Draft Rules could mean striking-off for not paying fee before 1 January
Draft Rules covering registration with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society mean that members could be automatically struck off for neglecting to pay the annual retention fee before the start of the fee year.
Members could also be removed from the Register for failing to complete
the annual declaration. And they would have to make a yearly declaration
confirming they are covered by adequate and appropriate indemnity arrangements.
The proposed Rules, summarised
in an article this week (see p767), will
be included in a consultation document that is to be published for comment
on 3 July.
The new Rules will complement the requirements of the forthcoming Pharmacists
and Pharmacy Technicians Order, made under Section 60 of the Health Act
1999.
The draft Rules would also allow the Society to publish fitness-to-practise
information in the Register. Anyone who conducts a search of the Registers
would be able to find details of adverse findings of fitness-to-practise
committees, such as conditions on registration, suspension, warnings
or erasure.
Another requirement of the proposed Rules is that a member’s registered
name should be the name by which he or she is known professionally and
the registered address should be the home address. Members would have
a duty to keep their registered addresses and contact details up to date.
Anyone wishing to return to the Register after an absence of a year or
more, whether removed voluntarily or struck off for non-payment of a
fee, would have to submit information as though making an initial application
for registration and could be required to undertake additional education
and training. Those removed by the Disciplinary Committee would be unable
to apply for restoration for at least five years.
The draft Rules also require the completion of an application form before
voluntary removal from the Register. This is to allow the Society to
be sure that retirement from the Register is for “honourable” reasons
rather than to escape fitness-to-practise proceedings.
Every applicant for registration would have to submit a photograph, countersigned
by a notary or health care professional, along with his or her passport
(or a certified copy). Applicants would also have to authorise the Society
to undertake a Criminal Records Bureau check if deemed necessary. For
graduates of UK schools of pharmacy, the university awarding the degree
would be asked to confirm that nothing adverse is known about the applicant.
The proposed Rules would also apply to registered pharmacy technicians.
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