By Paul Bennett, RPS Chief Executive

I am struck by how rapidly we seem to be approaching the end of 2025. With the holidays in sight, it is a good moment to reflect a little on the past year. I promised to provide regular updates through these blogs on our progress to becoming a royal college, and much of the last 12 months has been focused on this journey.

It was in March of this year that members turned out so strongly in support of the Special Resolution Vote to become a royal college. The vote was a historic milestone, which triggered a wide range of activities that will culminate in our launch as the Royal College of Pharmacy in April 2026. Throughout the year, I’ve been continually impressed by the energy and drive of the RPS staff team. Colleagues across the organisation have worked tirelessly to make this transition run smoothly, managing the huge behind-the-scenes workload that is required to make it possible.

Astonishingly, the team have also continued to deliver high-impact work to champion pharmacy with policymakers, and to support pharmacists and the wider pharmacy team. Our Annual Conference in November, for example, was the biggest we’ve held in recent memory, with more than 800 people attending, in person and online. The event was a key highlight of the year for me.

We’ve made major advances during the year in our member services, in particular through the launch of our professional liability insurance offer. This is a significant intervention to ensure that our members have access to cover that meets the changing needs of pharmacists.

Alongside a huge well done to the staff team, I’m pleased to say that we’re continuing to add to the skills and experience we can draw on for our work. We recently made two more senior executive appointments: Louise Goldring, Director of Education and Alan de Sousa Caires, Director of Finance and Technology. And of course, the recent announcement of our inaugural Chair of the Board of Trustees, Joe Irvin OBE, was a major milestone. These follow other appointments mentioned in my last update, further building momentum towards our new status as a royal college.

I’ve also met with great energy and enthusiasm from members and stakeholders with whom we’re engaging around the future role of the royal college. Our online strategy engagement, including a special event for pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacists in industry and a member survey, has proved popular and means that the strategy for the new royal college will be influenced by the views of members, non-members, stakeholders and students. Our work with the independent UK Pharmaceutical Professional Leadership Advisory Board, which I’ve mentioned in previous updates, has continued with a very positive and collegiate approach from all concerned.

One area of particular significance this year that I’d like to highlight is our ongoing EDI work. Just in the last couple of weeks I attended a webinar with the GPhC, Pharmacy Schools Council and other stakeholders, where we discussed, among other issues, the differential attainment challenge, as highlighted in our report of 2024. We’ve been working to align our practices to develop mechanisms to address and reduce the attainment gap through improved data, recognising and celebrating achievement, and strengthening cultural empathy for tutors. This isn’t an issue that is quickly fixed and is part of a longer-term shift in our work as a professional leadership body.

The need for greater inclusivity, in our governance and across the wider pharmacy community, is a key factor behind developments in our forthcoming elections to the royal college’s new National Pharmacy Advisory Councils.

These elections, taking place between January and March 2026, will be the first time members vote for the bodies that will make up the royal college’s governance structure. Nineteen seats, out of a total of 30 across the three Councils, will be elected in this round – meaning there will be a big influx of fresh thinking and a real opportunity for individuals to be elected who haven’t stood for election before. (The remainder of the places will go to sitting National Pharmacy Board members who will transition across for the remainder of their elected terms).

Because these elections are so significant for the future royal college, Assembly have made important – and sometimes difficult – decisions as to how they will work. For example, it will be easier to nominate, with candidates only requiring a proposer and a seconder, rather than ten signatures as in previous elections. This will help members who have less established networks to put themselves forward, opening up the field and allowing new voices to be heard. Candidates will need to work in the country for whose Council they wish to stand. And in another break with the past, we are also requiring that candidates are GPhC registrants. Both of these decisions, discussed at length by Assembly, were made to ensure that elected members all have current experience of pharmacy services within the country they work and are able to meet regulatory standards. These decisions were also made with the knowledge that important skills and experiences of past registrants can still be present in the future royal college governance structure, through appointed roles on the Senate.

Inclusivity and broader access to the elections process are important drivers of these changes. We are very clear that it’s vital to make sure, as a royal college, we are fully reflecting the profession we serve, and these elections will make us more fully attuned to the needs of pharmacists at all career stages, settings and backgrounds. Our Councils will provide the essential connection between the organisation and professional practice, so it’s vital they contain a range of experiences. The Senate will also have some spaces reserved for particular areas of pharmacy practice, and one seat held for an early-careers pharmacist, to ensure these important constituencies are represented.

The election results will be announced on 13 March and, very soon after, members of the three National Councils will be charged with electing the Vice Presidents / Chairs and Vice Chairs for each nation, who will take up places on the Senate and Board of Trustees - ensuring a strong link with professional practice at all levels of College governance.

And, alongside the selection of Senate members, will be the election of our next President, as Claire Anderson’s term comes to an end. Whoever fills this role – as the first ever President of the Royal College of Pharmacy – will have some big (metaphorical) shoes to fill. Claire has been an extraordinary leader for the Society during this period of dramatic change. As I look back on the year, it is striking how much of a role she has played throughout, and I would like to thank her for the support she has shown to me personally, and to the RPS team.

I’d like to wish all our members and the wider pharmacy community all my best wishes for the holidays. To anyone thinking about standing in the elections, there is a large volume of guidance for candidates this time round – we want to give as much support as we can. You can find everything you need to know on our website and I would urge anyone with an interest in shaping national pharmacy policy to put themselves forward.