The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 267 No 7157 p104
21 July 2001

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“Guide to the Society” articles

The Society’s head of public relations, Jean-Pierre Moser, describes the Society’s branch and regional organisation and the steps being taken to ensure that the Society effectively supports and is supported by this local network

Shaping up for the future

Supporting the local network

How the Society supports and is supported by its branches and regions

In 1922, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society established a branch network with the prime aim, as laid out in the model rules for branches, of “serving as a medium of contact between the Council of the Society and its members in the branch area”.

Today the Society has 131 branches, with 106 in England, 12 in Scotland, 10 in Wales and one in each of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. The activities of the branches remain much as they were when they were first formed and are broadly concerned with educational, networking and professional support activities.

Every member of the Society is allocated to a branch but may elect to transfer to a different one of their own choosing. All members may participate in local branch activities and, if they choose, stand for election to the branch committee.

The history of the Society’s regions is more recent. The regions were established in England during the 1970s to mirror developments in the National Health Service, to co-ordinate the activities of the branches and to act as a communications channel with the Society’s Council. In Scotland and Wales the branches are co-ordinated through the Society’s Scottish Department and Welsh Executive offices.

Each of the 11 regions in England is administered by a committee made up of representatives from the branches within the region. In addition, designated members of Council, representatives of the British Pharmaceutical Students Association, the Pharmacy Services Negotiating Committee and, in many cases, the National Pharmaceutical Association also attend regional committee meetings.

Branches and regions receive annual grants from the Society to help fund their local activities. The costs associated with branch and regional representatives attending meetings at Lambeth are normally met from a centrally held fund.

The success of the local network depends on the hard work of dedicated activists who make up the branch or regional committees. Committee members include a chairman, a vice-chairman, a secretary, a treasurer and a branch public relations officer or regional communications officer. Regional committees are not expected to duplicate branch activities but are encouraged to assist in the co-ordination of activities best undertaken at regional level.

No single pattern characterises the life of a region or branch. In some places they thrive, with regular, well-attended meetings. In others, committees struggle to attract members to meetings. This problem has been attributed to members’ heavier workloads, the pressures of family life and the range of competing professional, business and leisure activities available.

Shaping up for the future

Following the publication last year of the Government’s programme to modernise the NHS and with it pharmacy services (along with parallel programmes in Scotland and Wales), the Council recognised a need to focus the Society’s resources on the work to implement the profession’s future. A key feature of the service developments set as targets was that they would involve the creation of local solutions to local health needs. This underlined the need to make the most of the Society’s local networks.

At the branch and regional secretaries’ meeting in October 2000, considerable debate took place about the need to ensure that the Society’s network was positioned to play its proper role in helping pharmacists take up the challenges and opportunities on offer. Branch and regional secretaries asked for support in engaging their members in the debate about the future shape of the NHS and pharmacy services and the role of the branches and regions in the future.

Also in October 2000, the Council accepted a proposal that the public affairs directorate should undertake a consultative review of how the Society’s network could be best supported to meet future challenges. The team agreed that the project should look for practical and innovative ways of supporting members at local level rather than seek to undertake a wholesale restructuring of the network that could be a distraction at this crucial time.

During the first six months of this year “Shaping the future” meetings were held throughout the English regions, with parallel reviews taking place in Scotland and Wales. A detailed report of these meetings will go to the Council’s August meeting for discussion and will then be circulated to branches for consideration and debate at the branch secretaries’ meeting in October.

One clear message that has come from the “Shaping the future” meetings is that there is a strong commitment from the branches and regions themselves to support the Society in delivering this change.

Supporting the local network

The Society’s membership team was reorganised in June 2000 with the aim of improving the support given to the branch and regional network. Forming part of the public affairs directorate and jointly managed with the public relations unit, the membership team has, in its first year, made it a priority to improve services to and communications with branch and regional secretaries who, with their fellow committee members, are the driving force behind the network.

A root and branch review of functions within the membership area has already begun to secure a better level of service to the members who run the network. One key service development has been the piloting of individual websites for branches, which are now being implemented across the network. Branch secretaries, who have contributed to the process of improvement, have acknowledged these enhancements and developments.

As part of its activities, the membership team organises meetings every year that give members an opportunity to have their views heard and considered by the Council. In May, the branch representatives’ meeting is an opportunity for branches to debate motions on important issues of the day, while in October the branch and regional secretaries’ meetings create a useful forum for exchange of ideas.

In addition to these events, the membership team administers the attendance of branch observers at both Council and committee meetings throughout the year and helps to co-ordinates the arrangements for branch representatives attending the British Pharmaceutical Conference.

The future of the local network is in the hands of those it was established to help and support, the Society’s membership. The environment in which pharmacists work is undergoing enormous change and it is a key objective of the Society to help the profession meet this change.

It is clear that the local network must evolve to meet the challenges of the future. The branches and regions have an important role to play in supporting members at a local level, but they need the input of and involvement of the membership to ensure success.