With just days to go to the close of the momentous vote, one Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) member shares his personal perspective. By Michael Achiampong, MSc, MRPharmS, GPhC 

As a humble grassroots member of 30 years’ standing, I have been carefully weighing up my decision regarding the Special Resolution Vote (SRV) in relation to the RPS’s proposals to update its current 2004 Charter and rebrand itself as the Royal College of Pharmacy for the 21st century. The vote closes soon, on 24 March.

My thoughts about this evokes a paraphrasing of Shakespeare’s Hamlet: To be, or not to be? A Royal College of Pharmacy. I found that I had a lot to consider when making my decision and perhaps am wary about a Brexit type ‘yes or no’ approach to the decision. Could it be that there might be unintended consequences that become apparent several years later?

There has been plenty of information available. I commend the RPS President and chief executive and their teams on reaching out by email and through webinars explaining their reasoning for this seismic change. There has also been top-down endorsement from the UK Professional Leadership Advisory Board (UKPPLAB) and the chief pharmaceutical officers.

This has been my thought process.

Voting No, for the status quo?

As it stands, in my view, the RPS already has considerable clout with patients and commissioners, taxpayers and members.

We have an impressive heritage. We’re descended from the chemists and druggists established 1859 and our schooling in materia medica connects us with the Society of Apothecaries, established in 1617. I value the invaluable inspiration from the RPS to become a better pharmacist every day for patients.

But there is some confusion. I’ve often sniffed at TV news when the media has mistakenly captioned the RPS as the Royal College of Pharmacy. I’ve sighed at my car radio in the past when a former chair of the England Pharmacy Board was misrepresented as the President of the RPS.

There are unknown risks of jettisoning 184 years’ worth of heritage and history. And leaping head-first towards a ‘vision’ that somehow is going to incorporate missionary elements of AI, digital health care and genomics into real everyday pharmacy practice.

I am also uncertain as to the details of the RPS becoming a charity, which would mean it needs to create a board of trustees responsible for legal and financial matters.

And would the Royal College stand-up to the GPhC’s intention to increase annual fees by 6% per year for the next two years. For which of course there is no magic money tree.

On the other hand, voting Yes for change means…

At the time of writing, there is still no further updates on negotiations of settlement terms and conditions for pharmacy contractors for 2024/25 let alone 2025/26. We are in comparison with our primary care GP colleagues, in perpetual limbo wearing Cinderella’s ballet left-behind shoe.

The RPS proposals proclaim that transitioning to a Royal College status should give pharmacy a stronger voice. I’m mindful though that it’s not necessarily those who shout the loudest who get heard.

Arguably, it’s actually those who can capture hearts and minds of Parliamentarians and commissioners, the membership as well as patients and the media, who could be most successful. There’s a lot to be said in the value of ‘quiet leadership’ as advocated on Ted X by Brené Brown.

Hopefully, I am no Luddite. I’m all for positive changes for the better.

I am wondering why we might want to make the change now? Especially as yet another NHS workforce 10-year plan and Comprehensive Spending Review are due publication in May and July 2025, respectively. Perhaps, the RPS is jumping the gun before knowing the current Labour government’s true direction of travel?

There are so many issues right here, right now, that need all of our focus, such as pharmacy closures and medication shortages. I was delighted to contribute to the RPS’s Medicines shortages: Solutions for empty shelves published in late November 2024. And this publication has been discussed by Parliamentarians - two of which are pharmacists.

And so, my conclusion: To be or not to be a Royal College of Pharmacy? My own decision is something along the lines of definitely, maybe, or, possibly, maybe; but not now. I’ll be very interested to see what the outcome is.