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Letters to the Editor
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Registration
Should past convictions matter?
From Dr H. Cunningham, MRPharmS
I refer to the report of the October Council meeting in which it was
stated that all convictions
are to be declared on the retention fee form
(PJ, October 22, p531). This reflects the intrusive attitude emanating
from the Government downwards of a society completely lacking in compassion
or common sense. In recent weeks the media have informed us that 20–25
per cent of the working population are employed by the Government. Presumably
this vast increase in civil servant numbers is due to the need for considerable
numbers of people to check up on all of us in most aspects of our daily
life. The proposed ID card scheme epitomises this attitude to individuals
and leads one to ponder on the way society is developing.
Fellow members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society should consider the
outcome if we have to reveal details of past “minor’’ misdemeanours
on our annual retention forms. Presumably a similar large army of people
will have to be employed by the Society to sift through the ranks of
individuals with fines for speeding, illegal parking, student pranks,
late payment of TV licences or car tax? What a mean-minded and uncaring
Society we have become. As pharmacists we are viewed and act as caring
professionals who listen to problems and give advice as well as dispensing
medicines. What conceivable value is the proposed declaration on the
retention form? How can a speeding ticket possibly reflect whether a
pharmacist is fit to practise’? On a more serious note where is
the compassion for people who might have had a problem in the past and
have since “reformed”? A past conviction for a more serious
offence does not mean that an individual should not be given a second
chance.
Obviously the views of a repressive and controlling Government have filtered
down to the Society. I am saddened to think that such an established
professional body should have lost all sense of justice for its members
and basic common sense.
I suspect that our retention fees will have to rise to pay for the extra
staff needed to deal with the Infringement Committee matters. Obviously
as a hardened criminal with three points on my driving licence for speeding
I will either have to emigrate or change my career of more than 25 years.
Helen Cunningham
Redditch,
Worcestershire
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The Society will be issuing guidance in due course which is expected
to clarify the issues raised by Dr Cunningham.
— EDITOR
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal