The Society

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society: helping pharmacists achieve excellence

By Beverley Parkin

When you register with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, you will become part of an organisation that has looked after the reputation and guided the development of the pharmacy profession since 1842. But how does the Society work?

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is rich in heritage. Her Majesty The Queen is the Society's royal patron. But it was Queen Victoria who gave the Society its first royal charter in 1845, so conferring the first of the powers that have been broadened and strengthened by further royal charters and Acts of Parliament. While valuing its past, however, the Society is increasingly concerned with the future and is actively seeking new powers and engaging in new activities to help it guide the profession into the next millennium.

The Society is different from other similar bodies because it has a regulatory duty as well as a role to support the profession in its practise and development. By ensuring that pharmacists are able to deliver high quality professional services wherever they work, the Society plays an important role in the public interest. Another of its roles is to act as a voice for pharmacists in the professional, political and health policy arenas. Increasingly important is the Society's role as a source of advice and support to its members, for whom it provides a wide range of services.

Every pharmacist has the opportunity to join in the activities of the branch and regional network across the country, which will bring you together with your fellow pharmacists for learning, discussion and topical debate.

Headquarters

Pharmaceutical Society HQ The Society's headquarters, which, as a member, you will be very welcome to visit, occupies a modern building of architectural significance that sits on the south bank of the Thames at Lambeth, London, just downriver from the Houses of Parliament. It is here that the Society's governing Council, committees and special interest groups hold their meetings and where over 150 staff carry out the Council's programme on behalf of the profession. The Society is well placed to meet the challenges of devolution. Offices in Edinburgh and Cardiff support the work of the Scottish and Welsh Executive Committees in taking forward the Society's policy in Scotland and Wales.

In 1995, the Council embarked on 'Pharmacy in a new age', a programme to help guide pharmacy towards the future. An important outcome of this work was the decision to modernise the Society's head office structure and ways of working to enable the Council and staff to work together more effectively. Now, the Council's role is to focus on strategic planning and policy formulation which the standing committees and staff directorates take forward. A policy support unit helps the Council pinpoint the key issues that need to be tackled, while keeping a weather eye on the future.

Council

Pharmaceutical Society HQ The Council consists of 21 pharmacists elected by the entire membership and three members nominated by the Privy Council to guide and support the Society's Council in its work. The Council currently meets six times in a year to plan for the future and frame its policy.

Elections to the Council are held every year and each Council member is elected for a period of three years. Every year, the Council elects its officers (President, Vice President, Treasurer and Immediate Past President) together with the Secretary, who is also appointed as Registrar and chief executive of the organisation. The officers, supported by the Secretary and Registrar and Deputy Secretary, act as a board of management between meetings of the Council.

The Society supports a number of special interest and membership groups — including the British Pharmaceutical Students' Association — which promote and develop particular aspects or sectors of the profession.

Standing committees work with the staff to put the Council's policy into practice in the areas of science, education, practice and law and ethics. An infringements committee considers cases of alleged misconduct by pharmacists. Such cases may be referred to the independent statutory committee, which can reprimand or, if necessary, order a pharmacist's name to be removed from the register. Pharmacy's powers of self-regulation are an important element of its ability to determine its own future and the Society is proud of the profession's record in this area. However, the challenges of delivering a high quality, fully accountable professional service mean that the Society is scrutinising pharmacy's professional, ethical and constitutional frameworks with a view to strengthening them.

Other standing committees of the Council oversee resources, staff matters, management of the British Pharmaceutical Conference and adjudication of overseas students' qualifications. Each standing committee is supported by staff who work within one of five directorates, which work closely together to put the Council's policies into practice, helping pharmacists carry out and develop their role and promoting the value of the profession to the outside world.

Professional standards

The Professional Standards Directorate is responsible for many of the Society's regulatory functions, which are statutory or conferred by law. Staff who work in this directorate ensure that the registers of pharmacists and pharmacy premises are rigorously maintained so that the public can be assured of the professional good standing of the pharmacists they deal with. The code of ethics and professional guidance is constantly reviewed to meet the challenges of practising in a changing environment.

