Royal college should be new entity, says Lord Hunt
Lord Hunt: new body should be on a par with medical royal colleges |
The proposed royal college-type body for pharmacy should be a new entity, not a reincarnation of the present Royal pharmaceutical Society, Lord Hunt, the minister with responsibility for pharmacy believes.
At the final evidence session of the All Party Pharmacy Group’s
inquiry into the future of pharmacy last week, Lord Hunt was asked whether
he thought the Royal Pharmaceutical Society was capable of evolving into
the proposed royal college of pharmacy. “No,” he said, “I
think it’s very important that the college is seen as a new entity
and starts with a clean sheet of paper, but clearly it needs to build
on the foundations and the excellent work that has been undertaken by
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society over many years.”
Lord Hunt also stressed his desire for a royal college-type body to be
on a par with the medical royal colleges. “I want to see this college
really being influential in terms of professional reputation, leadership,
development, public confidence. It’s vitally important that the
right people come to the leadership positions – [people] of huge
calibre,” he said. “We want the president of the new royal
college to be seen to be a peer of the presidents of medical royal colleges.”
The Department of Health’s role would, he stressed, be to facilitate
the process of establishing a general pharmaceutical council and a body
akin to a royal college for pharmacy. “It’s right to split
regulation from leadership. It’s right that the profession should
be consistent with other professions. Our role as a department is to
ensure that that process occurs as smoothly as possible, while acknowledging
the work of the current body,” he said.
Lord Hunt also explained that he did not think that membership of the
college should be compulsory. “Legislation to compel a member of
the profession to join is not something I would support,” he said. “I’d
like every pharmacist to join, and if there’s anything we can do
to encourage that, we will.” The college’s likely involvement
in revalidation may well be the way to encourage a high uptake of membership,
he added.
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