The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7504 p671
31 May 2008

Society summary

New annual report on fitness-to-practise matters

An annual report devoted to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s fitness-to-practise (FTP) activities is to be published for the first time later in 2008, the Society’s President, Hemant Patel, told the annual general meeting on 21 May 2008. It is being produced to comply with new legislation for healthcare regulators.

Commenting on the absence of FTP statistics in the annual review, John Murphy (Nottingham), who is director of the Pharmacists’ Defence Association, said that he understood that more than 1,300 pharmacists had either been through the regulatory processes or were still in the pipeline in 2007.

On the PDA’s calculation, if one assumed they were mainly community pharmacists, then about one in 20 were being subjected to the Society’s regulatory processes in one year alone. Regulation was important, to uphold the standards of the profession and to maintain public confidence, but at what cost?

The PDA believed the Society’s regulatory processes were disproportionate, with consequences to the public interest agenda. Over-regulation stifled innovation, restricted pharmacists’ professional decision-making in the interests of the patient for fear of discipline. Over-regulation prolonged the process of dealing with minor misdemeanours rather than dealing with the more serious ones.

What was clear, said Mr Murphy, was that the only contact many pharmacists had with their professional body was a bad one, tainted by the regulatory agenda. The Society was aware of this because it had embarked on a consultation about non-referral and a charm offensive, but the members were saying, “Show me, don’t tell me”.

The Society was tainted by the idea that it only dealt in regulation. The challenge was to show the membership that the new professional body would be an organisation that pharmacists would be proud to be part of.

The Chief Executive and Registrar (Jeremy Holmes) said that he agreed with the need for proportionate, fair and transparent regulation. The Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order 2007 had presented challenges for the Society and it had been working hard to implement the new legislative framework.

There were also positive moves, such as the introduction of the Health Committee, which allowed cases to be viewed through the lens of health rather than just discipline. The Society had recently gone out to consultation on new threshold criteria, which would mean that cases that not affecting patient safety would be dealt with locally rather than being referred to the Investigating Committee. That would lead to more proportionate regulation.

The point about “Show me, don’t just tell me” was well taken. The Society was starting to show rather than tell, and that would come out in the FTP report.