To join or not to join?

[laurabuk]

Hello,

We're having a big meeting at work next week regarding all things RPS and GPhC - and wondered if anyone would like to add their tuppen'orth worth?

What do you actually get from the RPS, and is it worth joining?

I'd be interested to hear what you think.

Laura

[johnep]

Nothing and No.
johnep

[crit care]

i guess by refusing to join you are able to claim back something like £47 worth of fees...woop woop!!! but first i'm guessing there is a mound of paperwork to wade through first!

[Dorothy Drury]

Hello, I am Dorothy Drury and I feel we need a professional body for pharmacists only. Other professions have their own professional body and they do not allow support staff or other professions to join. We are being sold short. It is very important that we are not diluted out and this will happen if non-pharmacists are allowed to join.
We need a professional body that puts its members first .
Suppose the professional body needed a vote on supervision, what would that mean to the pharmaceutical scientists? We already have pharmacists working in many sectors and we need to maintain our single profession.

[dizzyb23]

Its a dilemma for our lovely pharmacist colleagues......I hope that by joining all these groups or whatever they are, they get something for their hard earned joining fees. Pharmacists must have their own voice and their own club or gang......
Having your club "diluted" by non-pharmacists would be a tragedy.........................................Bu t don't worry folks, there's no way us lowly support staff would ever join any gang because none of us can bloody afford the fees as we are on the sorts of wages McDonalds workers get, so after trying to pay all our bills there's eff all left for dumb clubs anyway.

[admin]

Its a dilemma for our lovely pharmacist colleagues......I hope that by joining all these groups or whatever they are, they get something for their hard earned joining fees. Pharmacists must have their own voice and their own club or gang......
Having your club "diluted" by non-pharmacists would be a tragedy.........................................Bu t don't worry folks, there's no way us lowly support staff would ever join any gang because none of us can bloody afford the fees as we are on the sorts of wages McDonalds workers get, so after trying to pay all our bills there's eff all left for dumb clubs anyway.

Dizzy

Just to add my opinion to this...I have no problem whatsoever with dispensers/tecs/whoever wants to join the new society. I cannot do MY job without these people, so if they want to join the same professional body as me then that's fine by me.

I agree you are all well under paid for what you do and the skills you have. Unfortunately I cannot do anything about that one.

Having worked in retail for years and two hospitals, I'd say that healthcare has a strange hierarchy - you look up at that person, and down on that one. I've never been any good at looking either way so maybe that's why I am a locum.

What I would like to know is if we don't join this year, are they going to put a big "fine" on us if we decide to join next year? As I see it the RPSGB seems to be basically skint, with a big hole in it's pension fund. I am finding it hard enough to pay my own pension, never mind someone else's, so I'd rather not join. BUT, if they will stick me with a "fee" for £350 or something stupid like that for putting my name back on the register then I'd probably stay. Does anyone know the answer to this?

[Dorothy Drury]

Firstly, why cannot each profession not have its own professional body? The bigger some of these professional bodies become, the more expensive they are. Pharmacy technicians already have APTuk and I don't think pharmacists are alllowed to join it. Also I see no reason why the scientists cannot try harder with their professional body to make it sucessful. The reason we each need a separate professional body is that we all have different needs in training and responsibilites that do not apply to each group.
No-body is saying that any group is not important, we also saying they need different representation. I have always recommended pharmacy staff to join a union as I know how badly paid they are and how they are put on. I also agree that some of us are struggling to supplement our own pension funds and should not be paying for somebody elses final salary scheme. I would also want a professional body that put its memebrs first and did not try to represent too many groups at once.

[Gowan]

Admin

As of today (27 September 2010), the register is no longer the concern of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

You are registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. The 2011 fees are due to be paid by 13 November 2010, ie earlier than in past years.


The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is now the professional body. The 2011 fees are not due till 1 March 2011. There is a reduced rate for retired pharmacists. The various benefits are listed here.

These include receiving The Pharmaceutical Journal and Clinical Pharmacist, and use of PJ Online with its CPD and Lifelong learning modules.


You can opt out of membership of the RPS, and get a pro-rata refund on your 2010 fees. This varies from £18 to £47. The closing date for refund applications is 15 October.

[Dorothy Drury]

Why is it that the pharmacy technicians object to pharmacists having their own professional body, yet they have their own professional body for pharmacy technicians which is run for technicians by technicians.
Question. Would members of APTuk be happy for the scientists to join their professional body or indeed for other related "pharmacy family to join APTuk?"

[jo-jo66]

I don't really mind who joins the APTuk they don't seem to be of much use anyway just look at their website. And the thought of registering as a technician at the end of my two years training leaves me cold.