The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland was established by the Pharmacy and Poisons Act (Northern Ireland) 1925, and has been based at 73 University Street, Belfast since 1933. It is an independent body, established as a body corporate. It is the regulatory and professional body for pharmacists in Northern Ireland. It is directly accountable to the NI Assembly. It maintains a register of over 2700 pharmacists, 130 pre-registration trainees and over 530 pharmacy premises across the country.
As the regulatory body it protects patient and public safety by:
•setting and promoting standards for pharmacists’ admission to the register and for remaining on the register;
•maintaining a publicly accessible register of pharmacists, and pharmacy premises;
•handling concerns about the Fitness to Practise of registrants, acting as a complaints portal and taking action to protect the public; and
•ensuring high standards of education and training for pharmacists in Northern Ireland.
The Council is established and members appointed in accordance with Regulations introduced by the Department of Health. It is the governing body of the organisation and comprises fourteen Non-Executive Members. It focuses on strategic and major policy issues with operational issues delegated to the Chief Executive through a scheme of delegation. All individual Council members share collective responsibility for discharging the organisation’s functions.
The current Council’s corporate strategy for 2017 to 2022 may be viewed at http://www.psni.org.uk/about/psni
Why the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland is supporting Boardroom Apprentice
We want to encourage and foster the development of a wider and more diverse pool of potential applicants for future public appointment competitions in Northern Ireland.
Location of Board and Committee Meetings
Most meetings were usually conducted at our office at 73 University Street, Belfast. Currently, because of COVID-19, all our meetings are held remotely using Zoom software.
Frequency and timing of board/committee meetings
Council meets typically once every 2 months with meetings normally beginning at 9:30am and ending before 1:30pm. Committees of Council tend to meet up to 6 times annually in those months when Council does not meet. Times of these meetings can vary (AM or PM) but their duration typically is no more than 2 hours.
Date of Board Meetings (September 2022 – August 2023)
Dates for Council meetings for the next calendar year are approved in September of each year. The last two Council meetings in 2022 are September 2022 (date not yet confirmed); 22 November 2022.
Committee of the Boards and meeting dates (September 2022 – August 2023)
Committee meetings are convened when required – therefore, no future dates are available.
