The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has today (12 September) announced proposals to become the 'Royal College of Pharmacy', with charitable status.

It said the suggestion was the outcome of a 'comprehensive independent review' of its constitution and governance, which has taken place over the past 18 months.

As a Royal College, the RPS said it would aim to 'establish a stronger and more collaborative leadership body that can better deliver its strategic ambitions'.

It said it would focus on 'enhancing and developing RPS core activities in education, assessment and credentialling, and standards and guidance to assure professional standards, to the benefit of patients and the public'.

Proposed changes would also ensure future 'flexibility' to support 'deeper partnerships' with other groups and organisations, while enabling them to retain a 'distinct voice', the RPS added.

What happens next?

The RPS plans to hold a series of events across Great Britain from October to December, to share more detail about the proposed changes and gather feedback.

It then expects to hold a vote among RPS members in early 2025. Two thirds of members must support the proposals before it can be submitted to the Privy Council, which can approve amends to the current Royal Charter, as well as to the charity regulators.

Why have the changes been proposed?

Commenting on the proposed changes, RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said: 'Pharmacy is changing rapidly and the expectations placed upon pharmacists and the wider pharmacy team will have profound repercussions in terms of delivering patient care.

'It’s time for pharmacy to take its place alongside other health and medical professional leadership bodies and for RPS to become the Royal College of Pharmacy.'

She said that becoming a Royal College was 'a natural progression' for the organisation.

'It will empower us to better advocate for pharmacy and deliver our mission and vision; ensuring that we are always at the forefront of the safe and effective use of medicines,' she said.

FAQs released by the RPS suggested that the term 'Royal College' had beneficial name recognition 'particularly with the media and with policymakers'.

RPS chief executive Paul Bennett said the proposed change reflects the organisation's 'commitment to the highest standards of professional leadership and patient care'.

'It will enable us to be more agile, collaborative and influential across healthcare. As a Royal College, we will have a stronger platform to advance the profession, push for the best possible outcomes for patients and support our members through a rapidly evolving environment,' he said.

'We are hugely excited about this next chapter in our history and want to engage with our members and stakeholders to shape the future together. We are keen to hear the views of members and the wider pharmacy community about these proposals and urge everyone to get involved.'

Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), also commented on the independent review.

He said it had set out 'a positive vision for the future of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, including the proposals for the RPS to become a Royal College and a registered charity'.

'Strong and collaborative leadership will be vital to help support and enable pharmacy to achieve its full potential in improving care for patients and the public,' Mr Rudkin added.

'We welcome the ongoing discussions about the best way for professional leadership in pharmacy to develop, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the RPS and other stakeholders as these discussions are taken forward.'

Professional leadership

The RPS noted that the proposed changes come at a time of rapid changes in medicines development, technology and expectations of pharmacists and pharmacy teams.

In February 2023, the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership found that there was insufficient collective leadership within the sector and that the ‘disjointed voice of the pharmacy professions’ is ‘holding back pharmacy from making the best contribution to UK healthcare’.

And in October 2023, the UKPPLAB was set up to bring together pharmacy professionals amid imminent changes to the professional landscape, such as pharmacist prescribing and greater opportunities for pharmacy technicians.

'Opaque' governance structures

The RPS review also found that its governance structure was 'opaque to members and stakeholders'.

Its current governance structures had been in place since 2010, and while they had been reviewed, with issues identified, since then, no changes had been made.

The RPS also noted that its strategic ambitions would be 'difficult to deliver' without changes to the organisation's governance.

It said it would seek to simplify its Charter 'to ensure more flexibility but retain member influence and agency' and recognised that governance that 'supports greater agility and transparency of decision making' was needed.

Proposed changes

Subject to legal advice, a membership vote, and approval from the Cabinet Office, the Privy Council and charity regulators, the RPS is proposing to:

  • Become a registered charity
  • Create a trustee board to run the charity and oversee fiduciary and administrative responsibilities
  • Retain its Assembly, which will become known as the 'Senate', for professional leadership focussed on Great Britain,
  • Retain its National Boards, which will become known as 'National Councils', with responsibility for policy at a national, devolved level
  • Seek to become a Royal College
  • Make its knowledge and publishing business, Pharmaceutical Press, a wholly owned (limited) subsidiary. The RPS said this would enable the Pharmaceutical Press 'to become more entrepreneurial', and would 'continue to transfer surpluses, including any increase in surplus enabled by this change, to the proposed Royal College charity'.

If the changes were passed, RPS members would have new postnominals, which are expected to be 'RCPharm' - i.e. MRCPharm and FRCPharm.

Proposals to enable 'future closer collaboration'

The RPS said that it recognised 'the unique role, identity and contribution of other specialist groups and leadership organisations within the pharmacy space'.

And it acknowledged that 'any proposal put forward would need to be co-created and supported by both the leadership and membership of the relevant groups and organisations'.

'To facilitate the future possibility of this we have created flexibility in our proposal to allow for formal structures that could support deeper partnerships with these other groups and organisations, whilst enabling them to retain a distinct voice,' the RPS added.

Proposed changes could allow for 'additional equitable categories of membership' and 'Faculties' in the future, the RPS said.

But since this would require 'co-creation and discussion and agreement by members of all parties concerned', neither of these suggestions were part of the RPS's current proposals for change, it said.

In October 2022, the RPS argued that it should represent both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to ‘achieve a more unified approach to pharmacy leadership’.

In response at the time, the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) said it wasn’t consulted on this suggestion and that ‘it would not be conducive for harmonious professional relationships for one profession to assume responsibility for another’.

The RPS said that it was open to a future discussion with pharmacy technicians about ways the two professions could come together in terms of professional leadership, with an understanding of pharmacy technicians as fellow pharmacy professionals under the same regulator.

'We recognise APTUK as the professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians in GB, and as such, the starting point for any professional conversations in the future,' the RPS said.

And given the 'vital' importance of the support of members of both organisations for any change, this would therefore need to be 'a longer-term conversation', that was 'collaborative' and involved 'appropriate consultation and agreement on all sides'.

'In the meantime we are keen to continue to build relationships and work more closely with APTUK in terms of future opportunities,' the RPS said.