Ewan Maule has made a persuasive case for a new approach to pharmacy leadership once the transition to a royal college structure has been implemented.
It is axiomatic that the role and influence that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society enjoyed through most of the 20th century diminished substantially once regulation was stripped from the Society, and there was little that it could do. It is to the credit of the recent and current leadership that a reset, promoted in the shape of the new royal college, gives the Society many new opportunities, which must not be wasted.
Maule rightly identifies priorities for the new college: being bold and championing all sectors of pharmacy and medicine use, and secondly providing leadership for all. The new college, as a charity, will have the aim of serving the public by the means of supporting and encouraging pharmacists to be the best they can be. This aim differs considerably from the introspection that has crept in to the Society in recent times, with overmuch emphasis on, for instance, an equality, diversity and inclusion agenda, or political posturing on, say, humanitarian issues, where the Society simply does not have the competence to pontificate.
The new college will be the once in a lifetime reset opportunity to achieve Mr Maule’s aims of bold and unified leadership for all of the sectors of the profession, as well as providing opportunities to lead in the further education and training of pharmacists, thus enabling them to deliver to the public the very best in pharmaceutical services and medicines. We must not fail in the challenge.
Nicholas L Wood, past President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
