Number of hospital pharmacists on Society's Council drops to one
Alison Ewing: the only hospital pharmacist to remain on Council |
Only one hospital pharmacist remains on the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society following the recent elections. Helen Howe (née Remmington),
chief pharmacist at Addenbrookes NHS Trust, Cambridge, failed to retain
her place in the recent elections (she received the most number of votes
of the unsuccessful candidates). Alison Ewing, director of pharmacy at
the Liverpool and Broadgreen NHS Trust remains on the Council (as her term
of office runs until 2006).
Speaking to Hospital Pharmacist, Ms Ewing said that: “While Council
members are not elected to represent a particular practice area, it clearly
makes sense for the make-up of the Council broadly to reflect the composition
of the membership. With roughly 10 to 15 per cent of registered pharmacists
working in the hospital sector, having two or three hospital pharmacists
on the 24 member Council (21 of whom are elected by pharmacists) seems
to be a balanced approach. With only one hospital pharmacist on Council,
it is likely that the views of those members of the profession working
in secondary care will be heard less often on the various standing committees.” Ms
Ewing added that: “I have worked with Helen [Howe] over the past
four years to ensure that there is a hospital perspective when needed.
It will be extremely difficult to achieve this alone and we must ensure
that there is appropriate input by liaising with the Hospital Pharmacists’ Group
and Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists when necessary.”
Mrs Howe told Hospital Pharmacist that: “With less direct input,
the challenge for hospital pharmacists will be to ensure that their perspectives,
information, experience and leadership qualities benefit the Council in
other ways.” She also pointed out that the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists
gives pharmacists working in hospitals and primary care an avenue to Government,
in addition to that offered by the Society.
Concerns about the way the council decided to petition the Privy Council
for a new Charter may well have worked against Mrs Howe during the election — all
seven places were won by candidates running under the banner of the “Save
Our Society” (SOS) group, the organisation fighting the new Charter.
Speaking for the SOS, Council member Douglas Simpson told Hospital
Pharmacist that the SOS group has a strong membership focus. “We want to support
the membership groups, which we feel have been somewhat neglected in recent
times. Although there will not be the same number of hospital pharmacists
on Council as before, we will ensure that their needs are well represented,” he
added. Graham Phillips, one of the seven SOS campaigners to be elected,
has said that the group hopes to field a hospital candidate in next year’s
elections.
The new Charter: at the time of Hospital
Pharmacist going to press, its fate remains in the balance
|
At the time of going to press, the fate of the Charter is uncertain. In
an action brought in the High Court by the SOS group, the judge ruled that
the Society had behaved lawfully when it petitioned the Queen (via the
Privy Council) for a new charter. He suggested that the appropriate place
to decide whether or not the new Charter is a good thing is the Privy Council.
A letter has been sent to the Privy Council, on behalf of 13 Council members
(the 10 declared SOS campaigners
and three others) asking
them to keep the Charter decision on hold. (The Privy Council had previously
decided
not to take the petition process further until the outcome of the High
Court action is known). The SOS group have also said that they will appeal
against the decision of the High Court,
and the annual general meeting of the Society’s members on 12 May
carried a motion
seeking to reject the petition for the new Charter by 56 votes
to 54. |
Hospital Pharmacist