Winning hearts and minds
One of this week’s correspondents sounds an angry young man.
Adam Sutherland berates the Society for failing to anticipate the Government’s
decision to separate its regulatory and professional activities, and
believes that the Society should be disbanded and two royal colleges
established in its place (p734, PDF, 50K).
There will be people who feel rather defensive about this letter and
they may be tempted to dismiss it as an ill-considered attack that draws
inaccurate conclusions, but everyone concerned about the future of the
profession of pharmacy in general, and the Society in particular, should
sit up and take note. Mr Sutherland is part of the future of pharmacy
(he joined the Register five years ago); clearly he is passionate about
pharmacy and wants an organisation to be created to support his endeavours.
He does not think that the Society has done that in the past. The question
is can it do that for him in the future?
Mr Sutherland may not have been aware of the encouragement that the Government
gave to the Society, before publication of the “Trust, assurance
and safety” White Paper, to retain its dual role — as well
as expecting it to modernise its regulatory processes. And he may not
appreciate that the additional regulatory burden, as well as the separation
of the Society’s functions that is now required by the White Paper,
is the main reason why retention fees are likely to have to rise considerably
next year and not because the members “have to pay for the Society’s
shortcomings”.
Nevertheless, for the Society to have a secure future it will have to
win the hearts and minds of Mr Sutherland and his peers and persuade
them that its survival, in whatever form, is central to their future
and interests.
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Teach vets what pharmacists can offer
Last week we reported that some members of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society’s
Council had advocated that pharmacy education and training needs to have
a greater focus on veterinary pharmacy (PJ, 16 June, p716).
Veterinary pharmacy features again this week. In a debate held during
the recent
Veterinary Pharmacists Group conference (p741, PDF, 60K), the president
of the British Veterinary Association declared that pharmacists are not
an essential
part of the future animal health team. And in his speech the VPG chairman
bemoaned how veterinary surgeons tend to be dismissive of pharmacists’ competence.
Although the current focus on veterinary issues in pharmacy education
and training may not be strong, at least a focus exists, and it is acknowledged
that the competencies required to handle animal medicines have yet to
be developed by most pharmacists. But this works both ways: what is also
needed is a focus — in veterinary education and training — on
what pharmacists can offer in terms of benefits to animal health. Then
vets’ negative views of pharmacy might be banished and pharmacist-vet
partnership working, as envisaged during the VPG conference, could become
a reality.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal