The RPS yesterday (February 12) revealed the finalised proposed changes to its Royal Charter after an “18-month long process” reviewing the membership body’s structure.
It announced that a vote on its plans to “become a royal college” will open at 9 am on March 13 and will be held until 5 pm on March 24.
Read more: RPS planning to vote on ‘Royal College’ status in March
It comes after a spokesperson for the RPS told C+D last month that the vote was set to take place in March but that an exact date had not yet been confirmed.
According to the body, anyone wishing to take part in the “special resolution vote (SRV)” must be a “full” member of the RPS by February 28.
The vote is comprised of two elements – the proposed amendments to the Royal Charter and the name change to the Royal College of Pharmacy – and a single vote covers both elements of the resolution, the RPS said.
Read more: RPS announces bid to become ‘Royal College of Pharmacy’
The RPS governing body said it has agreed it should “move to a structure” that would “better support its professional leadership activities and ambition”.
“These changes reflect a modernised corporate structure, typical of royal colleges, and will give RPS flexibility to lead the professional through a complex and quickly changing landscape,” it added.
“Transformational change”
Along with its bid to become a royal college, the RPS proposals also outline that the body “seeks to become a charity” and hopes to create “a wholly owned (limited) subsidiary for its publishing activities”.
If the proposals are voted through, changes to RPS governance will include:
- As required by law, the RPS must create a trustee board to run the charity, which will also take on all legal and financial responsibilities – currently they are the responsibility of the Assembly
- The Assembly will retain its oversight on all professional matters, but will be renamed Senate
- The National Pharmacy Boards will remain responsible for policy and be elected by the membership but to avoid confusion in naming with the trustee board, these will be renamed National Councils
Read more: RPS board member resigns over royal college strategy
RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said that “the proposed charter changes are designed to empower RPS to deliver on its strategy and ambitions as the professional leadership body for pharmacy”.
“The modernised charter will ensure we have the agility needed to represent and lead the profession through transformational change and into the future,” she added.
“Robust foundation”
RPS chief executive Paul Bennett said that these changes “will provide us with a robust foundation to champion the profession,” adding that the body is “creating an organisation that is fit for the challenges of the 21st century”.
But former RPS president Martin Astbury wrote on X that “unfortunately I will not be able to support this change from a member organisation to a charity, where the leader of the top governing board is a non-elected non-pharmacist”.
And Bennett responded to this criticism, noting that “the Senate will lead on Royal College strategy, driven by the needs of the profession, and the three Councils will have responsibility for devolved healthcare policy in the home nations. All the members of those groups will be pharmacists”.