The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7496 p384
5 April 2008

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The devil is still in the detail

Vote! And give the Council a mandate

The devil is still in the detail

Nigel Clarke’s independent inquiry into the future professional body for pharmacy — which recommends embracing pharmacists and related professionals — was published this week (p385). The Journal hopes that people who responded to the consultation will find that the report makes largely comforting reading.

Mr Clarke and his team found that even over issues that might be highly controversial the protagonists of apparently diverse views were in many respects far closer together in strategic terms than might be imagined at first glance.

There was acknowledgement that, bearing in mind the short time available before the General Pharmaceutical Council is established, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society should be central to the development of the new body. That said, there are still many areas that now need to be discussed and a way forward determined.

The Society and those other groups that are prepared to join the new professional body need to start working together as soon as possible to develop models that align with the Clarke recommendations but which are also likely to appeal to as wide a range of pharmacy professionals as possible.

The hard work, in other words, has barely begun. What status technicians and pharmaceutical scientists will have needs to be addressed. Clarke recommends that within the new body there should be separate membership categories with different benefits and governance arrangements.

Will adopting that recommendation satisfy those who believe technicians and other groups in the pharmacy family should be members of the new professional body? At the same time, will it reassure those pharmacists who believe that membership should be exclusive?

And what will those governance arrangements look like? What will the relationships be between the overarching governing council and boards that represent the interests of members in the home countries, and other groups that may represent other membership categories?

All interested parties need to have a much clearer picture not only of what the functions of the new professional body will be like but also of its structures.

Clarke, of course, is only part of the picture. Members of the Society whose views are currently being sought by market researcher Opinion Leader Research will also play a key role in the development of the new body (p391).
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The details are devilish, indeed!

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Vote! And give the Council a mandate

Papers for this year’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society Council and national board elections will shortly appear on members’ doormats, if they have not already done so. The field reflects a wider range of interests than has sometimes been the case in the recent past, and The Journal hopes that this means that the membership, too, will be more engaged.

This year, in particular, will result in the Council that will be central to the development of the new professional body and the establishment of the General Pharmaceutical Council. It needs a mandate to be able to achieve the best outcome for pharmacy.

Members can give it that mandate — by voting.

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