Possible rises to pharmacist fees, doubling president pay and rocketing legal and consultancy fees have all been revealed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI’s) 2023/24 annual report.
The accounts, which were published quietly last month (October 2), admitted that the financial year ending May 31 “has been a challenging period for the PSNI, resulting in an operating deficit of £227k for the year” and a pre-tax loss of £195,250 - up from £194,725 the previous year.
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The report said that “reserves” accumulated through “prudent financial management in previous years” had avoided “the need to increase registrants’ fees”.
But it added that “if the level of reserves dips below [a] prudent minimum threshold, then the delivery of statutory obligations and responsibilities to members could potentially be jeopardised”.
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“On this basis, the council believes that it is necessary to consider a proportionate increase in registrant and business premises fees to address the financial pressures now being experienced,” it said.
“The council of the PSNI will consequently be undertaking a consultation exercise in the coming months to consider fees for the 2025/2026 year,” it added, stressing that fees have been “at current level since 2016”.
It remains unclear when this consultation will begin.
Half the meetings, double the pay
The annual report also highlighted that PSNI president Dr Geraldine O’Hare’s gross pay for the year more than doubled – increasing from £11,562 to £25,442 year-on-year, and from PSNI president predecessors’ last full annual pay of £11,592 in 2021/2022.
The report said that O’Hare spent “additional days…engaging with a range of stakeholders, task and finish and short life working groups, attending external meetings and attending internal meetings with the chief executive and other staff”.
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But it also revealed that the PSNI council held just three meetings over the year – half of the six council meetings held per year in the previous three years, according to annual reports.
The 2023/24 report said that the council did “additionally [convene] privately on an ad-hoc basis whenever necessary to address out of course matters”.
Legal and consultancy costs
The report also revealed that “legal, professional and other consultancy costs have increased by £147k to £203k” – a 263% increase on the previous year’s £56k spend.
“The requirement for these consultancy services is subject to specific and/or short-term business needs and is expected to reduce considerably in the following year,” it said.
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It also showed that the PSNI’s “attract, recruit, retain costs decreased by £23k to nil…as this programme was not operated during the year”, with the regulators’ total recruitment costs dipping down to £6,320 – compared to £54,928 in 2022/23.
Despite the society’s lack of recruitment funding, the report revealed that there were “periods during the year when all posts were not filled”.
C+D approached the PSNI for comment.
PSNI peril?
Last week (November 1), the PSNI announced that NI health minister Mike Nesbitt had appointed “four new” members to its council.
The four new members include three lay members – Siobhan Caslin, Anne Henderson and Lee Wilson – and one “registrant member” Michael McGuigan, it said.
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Meanwhile, the PSNI revealed in September that it had failed to appoint a permanent chief executive after a “recent competition”.
It said that it was “unfortunately unable on this occasion to recruit a suitable candidate” but would “resume [its] efforts” to fill its leading role.
A spokesperson for the PSNI told C+D at the time that the “recruitment process is ongoing”.
