The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has proposed formal changes to its royal charter that would allow it to become a Royal College and a registered charity.
RPS members will be able to vote on the proposed changes via a ‘special resolution vote’ (SRV) between 13 and 24 March 2025.
To vote, pharmacists must be a full RPS member by Friday 28 February 2025.
The proposed RPS Charter changes are to become a Royal College, called ‘The Royal College of Pharmacy‘, to become a charity, which would mean it needs to create a trustee board that is responsible for legal and financial matters, and to create a wholly owned (limited) subsidiary for its knowledge business, Pharmaceutical Press.
The proposed changes follow 18 months of consultation with RPS members, including a nationwide roadshow.
What would this mean in practice?
As well as changes to the name of the RPS, the changes would also affect the responsibilities of its Assembly. Previously, the Assembly had been responsible for legal and financial matters, but this would transfer to the new board of trustees.
The Assembly would be renamed as the ‘Senate‘, and would retain oversight on ‘all professional matters‘, the RPS said.
And the current National Pharmacy Boards would be renamed ‘National Councils‘, to avoid confusion with the trustee board. These would remain responsible for policy in each UK nation, and would be elected by RPS members.
RPS chief executive Paul Bennett said the proposed changes and Royal College status would provide the RPS with ‘a robust foundation to champion the profession, support our members and advance patient care‘.
He added: ‘Through them we are creating an organisation that is fit for the challenges of the 21st century, ensuring we remain at the forefront of innovation and professional leadership.‘
RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said the changes were ‘designed to empower RPS to deliver on its strategy and ambitions as the professional leadership body for pharmacy‘.
Ambitions to strengthen pharmacy leadership
The proposed changes come at a time of rapid changes in medicines development, technology and expectations of pharmacists and pharmacy teams.
In February 2023, the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership found that there was insufficient collective leadership within the sector and that the ‘disjointed voice of the pharmacy professions’ is ‘holding back pharmacy from making the best contribution to UK healthcare’.
And in October 2023, the UKPPLAB was set up to bring together pharmacy professionals amid imminent changes to the professional landscape, such as pharmacist prescribing and greater opportunities for pharmacy technicians.
The UKPPLAB is holding a series of webinars throughout February 2025 to ask all pharmacy team members to feed into a vision and common purpose for pharmacy professional leadership.
A version of this article was originally published by our sister publication The Pharmacist.
