Advocacy Asks

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At our RPS Action in Belonging, Culture and Diversity (ABCD) meetings – the forum where you talk with us about inclusion and diversity – you’ve raised key issues you want us to champion.

These concerns centre on:

  • Race and health inequality
  • Fairer GPhC fitness to practice processes
  • Creating a culture of belonging through a workforce inclusion and wellbeing pledge
  • Improving disability inclusivity through the Disability Awareness campaign.

So you can track our advocacy work on these issues, we’ve created this page explaining what we are doing, what we want to see and what’s next.

You can influence this agenda and feed in your ideas at any time. Join our ABCD action group and work with us to achieve positive change for the profession.

Race and health inequality

Diversity

“There is a lack of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic and female pharmacist representation at senior levels across pharmacy organisations, NHS senior leadership teams and national board level within pharmacy organisations.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
  • We have published our gender and ethnicity pay gaps reports and action plans. We will be publishing our disability pay gap report in 2021.
  • We have reviewed RPS National Board elections campaign and communication plans to ensure they are more inclusive and encourage candidates to stand for elections from all backgrounds and areas of practice. Additionally, we are reviewing our RPS Fellowship process at the same time. 
  • We have started to collect Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) data for of our membership to understand more about the make up of our membership and ensure our services are inclusive to all.
  • The Pharmaceutical Journal’s (PJ) new annual campaign - Women to Watch celebrates and recognises leadership by women in pharmacy.
  • Promoting and sharing examples of inclusive leadership across the profession, working collaboratively with The Pharmaceutical Journal (PJ).
  • We have been providing a platform to raise the profile on important issues such as visibility, representation, progression and allyship through Black History Month celebrations.
  • The Pharmaceutical Journal Mind the Gap campaign continues to highlight gender and ethnicity inequalities across Pharmacy.

 

What we want to see
  • We want to see other pharmacy organisations publish their gender, ethnicity and disabilities pay gap reports.
  • We want to see our members from under-represented groups being nominated for fellowships and standing for national board elections. every year to  reflect the diversity of our profession. This will help positively shape what RPS does on behalf of the profession and our members.
  • All pharmacy organisations should be celebrating diversity and championing inclusive leadership to create and embed a culture of belonging.

 

What happened and what is next
  • We will continue to publish our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap reports and delivering our action plans.
  •  We will be engaging and meeting with key pharmacy stakeholders around publishing pay gap reports.
  • We are currently collecting EDI data from our fellows.
  •  We have  informed members about the changes we have made to our fellowship process.
  •  Once we have collated the EDI data from our membership, we will publish that information with an action plan. We have started to collect EDI data on our National Boards, Assembly, and advisory groups.
  •  We will use our events and conferences to showcase the diversity of our profession and commit to a diversity of speakers.
  •  We will continue to raise the importance of gender equality on International Women’s Day on 8th March and throughout the month.

“Addressing specific issues relating to  Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic pharmacists, including: undergraduate awarding gap at university, pharmacist registration assessment pass rates, fairness of GPhC Fitness to Practice (FtP) processes.”

- ABCD Group

 

What we are doing
  • We have responded to the GPhC FtP consultation highlighting what our members and the ABCD have told us. 
  • We have raised undergraduate awarding gap concerns with Pharmacy Schools Council (PhSC) and welcomed their action plan to address this.  
  • Meeting with GPhC on Inclusion and Diversity and Wellbeing matters during February 2021.
  • We have been raising the concerns of provisionally registered pharmacists around the delayed registration assessment , the inequalities this may cause and impacts to overseas provisional registrants .

 

What we want to see
  • There should be no discrimination to any pharmacists based on their background and culture. 
  • We would like all pharmacist pre-registration tutors to have increased cultural awareness and undergoing mandatory Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.
What happened and what is next

 

  • PhSC has made it clear that the undergraduate awarding gap is a key priority. RPS has offered to support and help.
  • Providing updates and next steps to the profession following engagement with stakeholders and organisations on key asks.
  • Continue to highlight on behalf of our members where we see discrimination, unfairness and a risk of bias in pharmacy.

“Pharmacy School faculties to be fully representative of the profession.”

