Society consults on regulations for national pharmacy boards
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council is now consulting on its proposal for Regulations to establish
national pharmacy boards for England, Scotland and Wales, as agreed at the February Council meeting
(PJ, 25 February, p243).
The proposed Regulations, which are provided for in the Society’s
2004 Supplemental Charter, are set out in an Official
Notice this week
(p703).
The draft Regulations allow for some variation in the composition of
the three boards. These reflect the wishes of the Society’s Scottish
and Welsh executives, which the new boards will succeed, and the views
of Council members in England about the requirements for an English board.
Each national board will have 12 elected members. In England and Scotland
all 12 will be pharmacists on the practising section of the Register,
but in Wales one of the 12 will be a practising pharmacy technician.
In Scotland and Wales there will also be places for up to three co-opted
members. In England there will be no co-opted members, other than to
fill any casual vacancies that may occur, but the board’s composition
will include three Council members. One will be the member elected to
the Council in the constituency of England, Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
The others will be one other pharmacist Council member with a registered
address in England and one lay member who is resident in England, both
of whom will be appointed to the board by the Council.
The proposed Regulations state that elections to the boards shall be
conducted “on a simple majority system” — ie, by the
so-called “first
past the post” system — and that a pharmacist’s registered
address will determine which board election he or she may vote in.
Aside from those conditions, elections will be held “in accordance
with a scheme made by the Council”. This wording will allow the
Council to fulfil its wish that in England five of the 12 elected board
members should represent sectors of practice — a community pharmacist,
a hospital pharmacist, an industrial pharmacist, and academic pharmacist
and either a primary care pharmacist or a public health specialist.
It will also allow the Council to implement a number of other decisions
made at its February meeting in relation to the English board. These
include allowing pharmacists who work in England but have registered
addresses in Scotland or Wales to be elected to the English board.
Elected board members will serve terms of three years. They will be able
to serve up to four consecutive terms in England or three in Scotland
or Wales, after which they must wait three years before they can seek
election again.
The draft Regulations also include provisions relating to quorums, frequency
of meetings, casual vacancies, the election of board chairmen and vice-chairmen
(who must be pharmacists), a code of conduct for board members and the
payment of expenses and fees.
On the powers and functions of the boards, the draft regulations specify
that, subject to the Charter, to any directions of the Council and, in
Scotland and Wales, to the constraints of devolved legislative responsibilities
for health and related matters, the boards will have power to advise
government and other bodies on professional matters, to promote the science
and practice of pharmacy and its contribution to health, and to support
pharmacists in their professional roles.
In addition, the Council will be able to specify other powers and functions
for the boards. These may include devolved Council powers and functions,
with the exception of statutory functions.
The draft regulations say that the full name of a national board will
be the “English [or Scottish or Welsh] Pharmacy Board of the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain”.
The Welsh board will also be known as “Bwrdd Fferylliaeth Gymreig
Cymdeithas Fferyllol Frenhinol Prydain Fawr” (or may be shortened
to Bwrdd Fferylliaeth Gymreig).
Members and other interested parties have 60 days in which to make comments
on the Council’s proposal. The Council will then be asked to confirm
the proposal in the light of the comments received and the proposal,
accompanied by the comments, will be submitted to the Privy Council for
its approval.
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