A team of inspectors works with the profession offering guidance on and ensuring compliance with legal requirements and professional standards — another important safeguard for the public interest. There is also a telephone service for obtaining legal and ethical advice and guidance from the professional standards team. Members suffering stress, addiction or who are in other difficulty are offered a number of support services. All pharmacists receive a free, six-monthly updated version of the 'Medicines, Ethics and Practice' guide, containing invaluable information on legal and ethical aspects of practice as well as contact details for the headquarters operation.

Professional development

The Professional Development Directorate co-ordinates the education and practice components of the Society's work. The Society has a statutory role in the accreditation of the pharmacy component of undergraduate courses in the United Kingdom's 16 schools of pharmacy. Preregistration training and the registration examination are also shaped and administered by the Society, which supports lifelong learning and continuing professional development for pharmacists throughout their career. Within this directorate is the team who takes forward the considerable body of policy and advisory work affecting all aspects of the practice of pharmacy. The Society is active in developing audit, practice research and the profession's information management and technology strategy. Local activity to promote the Pharmacy in a New Age philosophy is co-ordinated by a project manager. Close links with the Commonwealth are fostered through the Society's role as administrator of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association.

The chief scientist, working closely with the Society's science team, is the Society's external spokesperson on all scientific matters and advises the Council on scientific issues. The Society's medicines testing laboratory, based in Edinburgh, offers a commercial analytical and drugs testing service.

Public affairs

The Society sets great store by its membership network, which is supported through the Public Affairs Directorate. Every year, Branches send representatives to the headquarters building to debate important issues of the day and members are encouraged to attend the annual general meeting. The Society's library has a wealth of specialist books (most of which can be loaned by post), periodicals and databases; the technical information service answers some 14,000 queries a year from members and other callers. The Society runs a museum to preserve and promote pharmacy's heritage.

The British Pharmaceutical Conference is an annual highlight for those involved in pharmacy practice and science, drawing as many as a thousand delegates from all over the world. The directorate runs a programme of scientific support, including awards, lectures and meetings as well as networking and awareness building across the pharmaceutical sciences.

The Society works to get pharmacy in the spotlight, promoting good relations with the public and media through a press office and other public relations work, with the help of a network of local pharmacist public relations officers.

The public relations team provides promotional advice for all members. External relations, particularly with Parliament and government are co-ordinated to ensure that pharmacy's voice is heard where it matters. National and local membership meetings, hospitality and other events help create a positive climate for pharmacists to work in. The national pharmacy healthcare scheme provides consumer health education materials through Britain's 12,000 pharmacies.

The Society is developing its presence on the internet through its website homepages (www.rpsgb.org.uk).

Publications

The Publications Directorate is responsible for the Society's highly successful imprint, the Pharmaceutical Press. A developing catalogue of scientific journals, books and electronic publications includes the British National Formulary, a joint publication with the British Medical Association, and also Martindale the complete Drug Reference.

All pharmacists on the register receive the editorially independent Pharmaceutical Journal, which is complemented by a growing number of other publications that serve pharmacists with news, current affairs and educational reading.

Resources

All this work is underpinned behind the scenes by the Resources Directorate, which works to ensure that the Society gets optimum benefit from its investment in people and resources. As a major player among healthcare regulatory and professional organisations, it is crucial that the Society 's operation is based on sound planning and deployment of its members' funds. For pharmacists and their families in need, the Society administers a range of benevolent support services.

Pharmacy is a complex profession operating across a range of sectors and disciplines. To support pharmacists engaged in these activities, the Society has to operate across an equally wide range of issues and areas and be prepared to reshape and refocus to meet changing needs and priorities. The active participation of members at local, sector and national level is the lifeblood of the organisation and the Council is working to ensure that members are encouraged to play a full role in the life of their profession.

A free “Guide to services for members” is sent to all newly registered pharmacists and is available to any member from the Society's public relations unit; telephone 020 7735 9141:extension 333.

Ms Parkin is director of public affairs at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Tomorrow's Pharmacist October 2000 p14-16 Edited by Pamela Mason