King’s Fund report reveals support for royal college
Keith Ridge: avoid disputes over assets |
There is strong support in the profession for establishing a royal college for pharmacy to replace the current fragmented structure but there are concerns that it should not be a rebadged version of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, according to a King's
Fund report published last week (PJ, 7 April, p387).
The report is based on a seminar, commissioned by the Lord Carter of
Coles working party and hosted by the King’s Fund, which was convened
to explore the case for a royal college for the pharmacy profession.
Attendees at the seminar heard presentations from the Royal College of
General Practitioners and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
about the structure and functions of these colleges. Ian Simpson, chief
executive of the College of Pharmacy Practice, also presented the Waterloo
agreement (PJ, 31 March, p357), a vision backed by 18 pharmacy organisations
on how a royal college should be set up.
Introducing the report, Niall Dickson, chief executive of the King’s
Fund, says in a letter to Lord Carter that there is a belief that the
new royal college must reflect the many diverse interests within the
profession, should not be dominated by any one section and that membership
should be as wide as possible, for example, including pharmaceutical
scientists. Mr Dickson adds that it is crucial that the royal college
has a secure financial base and suggests that a project board should
be set up to take this forward. “If the consensus at the seminar
is to be maintained, that board will need to reflect the full range of
organisations and interests that will come together to create the new
royal college,” he writes.
The report says that, at the seminar, Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical
officer for England, emphasised that it is essential not to waste time
in disputes over assets and other arguments. He said that Lord Carter’s
working party is coming to the view that the new leadership body and
the General Pharmaceutical Council should be established simultaneously,
possibly in 2010 or 2011. This, he added, means that there is not much
time to get it reasonably right and to convince pharmacists of the value
of a royal college.
Hemant Patel, President of the Society, argued that the Society is uniquely
and strongly placed to fulfil the royal college role but emphasised that
it does not want to do this in isolation, says the report. This is further
evidenced in a statement, issued by the Society last week, in which it
pledges to work with the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland and
other pharmacy bodies to help to create a royal college for the pharmacy
profession. Mr Patel said that the Society is writing to a large number
of pharmacy bodies to invite them to engage with it and to explore the
potential principles and functions of a royal college. A one-day event
is also planned for late April. “Very importantly, we will be consulting
the Society’s members and inviting their views too,” he added.
“Professional leadership in pharmacy: exploring the case for a
royal college for the pharmacy profession” is available on the King’s
Fund website
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