The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7386 p150
4 February 2006

Society summary

Confident but not complacent

The Society's integrated roles are a strength that confers political influence and the opportunity to help shape the profession's future, says Vice-President Gerald Alexander. As the Government deliberates on the future of health regulation, the Society is working to ensure that that this message is heard

Members will for some time have been aware that the role and remit of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, along with all health professional regulators, has since June been under pointed scrutiny.

The potential impact on the Society was highlighted last week (PJ, 28 January, p97).

Following the report of the Shipman inquiry, the chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, began a review of the UK regulation of doctors through the General Medical Council. A parallel review of the non-medical health regulators has been undertaken by the NHS director of human resources, Andrew Foster.

The Society successfully lobbied to be included in the group that was established to advise Mr Foster as he made his deliberations. We played an active part in the group because we were concerned to ensure that the outcomes of the review were evidence-based and would truly benefit patients.

Useful contribution

We believe that we were able to contribute a great deal that was useful to the review with the aim of helping Mr Foster identify genuine improvements to health professional regulation. Having recently undergone the long and open process of self-scrutiny that led to the achievement of our new Royal Charter, the Society’s members had already addressed many of the issues being explored through the review.

We brought a considerable amount of evidence and experience into the review and challenged the direction of travel where we thought that it was based on assumption rather than fact. We shared the work that we have done to modernise the Society in its roles as a regulatory body in line with best practice. We are convinced that our contribution helped stimulate and clarify thinking on crucial principles of modern regulation.

So where is all this leading? The answer is, we do not know. As the Minister of State for quality and patient safety, Jane Kennedy, awaits the chief medical officer’s recommendations before she pronounces on the outcome of both reviews, we can only make an educated guess at her intentions. At a meeting of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, the minister stated that her department’s main focus in all of this is the handling of complaints, investigations and adjudication. However, we know that, during the course of the review, the integrated role of the Society was called into question on several occasions. This has now led to speculation about whether the Society will be allowed to continue to perform all its current roles.

Achievement

We are confident, but not complacent, that the Society’s record of achievement will ensure that the Government recognises the value of allowing us to continue to develop our current functions through both our newly updated Charter and the proposals for our new underpinning legislation. Indeed, recently, no less an advocate than the deputy director of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, Julie Stone, has gone on record (PJ, 28 January, p97) to acknowledge that the Society manages its integrated roles in regulation, professional leadership and professional development in a way that is entirely consistent with the public interest.

Professor Stone’s endorsement is welcome but, in fact, the legitimacy and acceptability of the Society’s integrated roles are, of course, established for all to see in the 2004 Royal Charter. This document actually sets out the authority for the Society to fulfil all its current roles within one organisation. The granting of this new Charter was effectively an acknowledgement by the Government that the Society’s roles are indeed compatible and acceptable. After over 160 years of continual development, the Charter showed that the Society was able and willing to take a big step in order to modernise and reform.

Nonetheless, we cannot rest on our laurels. We are working to ensure that the minister and others understand the Society’s role and appreciate the many benefits of retaining the Society’s identity as a regulator and professional development and leadership body.

Powerful message

Our message is powerful, based on the evidence of our track record. We are already effective at protecting the public and have been proactive in identifying gaps in public protection which require new powers. We are actively preparing for our long-delayed new powers which the Government is to bring forward through its Section 60 Order under the Health Act 1999. The Society and the profession provide help and support to the public in many aspects of health care and we know that the profession has the public’s trust and confidence. Our integrated roles enable us to progress the profession’s role in ways that meet the real needs of patients, the aspirations of our members, in line with the policies of governments. Most importantly, all our functions — from education, registration, code of ethics, practice development, fitness to practise, science, membership networks, talking to the public and patients — combine to help keep the profession striving for ever higher standards.

So, we are confident that we have a successful, effective organisation and an important, dynamic profession. What is more, we know that pharmacists have the trust and support of the public. These are the messages we are sending to the Government and we hope that members will help reinforce them with their local opinion leaders. The next couple of months will be crucial. We shall be making communications materials available for branches and regions to use in their localities. Every member can play their part: every positive experience of pharmacists and pharmacy helps support our positive message: the Society is indeed fit for the future.