Basic agreement on how a professional leadership body for pharmacy should be set up was reached at a meeting held in Waterloo, London, earlier this month. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society was not invited to participate.
The so-called “Waterloo agreement”, backed by 18 pharmacy organisations, supports an all-encompassing royal college, with categories for practising, non-practising, retired and overseas pharmacists as well as pharmacy technicians and others involved in the science and practice of pharmacy.
Organisations that support the agreement
- Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK
- British Oncology Pharmacy Association
- College of Mental Health Pharmacists
- College of Pharmacy Practice, including its Faculty of Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacy and Faculty of Prescribing and Medicines Management
- Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists
- Institute of Pharmacy Management
- Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists’ Group
- Primary and Community Care Pharmacy Network
- Pharmacy Law and Ethics Association
- UK Clinical Pharmacy Association
- UK Medicines Information
- UK Psychiatric Pharmacy Group
- NHS Pharmaceutical Aseptic Services Group
- NHS Pharmaceutical Production Committee
- NHS Pharmaceutical QA Committee
- Technical Specialists Education and Training Committee
- UK Radiopharmacy Group
| The meeting was convened by the College of Pharmacy Practice with the aim of contributing to the dialogue about setting up a royal college-type body and making sure the views of small organisations are taken into account. Some of the supporting organisations will wish to be an integral part of the royal college and others will give their support while retaining their independence. CPP chief executive Ian Simpson stresses that the CPP is not in any way setting itself up in opposition to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. “Indeed the meeting was geared towards reaching an agreement to work together with the Society,” he said. In fact, this is the first of 10 points on which the organisations agree. The organisations also agree that the royal college should have a faculty system and that it should recognise different levels of education, expertise and specialisation by means of peer group accreditation. “This should take account of work that some organisations, such as the College of Mental Health Pharmacists and the CPP, have already done,” said Mr Simpson. He estimates that the organisations represent about 15,000 pharmacists and technicians, although he acknowledged that this does not take account of people belonging to more than one organisation. The Waterloo agreement was presented at a private seminar last week, which was run by the King’s Fund on behalf of the Department of Health to help inform Lord Carter and his working party on implementation of the White Paper. Mr Simpson told The Journal that the agreement came in for some criticism at the seminar for not having enough community pharmacy representation. He acknowledged that many of the organisations represent secondary and primary care pharmacists but pointed out that 75 per cent of the members of the Institute of Pharmacy Management are community pharmacists. The Waterloo agreement is available on the CPP website |
