is to standardise at 12 years the length of time a pharmacist must be on the Register before being considered for fellowship. The self-nomination route formerly allowed nomination after only five years.

The amendment does not affect the power of the Panel of Fellows to designate nominated members of the Society as fellows for outstanding original contributions to the advancement of pharmaceutical knowledge or for distinction in the science, practice, profession or history of pharmacy. The minimum length of membership before a member can be considered for designation as a fellow by this route was reduced from 20 to 12 years in 2002 to allow recognition of pharmacists who make outstanding contributions to the profession early in their careers.

The Byelaw amendment implements a scheme approved by the Council in December 2003 (PJ, 13 December 2003, p822). The proposed amendment was gazetted in The Pharmaceutical Journal of 10 April 2004 (p460).