The General Pharmaceutical Council is consulting on its draft five-year strategy to deliver equality, improve diversity and foster inclusion.
The 12-week consultation seeks views on the GPhC’s proposals to be more proactive and joined up in using its regulatory influence and levers to help reform the structures and practices that maintain inequality and discrimination within pharmacy and pharmacy regulation.
The strategy recognises that professional regulators, the public they serve and the professionals they regulate face many complex and important equality, diversity and inclusion challenges. The strategy also recognises that external events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement have put the inequalities and discrimination that some minority groups experience at the front of the global and national agendas.
The strategy sets out three key themes to help transform the GPhC’s approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. The themes have been developed collaboratively, by listening to the feedback and experiences of internal and external stakeholders.
The GPhC’s three key themes are:
- To make regulatory decisions that are demonstrably fair, lawful, and so free from discrimination and bias;
- To use our standards to proactively help tackle discrimination in all pharmacy settings and make sure everyone can access person-centred care, fostering
equality of health outcomes;
- To lead by example and demonstrate best practice within our organisation, holding ourselves to the same high standards we expect of others.
Each theme is underpinned by a series of objectives and strategic outcomes, to help evaluate and measure the success of any changes.
The strategy emphasises the importance of taking a proactive approach to equality, diversity and inclusion, while improvements to the way data and insights are collected and analysed are being made.
GPhC Chief Executive Duncan Rudkin said:
“This strategy brings a new focus and energy to our efforts to progress how we deliver equality, improve diversity and foster inclusion. It provides a framework for the delivery of this work, across our organisation, in support of our Vision 2030 and Strategic Plan 2020-2025.
“For this strategy to be effective, we will need to work collaboratively with our colleagues and stakeholders across pharmacy to make this happen. We welcome views on our proposals to help us achieve our aims.”
The consultation is open from 19 April until 12 July 2021 and seeks views about the impact of the proposals on patients, the public, pharmacy professionals and employers.