By Paul Bennett FRPharmS, RPS Chief Executive
The journey towards the creation of the Royal College of Pharmacy, scheduled for launch on 15th April 2026, and made possible following the amendments to our Royal Charter and as confirmed recently by Privy Council, has been a long one. Arguably it has been a 185-year journey.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) was first formed in 1841, first granted a Royal Charter in 1843 and with a proud history as the professional leadership body for pharmacists and more recently Pharmaceutical Scientists, as well as having performed the role as the professional regulator. Since 2010, when regulatory responsibility transferred to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), it has been professional leadership to which the Society, simply now referred to as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has put all its efforts.
Transition to professional leadership
The early years of the Society as a leadership body required the organisation to navigate a new era where its dependency on guaranteed member subscriptions (as all pharmacists had to be members of the previous RPSGB) was no longer an option. I cannot speak with first-hand experience of those times as I began as CEO in summer 2017, but I do know that there was a lot of effort put into demonstrating member value and trying hard to establish credibility as a leadership body with discretionary membership. All credit to my predecessor and her leadership team who had to pick up with what they were handed following the transition from the combined regulator/ leadership body period.
Taking on the CEO role in 2017
I can speak more authoritatively about the years from 2017. It was with the remit of building the Society into a member focussed viable and sustainable organisation that I was appointed. A challenge that I relished as a member for over forty years myself and having had the privilege of being appointed Chair of the very first English Pharmacy Board of the Society back in 2007. I am proud to be a pharmacist and someone who truly believes in the importance of supporting my professional leadership body and all that it does for the advancement of pharmacy. Something instilled in me by my university tutor, Professor Geoff Booth, past President of RPSGB.
Addressing financial and organisational challenges
It has not been a small challenge as the RPS in those early years of the last decade was finding it hard to generate revenues and had expensive ambitions. It was grappling with a deficit budget situation, and the financial trajectory was not good. Sustainability was a real issue, and it was in need of a refocussed strategy and various governance issues needed addressing. Getting the basics right and supporting areas capable of revenue generation, whilst addressing years of underinvestment most notably in publishing and technology, was a key priority and it needed an executive team and senior leadership group capable of delivering against these objectives whilst remaining fully accountable to our elected members.
Building the right team and a sustainable model
Those with responsibility for organisational leadership will be quick to recognise that success is highly dependent upon having the right people in the right roles at the right time and allocating resource accordingly, while being clear on your mission and vision and agreed success measures. That’s why we spent time building the right team, working closely with governance members to help prioritise what was important to members and for sustainability, whilst challenging ourselves to think and act more akin to a successful business but one with a not- for- profit ethos. I would not claim that we have got this right in all areas and certainly not all of the time, and there are things I would have done differently if I had my time again, such as our pursuit for products and services relevant to members delivered at a pace greater than we have been able to achieve, but the results have come. We are now in a significantly stronger position thanks to the efforts of the staff teams with us today and all those who have played a part along the way for which I am very grateful. The Society is not a large organisation and we have had to balance ambition with available resource every year and by doing so have delivered significant products and services for members, strongly advocated on behalf of the profession, helped shape the professional agenda, developed a suite of professional resources through Pharmaceutical Press that are recognised as world leading, and delivered six consecutive years of operational surplus, despite the pandemic occurring during that period of time.
Advancing careers through assessment and credentialing
So, what have we done that stands out? I must call out our focus on assessment and credentialing, with introduction of several relevant curricula and supporting structures to help with ‘career laddering’. Establishing a clear pathway for career development from newly qualified to consultant pharmacist, with an educational framework that supports members to grow professionally, remains an imperative for future progression of the profession as a whole and for individual careers.
Shaping the professional agenda
Shaping the professional agenda, with strong advocacy for progression towards a much more clinical profession, such as pharmacist prescribing, personalised medicine services, cancer care etc has been a prominent feature of our work. So too has been our recognition of the environmental crisis, the support for greener pharmacy, the EDI challenge and our anti-racist stance, and supporting pharmacists to manage risk in practice. Our recently introduced professional liability insurance is a response to member demand in this regard.
Rebuilding connection through conferences
Our conferences have been a key moment in each year and immediately after the pandemic period we got the face-to-face events that members wanted back up and running and last year was our most successful yet. They are going from strength to strength and something I hope everyone will experience in the coming years.
Leading and supporting during the pandemic
We have been actively participating in the COVID Inquiry, providing written evidence and highlighting the vital role of pharmacists and pharmacy teams during the pandemic. This was a particularly difficult time for the RPS, having to put in place new working practices, managing the buildings and ensuring we were doing everything we could to support our members through possibly the most difficult time in our history, notwithstanding the periods during both world wars and other major conflicts that have occurred during our 185 year history. I could not be prouder of the work our teams did and that we did not have to furlough any employees or loose anyone through redundancy as people adapted and put their efforts into what was most needed at the time.
Laying the groundwork for constitutional and governance reform
Of course, what the pandemic also did was delay our ambition for fundamental constitutional change as we were limited to minor changes in the period between 2017 and 2021. It meant we had to introduce a new strategy (2021 to 2026) that at the time focussed on the immediate challenges but with an eye on future reform. It was only after 2023 did we have the mind space to revisit the prospect of constitution and governance reform of the Society and that began with the independent review of our constitution and supporting governance. Firetail was the organisation we brought in to undertake that review and with input from the Executive team, that led to the proposal to Assembly to seek a change to our royal charter and become a registered charity.
From Royal Charter change to Royal College launch
I won’t recount here all that has taken place between Assembly agreeing that proposal and the period we are in now, just a matter of days away from the launch of the new Royal College of Pharmacy on 15th April 2026, but just to say that it has taken great effort by very many people I am proud to call my colleagues to get us here. It has been the collective resolve of the staff, the Executive and our elected members across Assembly, the National Pharmacy Boards and all our committees and sub committees to get us to this point. A big thank you goes to all of them as well as the many stakeholders offering support. The resoundingly positive special resolution vote for change in March 2025 illustrated the desire amongst members for the changes proposed.
Stepping aside as a new chapter begins
But this is just the beginning and not the end of the journey. It is the right time for me to now step aside as the next chapter in the history of the Society begins, one with not just a different name and a sympathetic rebrand but with a focus on patient and public benefit, and one which will keep members at the very heart of its thinking. I will continue to be a member of course, it’s in my DNA, and will offer support wherever I can to those who take the cause forward - but will give them the space and encouragement to do so from a respectful distance. The recent Advisory Council elections have shown that members do want to help shape the change ahead and a thank-you goes to all those who have put themselves forward and who stood for election. It’s never an easy thing to do.
Looking ahead with optimism
I do hope members and the wider pharmacy ecosystem will give the time and space necessary to allow the new Royal College of Pharmacy to become established and flourish. If there are some slight mistakes made along the way then that’s OK, please be forgiving and supportive, it’s staying focussed on the mission and vision that is most important.
So, in the words of Winston Churchill, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts”.
Wishing all involved in the new Royal College of Pharmacy every success in the future.
More information about the RPS’s journey to becoming a royal college.
Read more RPS blogs.