The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7389 p246
25 February 2006

Society summary

Council to consult on a strategy for patient and public involvement in the Society's affairs

The Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is to consult pharmacists and other interested parties on a proposed strategy for patient and public involvement (PPI) in the Society. It agreed to do so at the February Council meeting.

The Council approved a timetable in which a draft strategy will be prepared for the Council’s approval in June. A revised strategy will then go out for consultation in July, August and the first week of September. An analysis of the response to the consultation will be presented to the Council in December for discussion and finalisation.

The Council was reminded that it had agreed to the development of a PPI strategy at its meeting in June 2005. Consultants (Ros Levenson, Mercy Jeyasingham and Nikki Joule) had been selected after a tendering process and had now completed the first stage of their work. The work had included gathering relevant information from external bodies, reviewing documents and literature and conducting interviews.

The consultants had found a widespread recognition of the importance of PPI to the Society, although experience of and confidence about PPI varied across the organisation. PPI in the Society had to date been ad hoc, with no clear consensus on what counted as “public” involvement. Practical guidance was needed on how to involve patients and the public in ways that were relevant and proportionate to the Society’s various functions.

The consultants had reported that other regulators and professional organisations used a range of approaches to PPI. No single model was seen as preferable, and each organisation had developed its own approach. Patient and consumer organisations were willing to be involved, so long as they could see that their involvement made a difference.

The Council noted that a number of questions remained to be addressed and that a number of different ways of introducing and implementing PPI had been identified. It was agreed that these should be explored in the project’s second stage.