Letters shed a ray of light on mysterious Pharmacy Council resignations

"The Pharmacy Council has become a higher priority for appointments, but no doubt we should consider the next appointments more carefully due to the nature of the resignations"

Former Pharmacy Council members Emma Salis and Charlotte Schimanski resigned from the council because they felt the organisation did not share their values, and their careers and professional reputations would be at risk if they remained on the board.

The revelations come from Ms Schimanski and Dr Salis’ resignation letters to health minister Andrew Little, which were obtained by Pharmacy Today under the Official Information Act.

The pair resigned from the council effective from 11 June but their reasons have never been made public.

Council chief executive Michael Pead, Ms Schimanski, Dr Salis and all six other council members declined to comment on the reason at the time. On 23 June, Ms Schimanski said via email: “To avoid any speculation, the resignations were not due to other commitments.”

The two resignation letters released by the minister’s office have been heavily redacted “to protect the privacy of natural persons” and to “protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence, or which any person has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where the making available of the information would be likely to prejudice the supply of similar information, or information from the same source, and it is in the public interest that such information should continue to be supplied”.

However, the parts not blacked out show Ms Schimanski and Dr Salis both felt their values did not align with the rest of the board, and therefore that they had no hope of making positive changes by serving on the board.

Both women wrote that they intended to encourage the Pharmacy Council to embrace gender equity, while Dr Salis felt she considered it to be essential that council members were representative of the pharmacy workforce.

In addition, both Ms Schimanski and Dr Salis wrote they could not continue to put themselves and their careers at risk by remaining on the board. Both letters include approximately half a page of material that has been redacted.

The information received from the minister’s office also includes a series of emails between government staff members discussing the resignations, mostly debating whether the resignations should be handled by Mr Little’s office or that of Aupito William Sio, the minister responsible for reappointments.

However, in one email, Ministry of Health appointments team member Freya Morris-Cole wrote to ministry adviser Lu Avia saying that, “The Pharmacy Council has become a higher priority for appointments, but no doubt we should consider the next appointments more carefully due to the nature of the resignations.”

Pharmacy Today approached Dr Salis and Ms Schimanski for comment on the letters and their resignations. Both said by email they would not answer questions without legal advice.

Mr Pead says the council is engaging with the ministry and working positively with them on all matters raised.