Gail Fleming to leave RPS

RPS’ director of education and professional development is due to leave her role this month, following departure rumours circulating in the media.

It has been confirmed that Gail Fleming will leave her position at the RPS next week (7 April) after almost four years at the organisation.

In a statement, published on the RPS website last night (31 March), RPS chief executive Paul Bennett said Ms Fleming had decided to leave her role.

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‘Please join me in wishing Gail all the best for the future and in thanking her for her excellent work since joining the organisation in 2018,’ he added.

Last week, the pharmacy body said Robbie Turner, RPS’ director of pharmacy and membership experience, was due to leave his role at the end of this month.

This comes after RPS announced last month (3 March) it was working on a proposal that would result in changes to the executive structure.

Following this, speculation circulated suggesting Mr Turner and Ms Fleming were to be made redundant as part of the restructure.

In response to the rumours about redundancies, Claire Anderson, president of RPS, said any changes to the executive team would not be about ‘cost savings’.

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She also confirmed ‘there would still be a leader on the executive with responsibility for delivering on our education strategy'.

This comes after the RPS has been criticised for a lack of transparency around its decision to leave the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

The RPS later wrote a letter to its members on 19 March explaining the body's financial motives for leaving, also touching on the ‘an additional £53,000 in meeting attendance costs, travel and accommodation in 2019’ it had spent.

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Since then, FIP has disputed some of the membership fee claims made by RPS.

In a statement, published on its website this week (22 March), FIP said RPS’ claim that it paid a FIP membership fee of £31,000 annually was incorrect, by asserting the membership fee for 2022 was instead ‘approximately’ £25,352.