In a move to “establish a stronger and more collaborative leadership body”, the RPS has today (September 12) announced plans “to seek to register as a charity and move to become a royal college - The Royal College of Pharmacy”.

It said that the proposals come after “a comprehensive independent review” of the RPS, “focusing on how [it] can best…fulfil its leadership role”, which has taken place over the past 18 months.

Read more: ‘Very positive’ turnout: Fewer than 2,000 votes for RPS leadership

“The proposed transition to a royal college aims to establish a stronger and more collaborative leadership body that can better deliver its strategic ambitions,” the RPS added.

It said that the change would also see the RPS’s existing “knowledge business”, the Pharmaceutical Press, “become a wholly owned subsidiary called Pharmaceutical Press Ltd”.

 

“Vote of support”

 

“The changes require a vote of support from RPS members before being submitted to the Privy Council…and the charity regulators,” the RPS said.

A two-thirds majority of voting RPS members will need to show their support for the proposal for it to go forwards, it added.

Read more: RPS obscures declining membership numbers in latest annual report

“It is expected that the vote will take place early in 2025,” the membership body said.

“The RPS will be holding a series of engagement events across Great Britain starting in October and running over two months to provide detail about the proposed changes and gather feedback,” it added.

 

“A natural progression”

 

RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said that the proposal “will empower [the RPS] to better advocate for pharmacy and deliver [its] mission”.

“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 added.

She deemed the move “a natural progression, reinforcing our commitment to our members and enhancing our capacity to serve patients and the public”.

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And RPS chief executive Paul Bennett said that the body is “keen to hear the views of members and the wider pharmacy community about these proposals”.

In May, Anderson was re-elected to her post as the society revealed a 10% turnout for the English Pharmacy Board ballot.

Meanwhile, the RPS’s annual report revealed in the same month that membership declined again in 2023. The society now has 37,474 “total members”, down 2% from 2022, according to the report published with little fanfare.