DoH to help pharmacists pay Society retention fee
NHS hospital pharmacists currently pay their own annual retention
fees |
Hospital pharmacists have welcomed a proposal by the Department of Health
to pay a contribution to the cost of professional retention fees.
The £38
payment, promised by health secretary Alan Johnson as part of an improved
pay package for NHS staff, will be available to all pharmacists in England
up to Agenda for Change pay band 8a.
The announcement comes at the same time that the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society proposes increasing
the retention fee for practising pharmacists from £283 to £425 from January next year (PJ,
4 August, p129).
Chairman of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists’ terms and conditions
committee David Miller said it was the first time that the DoH had made
a contribution to meet professional fees, which he welcomed.
But, he argued, the £38 would largely only benefit junior
pharmacists and do nothing to help offset the costs which more senior
pharmacists potentially face following a 50 per cent hike in fees, a
proposal
for which is out for consultation until 3 October 2007 (see p161).
The guild is due to discuss the proposed increase in retention fees
at its next meeting in September, he confirmed.
He added: “We want to see more of the detail. Working in the NHS
we have had to make efficiencies and I think that the Society should
make efficiencies to help offset some of the increase, such as the
amount of expenses it claims to run the Council and the Society as well.”
The professional fee payment to be made by the DoH was included in a
pay package, worth £52 million. The Government has agreed to pay
support staff in bands 1 and 2 a guaranteed increase of £400 while
staff in bands 3 and 4 have been offered an increase of £38 on
top of the 2.5 per cent pay rise. Staff in bands 5 to 8a are being offered
the same percentage increase as well as the £38 contribution towards
professional fees.
The pay award in England, unlike the rest of the UK, remains staged with
1.5 per cent available from 1 April and a further 1 per cent from November.
Mr Johnson also announced that an extra £14m would be available
this year to go towards non-clinical staff training costs in England. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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