Proud as I am to be a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), I would be loath to confirm it by producing the tawdry piece of paper that is now my membership card. This substitute for the smart plastic identifier that I formerly carried may be saving the RPS a few pounds but surely diminishes the standing of its members, and, by association, erodes the reputation of the organisation.
Peter Lowe, Newcastle upon Tyne
Robbie Turner, director of pharmacy and member experience at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said:
“Dear Mr Lowe. Thanks for your views, I’m sorry that you don’t think this was the correct decision. We made the change first because we listened to members who got in touch to let us know they were concerned about the environmental impact of getting a new plastic card each year. Second, we are committed as an organisation to be ‘green’ in any way that we can. We recycle and use solar panels on all of our offices, encourage members to use our online publications rather than print, and keep our carbon footprint as low as possible. With these things in mind, we decided to trial a new form of card to move away from plastics. We value feedback from members on all issues. If you, or any other member, use your plastic membership card regularly we’d be pleased to hear more. This information would be very helpful for us to determine what is best for our members, be that plastic, paper, or even a digital solution.”
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