For those who come after

What an exciting time for pharmacy.

The Royal College of Pharmacy. It has a great ring to it and the work that has got us to this point has been fundamental in embedding the foundations for the future of pharmacy.

There is a risk however, that when you get elections for professional leadership bodies they are driven by self-centred, ego led reasons and it is important that this is sifted out.

These elections aren’t for the people running, nor are they for those working within the organisation. They are for the membership. They are for the profession. And, most importantly it is for those who come after. Those who aren’t members yet. Those who don’t even know they want to join the profession yet.

Whoever is elected has a really important role to play in helping guide and steer the Royal College of Pharmacy forwards and, to quote the New Zealand All Blacks, “Leave the jersey in a better place”. 

The Royal College of Pharmacy needs to be inclusive, welcoming and supportive not just for the current membership base but those potential wider members of the future.

This is a thorny and controversial topic for many, but I strongly advocate for grasping these subjects early, to assist planning for the future and find a way to bring our collective voice together. Pharmacy needs a unified voice to support our future growth, develop our people, our provision and to bring more weight to our discussions.

I wrote two years ago about pharmacy being a fractured profession. Through the work that has been undertaken and the special resolution vote to become a royal college, we have that opportunity to have a home for all.

This is my ultimate ambition for the Royal College of Pharmacy. A home for all and a home that supports, nurtures and stands up for us, both on behalf of its members/non-members and our patients.

We can achieve so much more together and set foundations for the future generations of pharmacy and whoever is elected I will be looking to them to map this trajectory. It won’t be easy and there will be challenges to overcome but in my opinion is the right thing to do.

The Royal College of Pharmacy is not for me, it is not for you — it is for those who come after.

Matthew Prior

Candidate for the National Pharmacy Advisory Council for England