The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7364 p253
27 August 2005

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· Birdsgrove House (2)
· Pharmacy practice (2)
· Adverse events
· Child protection
· Emergency supplies
· Reciprocity
· Chloramphenicol
· Retention fees

Letters to the Editor

Retention fees

“Stand and deliver”

From Mr J. R. M. Edmunds, MRPharmS

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council has now excelled itself by throwing another contentious issue into the arena: that of the increased retention fee that will be imposed on non-practising members. This was described as “a swingeing 25 per cent increase” by Christopher Palin in his letter (PJ, 20 August, p227). I agree that it is not only swingeing but advantage-taking and punitive. It punishes those who have given many years of service to the profession, and paid many years of retention fees into the Society’s coffers. For those who have been on the Register for 50 years, and will only pay a much-reduced fee, good luck to them, they deserve it. But what of us who were fortunate to be admitted to the Register under the much valued reciprocal agreements, and have now retired and become non-practising. Some of us will need to live to the ripe old age of 100 and more to join the happy few reduced fee payers. We are effectively being told to pay-up or resign. A bit reminiscent of the once feared Dick Turpin’s “Stand and deliver”. Whether we have been on the Register for 50 years or not, as retired professionals, our income is not set to change that much, and is unlikely to grow by 25 per cent, which is more like seven years of national inflation.

Our Society will be all the poorer if many of our older retired members are either forced to resign their memberships due to the financial burden of renewal, or do so out of protest.

I suggest that our “Save our Society” members of Council (I voted for many of them) address this point as well as the others above, as they pose a threat to our Society, and that future candidates at the next election include these points in their manifestos, if they wish to secure my future vote.

John Edmunds
Tring, Herts

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