- ABCD Group

  • Reduce risk of unconscious bias in teaching. 
  • Inspiring authentic and visible leadership for pharmacy students.
  • Pharmacy students being and feeling more engaged by someone who reflects them. 
  • Understanding the support that can be provided to pharmacy students from various backgrounds and across protected characteristics.
  • To highlight the importance and develop skills to deliver inclusive pharmacy practice to patients and public.
What we are doing
  • Engaging with PhSC on pharmacy school’s faculty representation and working collaboratively with them to promote and strengthening diversity
  • We have engaged with GPhC around the importance of cultural awareness and competence being integrated into Initial Education Training standards (IETs) and cultural competence having a greater emphasis in delivering person centred care.
  • We've attended GPhC workstreams on initial education and training reforms. We have asked the GPhC to publish the Equality Impact Assessment that informs the new IET standards.
What we want to see
  • We want to ensure that I&D is integrated into undergraduate teaching. Topics such as   language barriers, inclusive pharmacy practice, authentic leadership should be covered. The curriculum should be diversified so that case studies include patients from different backgrounds, religious beliefs, disabilities and sexualities. This should also include using different skin tones to identify skin conditions. 
  • We want all pharmacy students to have visible role models teaching them inspiring authentic leadership
What happened and what is next
  • We are working closely with PhSC and other partners to establish a RPS Diverse Network of Guest Lecturers.
  • The new GPhC IET standards have a greater emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion to combat discrimination and address health inequalities.

“No decision about me without me”

“Policy decisions are often made without the groups and communities affected present at the decision-making stage.”

“To address health inequalities and to ensure guidelines and policies are considering factors that affect communities, visible diverse representation at national, regional and local decision-making level is required.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
  • We wrote to UK and devolved governments’ equalities ministers about the impacts that Covid-19 is having on our diverse workforce and what support needs to be in place to help protect you.

 

What we want to see
  • We will work collaboratively with pharmacy organisations to develop and embed inclusive pharmacy professional practice at all levels of leadership and into everyday care for patients and members of the public.
  • Help develop a sustainable culture of more inclusive practice that will benefit the people in our communities as a whole and our workforce.
  • Enable us to provide truly inclusive health and care services to the diverse population across Great Britain.
What happened and what is next
  • We will be working with NHS organisations across England, Scotland and Wales to develop Joint National statements of Principles of Inclusive Pharmacy Professional Practice
  • We are currently co-chairing a group alongside NHS England/Improvement and APTUK on inclusive pharmacy professional practice and addressing health inequalities. Working with pharmacy organisations we will  publish an action plan in March 2021
  • We are currently working with NHS bodies in Scotland and Wales on statements and action plans on inclusive pharmacy professional practice.

There is a lack of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic and female pharmacist representation at senior levels across pharmacy organisations, NHS senior leadership teams and national board level within pharmacy organisations.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
  • We have published our gender and ethnicity pay gaps reports and action plans. We will be publishing our disability pay gap report in 2021.
  • We have reviewed RPS National Board elections campaign and communication plans to ensure they are more inclusive and encourage candidates to stand for elections from all backgrounds and areas of practice. Additionally, we are reviewing our RPS Fellowship process at the same time.
  • We have started to collect Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) data for of our membership to understand more about the make up of our membership and ensure our services are inclusive to all.
  • The Pharmaceutical Journal’s (PJ) new annual campaign - Women to Watch celebrates and recognises leadership by women in pharmacy.
  • Promoting and sharing examples of inclusive leadership across the profession, working collaboratively with The Pharmaceutical Journal (PJ).
  • We have been providing a platform to raise the profile on important issues such as visibility, representation, progression and allyship through Black History Month celebrations.
  • The Pharmaceutical Journal Mind the Gap campaign continues to highlight gender and ethnicity inequalities across Pharmacy.

 

What we want to see
  • We want to see other pharmacy organisations publish their gender, ethnicity and disabilities pay gap reports.
  • We want to see our members from under-represented groups being nominated for fellowships and standing for national board elections. every year to reflect the diversity of our profession. This will help positively shape what RPS does on behalf of the profession and our members.
  • All pharmacy organisations should be celebrating diversity and championing inclusive leadership to create and embed a culture of belonging.

 

What happened and what is next
  • We will continue to publish our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gap reports and delivering our action plans.
  • We will be engaging and meeting with key pharmacy stakeholders around publishing pay gap reports.
  • We are currently collecting EDI data from our fellows.
  • We have informed members about the changes we have made to our fellowship process .
  • Once we have collated the EDI data from our membership, we will publish that information with an action plan. We have started to collect EDI data on our National Boards, Assembly, and advisory groups.
  • We will use our events and conferences to showcase the diversity of our profession and commit to a diversity of speakers.
  • We will continue to raise the importance of gender equality on International Women’s Day on 8 th March and throughout the month.

