| · Education (2)
· NHS funding
· Complementary medicine
· Electronic prescribing
· The profession
· Women in politics
· Packaging design
· Statutory Committee
· Annual general meeting
· Council expenses
· Regulation
· Section 60 Order
· Council election
Letters to the Editor
|
Section 60 Order
Time the Society gave up regulation
From Mr A. Matalia, MRPharmS
Pharmacists should respond to the Section 60 consultation direct to
the Department of Health as their individual views are as important as
the official response of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Are pharmacists fed up with poor representation, much lower salaries
than opticians, and doctors, yet seemingly harsher professional standards?
If so, it is time to act. Consider the benefits of registration of pharmacists,
indeed all health care professionals, under a single body — the
Healthcare Professionals Council. We would get much lower registration
fees (pharmacists currently pay £267 per year, optometrists £169
per year and nurses £129 every three years) , a one-point contact
for checking registration of all health care professionals and national
accountability to one body. Consistency in standards, discipline and
punishment applicable to all workers would follow. Under a single regulatory
body, every healthcare worker would be treated equally.
It is time to recognise that self-regulation does not work, is outdated
and expensive.
I urge all pharmacists to write direct to the Department of Health and
recommend that the regulatory functions of the Society be transferred
to the Healthcare Professionals Council. Pharmacists should be designated
a new title: perhaps SRP (State Registered Pharmacist). In fact, they
should recommend that the HPC becomes the single regulator of all health
care workers, and that self-regulation comes to an end.
The Society could then become an organisation to promote the interests
of pharmacy, with voluntary membership and those who value the designation
MRPharmS can pay the required fee while others could be liberated and
be able to practise their profession.
Amit Matalia
Coventry,
West Midlands |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal