C+D readers have hotly debated claims by sector leaders that pharmacists without Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) membership should question their professionalism.

Pharmacists were divided over comments made by General Pharmaceutical Council chair Nigel Clarke and Scotland's chief pharmaceutical officer Bill Scott at  the RPS conference last week (September 8) that non-members should reflect on whether they were "behaving as a responsible pharmacist".

RPS members defended the view, but other readers criticised the professional body for not doing enough to support pharmacists. Community pharmacist and former member Toby Chanin said the "only useful part of membership" was receiving the Medicines, Ethics and Practice guide.

"While I was a member, I received lots of email alerts telling me about current happenings in pharmacy. These would have been really useful if I hadn't already received an email from the MHRA containing the same information hours earlier," he posted on the C+D website.

Another former RPS member, Nader Siabi, said they could "not take the [society] seriously" while it "failed to promote" pharmacists to commissioners and other healthcare professions.

"I could give you many examples where pharmacy services were stopped while commissioners continued [working] with GP practices. This is happening all around the country and we are powerless to do anything about it," he added.

Community pharmacist Kevin Western agreed that joining the RPS provided pharmacists with little practical support. While it was "laudable" that the society spent time thinking about how to improve the profession, pharmacists needed "more concrete" outcomes from the body, he said.

But Sultan Dajani, a member of the RPS's English Pharmacy Board, defended the society. RPS membership reduced the isolation some pharmacists experienced and helped them stay up-to-date with the sector, he said.

"If you're not happy with [the RPS], then you're not going to change it by not being a member," he added.

Fellow RPS English Pharmacy board member Graham Phillips said the professional body had helped create a "far, far higher positive profile" for pharmacy and stressed the need for "one strong, clear professional voice". 

RPS fellow and former pharmacist Steve Churton said he "could not agree more" with the comments made by Mr Scott and Mr Clarke. Questioning the relevance of RPS membership was "unhelpful and potentially dangerous", he stressed.

Do you think RPS membership is beneficial?