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No gain without pain

Nobody likes to pay extra for something that does not seem to offer anything new. At first glance, the proposed 31 per cent increase in the retention fee individual members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will have to pay in 2002 comes into that category, although new graduates joining the register during 2002 will pay a reduced fee.

However, as the statement from the Society about the increase points out, “the extra funding is being sought to resource constitutional change and new areas of professional and regulatory activity that meet the Government’s quality agenda and modern public expectation of health professionals”. These Government requirements include modernising the system of regulation and discipline and putting in place a framework for continuing professional development for members of the Society.

The statement also makes a comparison between the Society’s proposals and the hike in fees that the General Medical Council has recently imposed on doctors: their retention fee shoots up by 70 per cent from £170 to £290. The comparison should not end with cash. The GMC has received an enormous battering over the past few years: from the public and the Government for seemingly being completely unable to put the medical house in order. It has also been attacked by doctors themselves, who — for rather different reasons — have lost confidence in the ability of the GMC to provide the support they expect from their regulatory body. It has been touch and go at times whether or not the medical profession would retain its right to self-regulate. Nevertheless, for the moment, by introducing major reforms to the way it carries out its duties, the GMC is still here, although doctors are having to pay for it.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has not faced any of these difficulties: there have been no votes of no confidence in its ability to regulate the profession and the President has not had to retire early before any reforms are put into place.

One of the ways that the Society can ensure that it does not end up in the same mess as the GMC is by meeting the Government’s agenda as soon as possible. By investing in new systems and frameworks, the profession has the best chance of retaining the confidence of the public, the Government and other health professionals, and of being able to get on with the job of providing high quality pharmaceutical services for patients without distraction.

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