The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7217 p438-439
28 September 2002

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Letters to the Editor

CPD

CPD will kill the profession's public image

From Mr R. Richardson, MRPharmS

I would ask every single member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council and the profession to stop, blank their minds of the past, and read the past two months' Journals properly. The image projected appears to be of fiddling with switches and knobs while the bus goes over a cliff.

Since retirement I have read avidly almost every word in The Journal and feel better informed now than before I retired, as do other retired pharmacists I have spoken to. Can anyone tell me how a pharmacist dispensing upwards of 5,000 items per month — that is at least the number required to pay for the pharmacist's salary — will have the mental energy to lead a normal family life and complete all this extra continuing professional development? Also, when they know absolutely everything, how will they be able to impart this knowledge to the public in the one minute and 30 seconds that they will have free for the client?

What will happen when retired pharmacists cannot immediately turn up for emergency locum duties because they have not completed the required amount of CPD? Why do I, and my pharmacist peer group, receive comments such as "I am glad it's you today. The young man or woman is so busy that I do not like to ask them"? Education is wonderful, but the slippery slope that the Society is now on will kill the public image of the profession. A mentally taxed person does not have the reserves left for the job.

Roland Richardson
Monaco Ville, France

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