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Letters to the Editor
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Professional body
Forging leadership for the profession
From Mr I. M. Mullen, MRPharmS
It is clear that some of the views expressed by Nigel Clarke in his
independent inquiry report were reasonably predictable, but there was
resonance with one or two of the points I made in my article “Why
the pharmacy profession needs decisive leadership from the Council” (PJ,
23 February 2008, p215).
I am sure that Mr Clarke is correct in his belief that, “the new professional
body will not succeed unless it achieves a significant level of membership
from day one”.
A significant challenge for the new professional body will be the ability to
attract a sufficient number of members to enable it to claim to represent the
whole profession in a credible manner. If the new professional body is not
able to convince a range of members across Great Britain to join, it is unlikely
to be able to claim to provide leadership for the entire profession. This,
in turn, would affect its ability to be seen by governments as being genuinely
representative of the pharmacy profession.
To achieve that level of support, “from day one”, it would surely
be necessary for the new professional body to demonstrate an effective leadership
agenda that would enthuse potential members from all branches of the profession
and encourage them to join.
That means looking carefully at the governance
issues involved in the relationships between the Council and the national
boards, to ensure that whatever arrangements are established satisfy
the increasing
requirement for these boards to be confident that they possess adequate control
of issues directly affecting members who live in those countries.
Nigel Clarke’s report also referred to the key requirement for the new
professional body to be more adept at communicating directly with its members
and in representing members’ interests to the media. The report similarly
reaffirms the clear need to deal confidently with governments on behalf of
the profession.
Clearly, there is a vast amount of work to be done in developing policies
over the next few years to address these and other matters to create a new
and effective
professional body offering value for money and attracting the support of
a significant proportion of prospective members.
I am standing for Council because I believe I could play a part in that effort. Ian Mullen
Auchterarder, Perthshire
Council Election Candidate |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal