The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7409 p86
15 July 2006

Society summary

Executive holds its last AGM for members in Wales

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Welsh Executive has held its 30th — and almost certainly its last — annual general meeting for members of the Society resident in Wales.

By this time next year the executive is expected to have been replaced by the new Welsh Pharmacy Board. The Society’s Council is currently consulting on regulations establishing national boards before seeking the approval of the Privy Council (PJ, 10 June, p689 and p703).

The 30th Welsh AGM took place at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on 5 July, with an attendance of more than 70.

Opening the AGM with his report for 2005, the chairman of the Welsh Executive, Peter Jones, commented: “The pharmacy profession in Wales looked very different by the end of 2005 than it did at the beginning. This progress has come about through substantial drive, effort and commitment from many people in many organisations, and the Welsh Executive has taken a key role in many of these areas of development.”

He went on to outline some of the achievements of 2005 and confirmed that “communicating” had been high on the agenda of the Welsh Executive. He advised the audience that both communicating the pharmacy message to the outside world and communicating with pharmacists in Wales had been key objectives.

Because of the planned establishment of the national boards, the AGM agenda this year did not include the announcement of the result of an election to the executive. The Council has asked the existing executive members to continue to serve until the new board is formed.

The AGM was followed by the annual lecture for 2006, presented by Phil Routledge, director of clinical pharmacology at the College of Medicine, Cardiff University. Professor Routledge gave a presentation on “Medical murders”.

Bringing the evening to a close, the chairman commented: “This evening has been a fitting tribute to those members of the Welsh Executive who have given their time and expertise in supporting the profession in Wales during the past 30 years. We can now look forward to the establishment of the national board for Wales and ensure that we progress the role of the Society in Wales to the next level”.

The evening was also a celebration of 30 years of the Welsh Executive. A display depicted the history of the executive from its inception in 1976 to the present day.

Former secretaries to the Welsh Executive were among those present at the AGM. The earliest was Sydney Southwell, who held the post for 15 years until his retirement from the Society’s headquarters staff in 1994. Also present was Christine Gray, whose role at the Society’s HQ between 1994 and 1998 included Welsh Executive secretariat work on behalf of Philip Green, who combined the Welsh secretary’s role with his duties as deputy secretary of the Society. (Mr Green was not able to be present.) Finally, the attendance included Erica Barrie, who was the first Welsh Executive secretary to be based in Wales. Appointed in 1999, she worked three days a week at first but then increased to full-time. The Society’s current director for Wales, Cath O’Brien, took over as secretary in 2002.