The chairman of the Institute of Pharmacy Management International (Mr Forbes Powrie) has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Gordon Brown) to ask for tax breaks for employed pharmacists who attend educational conferences and seminars.
Mr Powrie told the Chancellor that such tax concessions were available for self-employed pharmacists and for firms which paid for their staff attendance. However, self-funding employed pharmacists had to pay their own way from taxed income. Mr Powrie said that this was a disincentive to continuing professional development, especially for young pharmacists where financial commitments could be high.
Mr Powrie pointed out that the Government wanted to bolster education among the young, and was encouraging clinical governance in the health professions, which demanded constant professional updating. Such tax concessions were available to Australian pharmacists and this encouraged high attendance at meetings.