The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7432 p774
23/30 December 2006

Society summary

Council approves new structures for Society's education work

The Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has agreed a set of structures and processes to manage the Society's education work once the Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technician Order under Section 60 of the Health Act 1999 (see p759) is in force.

At the December Council meeting, the Council approved the functions and composition of an education advisory group and a statutory Education Committee, and the methods for appointing their members.

The advisory group will have the same function as the current Education Committee, acting as the initial education policy generation body for the Society and advising the Council on education matters. It will generate papers for consideration by the Council, which will retain its role as the policy decision making body. The group will also be the forum for general discussion to keep the Society abreast of relevant education and training issues, and it will retain oversight of pharmacy education and training in its broadest sense.

Its membership will include experts in various aspects of education and training for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, Council members with appropriate backgrounds and, ideally, non-pharmacy education and training experts and lay representation. As with the current Education Committee, members will be appointed by the Appointments Panel under its delegated authority from Council.

The function of the new statutory Education Committee will be to hear appeals against decisions relating to examinations, the adjudication of overseas applicants, the accreditation or approval of courses of education and training for pharmacists or pharmacy technicians, the accreditation of training courses for preregistration tutors, the approval of preregistration tutors, and the approval of preregistration training premises.

The structure of the committee will be similar to that for other statutory committees, as will the process for appointing members. The committee will consist of a chairman and two deputy chairmen (all legally qualified), six pharmacists, three pharmacy technicians and six lay members. Panels will be convened from the committee to hear specific cases. Cases will be prepared initially within the Society’s Education and Registration Directorate and then passed to the committee’s independent secretariat.