The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7466 p199
25 August 2007

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

PDA and IPF urge Society to ask Government for financial support

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association and the Independent Pharmacy Federation this week added their voices to others complaining about the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s proposed hike in pharmacists’ retention fees (PJ, 4 August, p129). Both organisations urge the Society to call on the Government to finance the Society’s demerger.

The IPF said the Society must immediately acknowledge that the Government is the real problem and explain this to the membership. “If Lambeth takes a clear and unambiguous stance against the Government then the IPF and many organisations would add their weight to the cause,” it said.

Responding to this, Andrew Gush, the Society’s Treasurer, said: “The support of the IPF is welcome, but it must be accepted that there is an obligation on the Society in terms of due diligence to give full financial disclosures and answers for the whole budget, rather than just challenge the Government in terms of their responsibility for a very significant part of the financial burden, shared by our members as a consequence of these impositions.”

He added: “The Society will continue to challenge for a fair outcome for its members and I accept that we should now make members realise through clear communication that we are doing so robustly. The leadership will be seen to be vigorous and the membership will be informed of our progress.”

The PDA encouraged the Society to make representations to the Government to support financially the setting up of the new regulatory procedures and secretariats since this will form the basis of the new General Pharmaceutical Council. It added that the Society should lobby the Government to reduce onerous bureaucracy and unnecessary regulation that has resulted as a consequence of the rules governing the Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order 2007.

Mr Gush said: “As Treasurer, I can assure the IPF and the PDA that the Council is committed to taking the fight over the Society’s retention fees to the Government. We have clearly stated that the Government has an obligation to remove the financial liability placed on our members by the imposition of the recommendations of the White Paper and recent regulatory changes caused by the Order.”