What's the Society ever done for me?

Regulation will then be operated by a new body - the General Pharmaceutical Council to which membership for practising pharmacists will be a legal requirement.

The professional leadership function will be undertaken by a new leadership body. Its membership will be voluntary.

The process of creating the new professional leadership body is being managed by a Transitional Committee (Transcom), which is headed by an independent chairman - Nigel Clarke. This work is being ‘supervised’ by the current council of the RPSGB.

Since all this has been announced, the PDA has been resolute in its view that this new professional leadership body, although voluntary, is entirely necessary. It is our view that the new body should not only provide the tools to enable pharmacists to do their jobs, such as supporting CPD and other forms of practice support, but that it should also champion the cause of pharmacy to the outside world. Equally, it must also nurture leading-edge developments and bring them into mainstream pharmacy practice.

Consequently, the PDA has been working hard to support this process, and has also been active in trying to ensure that the new leadership body is a body for pharmacists and not one that is controlled by the large organisations with many employees.