In her blog for this edition, our chair, Gisela Abbam, highlights how pharmacy teams can help meet the needs of people with a range of disabilities, and also looks at the impact of medicines shortages.
In this edition of Regulate, we’re focusing on accessibility, specifically around what pharmacy teams can do to help people living with hidden disabilities, and patients with visual impairments. These articles have been developed as part of our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) work, which aims to help pharmacy teams meet our standards and deliver inclusive care, reducing health inequalities in their communities.
This is an area close to my heart, having overseen the launch of our EDI strategy in 2022, which marked a major change in the way the GPhC approached equality, diversity and inclusion – both internally and externally. This included a new agenda to use all our regulatory levers and influence to tackle discrimination, and make pharmacy as inclusive as possible, as well as being more proactive about speaking out on relevant issues and starting important conversations. This includes supporting patients and the public in accessing the care they need.
For example, individuals with hidden disabilities may face significant barriers in accessing healthcare, including difficulty in communicating their needs, sensory overload in busy pharmacy environments, and the potential for unconscious bias or stigma. Pharmacy professionals have a duty to proactively identify and address these challenges. We look at what reasonable adjustments could be made to make access easier for everyone living with a hidden disability.
We have also responded to feedback we’ve heard from individuals, with one patient recently telling us about the impact of braille labels on medicine packaging being obstructed by additional dispensing labels. So we worked with Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB) to compile information and advice for pharmacy professionals on labeling medicines and how to support patients with sight loss.
Please take the time to have a read of these articles and consider what you and your team can do to try to ensure pharmacy services are accessible for all. By fostering an environment of empathy, flexibility, and accessibility, we can all work to provide services that are truly inclusive and meet the diverse needs of patients and the public.
Medicines shortages
We understand the significant challenges that medicines shortages are causing for pharmacy teams and their patients. That’s why we’re looking at the subject in more detail in this edition, examining the issue from the patient’s perspective as well as the pharmacy staff.
We know that medicines shortages can be distressing for all involved, including patients, the public and pharmacy teams. Unfortunately, there are many reasons for medicine shortages, including some complex global supply chain issues. And whilst there are no simple solutions, we are continuing to raise this issue with government, parliamentarians, and other stakeholders, to help keep it on the agenda and to share what we are hearing about the impact it is having on both patients and on pharmacy teams.
In the article in this edition, we highlight some of the experiences patients have had with medicines shortages and provide advice on how to minimise the impact of shortages on patients, and how to meet our regulatory standards in these situations.