The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland celebrates its 100^th birthday next year and it’s showing its age as it shuns the needs, views and aspirations of the people it regulates, says Terry Maguire…

My goodness, you can only feel sorry for our poor old regulator, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

You get a sense there is utter chaos within the organisation. Twenty months ago, a new president and a new CEO offered an opportunity for change and a reset. But no. It felt as though the new CEO had just sat down, been given a detailed organisational briefing, got up from her desk and walked straight out the door.

There was no press release on how she was “seeking new challenges.” I can only assume she screamed like a TV celebrity “get me out of here! To be fair, she got a bad rap from the start.

She had to deal with a sharply negative report from the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). The regulators’ regulator said PSNI had failed on three standards out of 18. Her press release spun the positive; PSNI complied with 15 out of 18 standards but that ignored the serious point. It was damning, so let me recap.

Standard four was not met because of PSNI’s inability to provide timely and accurate information. The PSA felt this raised serious questions about the confidence it had in PSNI and its ability to address concerns.

Standard 10 was not met because there were a number of registration errors on the PSNI’s register. It seems there were not robust processes and controls in place to ensure the accuracy of the register and, worse still, PSNI had not taken action to reduce the risk of similar errors occurring in the future.

Standard 15 was not met because PSNI was taking too long to deal with fitness-to-practise cases. More worryingly, PSNI could not provide sufficient explanation for the delays or what it was doing to minimise them.

It does make you wonder what we get for the £398 annual registration fees. What are they doing all day at 73 University Street? The PSA, more or less, said that in light of PSNI’s small caseload, it should be able to manage delays more effectively.

I believe the core of the current chaos is cultural. A legacy from a previous senior management team that is proving difficult to eradicate. Staff disempowerment and central control is so embedded in the organisation, as is distain and contempt for pharmacists.

These are things that must be changed if PSNI is to survive. The organisation refuses to listen to registrants, which is manifested in simple things such as payment of the annual fee.

Some years back, it was dictated, without any consultation, that only a specific bank transfers scheme was allowed for payment of fees. At the time, I objected and paid by cheque and where I made my point, the process made me work for it.

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association has also been active on behalf of its members. Where it did get agreement to pay the retention fee in instalments, that has now been put back for a year.

The delay is because PSNI “requires legislative change to take effect.” It has the powers to effect this change and it should not take the time it claims it does.

These are perhaps petty things but there are bigger and much more challenging and strategic issues that are not being properly addressed, such as the foundation year training, independent prescribing and qualified technicians.

Having said that, there are signs of renewal. The president is sitting down with the 1975 president Tom Aiken for a “fireside chat” with new registrants and hopefully that might prove to be an effective listening exercise.

There has been a concerted effort to get members out to the AGM. But why go if it’s merely a rubber-stamping exercise? There is also a plan to celebrate the big birthday next year.

The PSNI is struggling to appoint a new CEO, the head of regulation has been on extended leave and there were, until very recently, four vacant places on the Council. These, thankfully, have now been filled by ministerial appointment.

The only pharmacist among the new appointees qualified and spent his career so far working in England. The PSNI is not an organisation that seems happy with itself.

It must, of course, continue to protect the public but that does not mean it needs to shun the needs, views and aspirations of those whom it regulates and who pays its wages.

The current culture must change and, if it does, I will be happy to celebrate the PSNI’s centenary with a refrain of ‘many happy returns.’

Terry Maguire is a leading pharmacist in Northern Ireland.