Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) is the statutory regulatory and professional body for pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians in England, Scotland and Wales. Its headquarters are at 1, Lambeth High Street, in the London Borough of Lambeth, there are also offices in Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Statutory Role
The primary objective of the RPSGB is to lead, regulate (as a Statutory instrument) develop and promote the pharmaceutical profession. All pharmacists in Great Britain (approximately 44,000) must be registered with the Society. The Society is unusual amongst healthcare regulators in that it has its own inspectorate. To become a member of the Society an individual must usually have completed a MPharm or (before 1997) a BPharm or BSc (pharmacy) degree, 45 weeks of pre-registration training and pass the registration examination. This gives them the right to use the title MRPharmS (Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society) and those who are on the society's practising register may practice as pharmacists in Great Britain. Fellowships (FRPharmS) may also be awarded. RPSGB is currently subject to controversy over it's plans to increase the cost of registration by 50%.

History
The Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was founded on April 15 1841 by William Allen FRS, Jacob Bell, Daniel Hanbury, John Bell and other London chemists and druggists, at a meeting in the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Strand, London. William Allen was its first President, and the society quickly took premises at 17 Bloomsbury Square, London where a School of Pharmacy was established in which botany and materia medica were an important part of the students’ curriculum. In 1843, Queen Victoria granted the Society its Royal Charter. In 1988, Queen Elizabeth II agreed that the title "Royal" should be granted to the society.

Publishing
The society also operates the two divisions of RPS Publishing;-
 * The Pharmaceutical Press which publishes textbooks, and
 * PJ Publications, which publishes the weekly professional journal The Pharmaceutical Journal and the monthly Hospital Pharmacist.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has had a museum collection since 1842. The exhibits cover all aspects of British pharmacy history, and include:


 * Traditional dispensing equipment.
 * Drug storage containers.
 * Fine "Lambeth delftware" dating from the 1600s and 1700s.
 * Proprietary (brand name) medicines dating from the 1700s to the present day.
 * Bronze mortars.
 * Medical caricatures.
 * A photo archive.

Since 2002 the Society has concentrated on developing the collection of historical and contemporary proprietary medicines. The museum may be visited by appointment.