“Addressing specific issues relating to Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic pharmacists, including: undergraduate awarding gap at university, pharmacist registration assessment pass rates, fairness of GPhC Fitness to Practice (FtP) processes.”

- ABCD Group

 

What we are doing
  • We have responded to the GPhC FtP consultation highlighting what our members and the ABCD have told us.
  • We have raised undergraduate awarding gap concerns with Pharmacy Schools Council (PhSC) and welcomed their action plan to address this.
  • Meeting with GPhC on Inclusion and Diversity and Wellbeing matters during February 2021.
  • We have been raising the concerns of provisionally registered pharmacists around the delayed registration assessment , the inequalities this may cause and impacts to overseas provisional registrants .

 

What we want to see

  • There should be no discrimination to any pharmacists based on their background and culture.
  • We would like all pharmacist pre-registration tutors to have increased cultural awareness and undergoing mandatory Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.

 

What happened and what is next

  • PhSC has made it clear that the undergraduate awarding gap is a key priority. RPS has offered to support and help.
  • Providing updates and next steps to the profession following engagement with stakeholders and organisations on key asks.
  • Continue to highlight on behalf of our members where we see discrimination, unfairness and a risk of bias in pharmacy.

“Pharmacy School faculties to be fully representative of the profession.”

- ABCD Group

  • Reduce risk of unconscious bias in teaching.
  • Inspiring authentic and visible leadership for pharmacy students.
  • Pharmacy students being and feeling more engaged by someone who reflects them.
  • Understanding the support that can be provided to pharmacy students from various backgrounds and across protected characteristics.
  • Tohighlight the importance and develop skills to deliver inclusive pharmacy practice to patients and public.
What we are doing
  • Engaging with PhSC on pharmacy school’s faculty representation and working collaboratively with them to promote and strengthening diversity.
  • We have engaged with GPhC around the importance of cultural awareness and competence being integrated into Initial Education Training standards (IETs) and cultural competence having a greater emphasis in delivering person centred care.
  • We've attended GPhC workstreams on initial education and training reforms. We have asked the GPhC to publish the Equality Impact Assessment that informs the new IET standards.
What we want to see
  • We want to ensure that I&D is integrated into undergraduate teaching. Topics such as language barriers, inclusive pharmacy practice, authentic leadership should be covered. The curriculum should be diversified so that case studies include patients from different backgrounds, religious beliefs, disabilities and sexualities. This should also include using different skin tones to identify skin conditions.
  • We want all pharmacy students to have visible role models teaching them inspiring authentic leadership.
What happened and what is next
  • We are working closely with PhSC and other partners to establish a RPS Diverse Network of Guest Lecturers.
  • The new GPhC IET standards have a greater emphasis on equality, diversity and inclusion to combat discrimination and address health inequalities.

 

"No decision about me without me”

“Policy decisions are often made without the groups and communities affected present at the decision-making stage.”

“To address health inequalities and to ensure guidelines and policies are considering factors that affect communities, visible diverse representation at national, regional and local decision-making level is required.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
What we want to see
  • We will work collaboratively with pharmacy organisations to develop and embed inclusive pharmacy professional practice at all levels of leadership and into everyday care for patients and members of the public.
  • Help develop a sustainable culture of more inclusive practice that will benefit the people in our communities as a whole and our workforce.
  • Enable us to provide truly inclusive health and care services to the diverse population across Great Britain.
What happened and what is next
  • We will be working with NHS organisations across England, Scotland and Wales to develop Joint National statements of Principles of Inclusive Pharmacy Professional Practice.
  • We are currently co-chairing a group alongside NHS England/Improvement and APTUK on inclusive pharmacy professional practice and addressing health inequalities. Working with pharmacy organisations we will publish an action plan in March 2021.
  • We are currently working with NHS bodies in Scotland and Wales on statements and action plans on inclusive pharmacy professional practice.

