The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7398 p492
29 April 2006

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Lippy lay Council members more
Not too late to make your mark more

Lippy lay Council members

Many pharmacists may have been wondering what impact the extra lay members have had on the workings of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council over the past year. Their number increased from three to 10 in May 2005. Members of Journal staff who have been able to witness their performance first-hand in Council meetings have not been impressed. The lay members’ value lies not in their number per se but in the wide range of experience and expertise that they bring to Council debates.

Alan Kershaw, in a letter to the editor this week (p504), says “Lippy lay members like me exercise influence by asking naive questions and helping the profession see, occasionally, what it looks like.” However, their contribution is more than just putting forward a naive (or otherwise) comment.

Pharmacist members of Council will, just like the lay members, be informed by their own experience and expertise. It sometimes seems that they find it challenging to see beyond their own sectoral interests. Those who have experience in the community, in industry, in Scotland or in Wales, or who sit on other national bodies, will inevitably be influenced by what is going on there. However hard they try to think outside of their own boxes, it is unlikely they will be able to do this 100 per cent of the time.

Lay members, on the other hand, have no personal pharmacy agenda. They are there because they believe that they can contribute to the future success of the profession as a whole. This does not mean that they will always say what the pharmacist members of Council want them to say and occasionally their contributions are off beam. Usually, however, they talk a great deal of common sense. They understand the wider world and the workings of other professions, and they add to the quality of debate, rather than detract from it.

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Not too late to make your mark

Pharmacists who have not yet voted in this year's Council election have only a few days left to do so. The replacement salmon-coloured election papers must be returned to the Electoral Reform Society by noon next Friday, 6 May, which realistically means that they should be posted by next Wednesday in order to give them the best chance of reaching their destination in time.

The field seems quite open, with eight candidates in competition for five places. Three of the candidates are current Council members; two other current members chose not to seek re-election. As part of the more relaxed approach to canvassing, The Journal has published 13 letters over the past six weeks from the candidates. This is your chance to make your mark.

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