Workforce Inclusion and Wellbeing Pledge

24 Recognition

“Greater transparency is needed from NHS, employers and pharmacy organisations to create fair and transparent processes in recruitment to leadership roles, steering groups, project teams, advisory groups and professional recognition processes.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
  • We have committed to working with members of the profession, pharmacy organisations and other key stakeholders on the development of Workforce Inclusion and Wellbeing Pledge. This will be launched in May 2021. 
  • We are currently aligning all our recruitment processes for RPS Expert Advisory Groups and Committees.
What happened and what is next
  • We have already started the development of Workforce Inclusion and Wellbeing Pledge. A series of stakeholder meetings and engagement events will be taking place throughout February and March 2021. 
  • We will develop principles and share examples of recruitment and family friendly policies for the profession in 2021. 
  • We will be reviewing our own recruitment processes and family friendly policies. We are reviewing and improving our recruitment process across the organisation.
  • We will undertake an EQIA on our products and services to ensure we have considered the impacts on all protected characteristics.  

“Not all pharmacists have the same opportunities for career progression due to barriers resulting in a lack of representation and visibility. We need to remove barriers to career progression and support pharmacists to feel empowered to apply for more senior roles.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
  • We will ask senior leaders across the profession to sign up to the RPS Mentoring platform.
  • We will encourage pharmacist leaders to mentor/support grassroots pharmacists across a range of protected characteristics.
  • We will continue to publish inspirational career blogs from members who have experienced challenges and barriers to progression to help share learning and ways to overcome challenges
What we want to see
  • We want to see people getting support, advice and guidance they need to flourish in their careers. 
What happened and what is next
  • We will continue to engage and encourage a more diverse group of mentors to join the RPS mentoring platform. 
  • Promoting the RPS mentoring platform to support pharmacists across their career and development journeys.
  • We will be developing a series of peer support webinars on careers, wellbeing, inclusion and diversity. 

Fairer GPhC Fitness to Practice processes

26 Voiceofpharmacists3

“Fitness to Practice (FtP) fairness and equality due to the over-representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic pharmacists in FtP cases. There needs to be a fair FtP process, addressing inequality and unconscious bias.”

“We want the freedom to speak up about the discrimination we experience and witness without fear of repercussions, being dismissed or considered a troublemaker by employers.”

“There needs to be greater support from employers and GPhC for pharmacists subject to discrimination or abuse.”“We want at least one mandatory revalidation entry focussed on inclusion and diversity or authentic leadership.”

- ABCD Group

What we are doing
  • The GPhC heard your views on the EDI element for their new FtP process at our December 2020 ABCD meeting
  • We have responded to GPhC’s FtP consultation, seeking views and personal experiences from our members to inform our submission.
What we want to see

We are committed to working together and engaging with the GPhC to champion a fairer FtP process, addressing inequality and unconscious bias and greater support for pharmacists subject to discrimination or abuse.

What happened and what is next
  • We will be continuing to engage with members, profession around FtP
  • We’ve met with GPhC and we’ve agreed to work collaboratively with them to help address concerns raised
  • We’ll invite the GPhC to continue engaging with the ABCD Group as they take work forwards on inclusion and diversity
  • We will encourage our members to consider I&D as part of their revalidation and will prepare examples to support them in doing this.

Disability Awareness Campaign

Disability

“We want regulators for healthcare premises to include an assessment for disability access for employees. Accessibility for wheelchair employees is poorly considered within healthcare settings and limited options of choice for potential and future employees that maybe affected.”

What we want to see
  • We want to ensure current and future employees have accessible working environments suited to their needs.
What happened and what is next
  • We will be meeting key organisations and regulators around this and putting your points across and seeking clarification and action to support the profession. 

“Experience and feedback from pre-registration pharmacists regarding the need to capture and share pharmacy accessibility data when selecting pre-registration placements (specifically Health Education England(HEE) pharmacist pre-registration recruitment process).”

What we are doing
  • We have engaged with the national pharmacist pre-registration recruitment team in Health Education England to work together helping to address and capture this information. 
  • HEE have been working on the Oriel system functionality and has been offering tailored support to any candidates selecting placements for their pharmacist pre-registration training year if they have any concerns or queries. There are plans to engage with RPS going forward.
What we want to see
  • Both RPS and HEE want to ensure that such information is collected and presented to all future candidates when selecting placements.
What happened and what is next
  • We will work with key partners to enable the profession to have more open and honest conversation about disability status and how the profession can be more supportive. 
  • We will launch a disability awareness campaign in December 2021 for the pharmacy profession.

“Change attitudes to disability amongst the profession as those with disabilities are not well supported and do not feel comfortable in disclosing their disability status. Raise awareness of the broad range of disabilities to better support individuals.”

What we are doing
  • We have set up an ability reference group to help with the development of our disability awareness campaign.