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Home  »   BAMELatest News   »   PDA BAME Network – October 2022

PDA BAME Network – October 2022

Welcome to this month's PDA BAME Network Update.

Fri 7th October 2022 The PDA

This month, read about the upcoming PDA BAME Network elections and find out how to apply for the roles. Also, learn about the Anti-Racist Pharmacy Toolkit the Network has launched to help address and redress inequality and about how important inclusive leadership is in the NHS.

In this issue: 

  • PDA BAME Network requests nominations for upcoming elections
  • Lived experience, the importance of inclusive leadership in the NHS
  • PDA BAME Network launches Anti-Racist Pharmacy Toolkit
We encourage you to share this newsletter with your pharmacy colleagues. 

PDA BAME Network requests
nominations for upcoming elections

Every two years, the members of the PDA BAME Network can elect three officers to lead the network, who will work alongside the Immediate Past President.

We will be holding an election for PDA BAME Officers in the coming weeks. Three positions are available: President, Vice-President, and Honorary Secretary. Please see below for further details of the roles.

President

The duties and responsibilities of the President shall be as follows:

  • Liaise with members of PDA staff to plan and deliver a programme of activity.
  • Chair virtual and in-person meetings of the network.
  • Keep up to date with issues of interest to BAME pharmacists.
  • Represent the network at external meetings.
  • Be the principal spokesperson for the PDA BAME Network, giving interviews and being quoted in communications as required.
  • Be a member of the PDA Equalities Council.
  • Serve as the ‘Immediate Past President’ for two further years following their period of presidential office.

Vice-President

The duties and responsibilities of the Vice-President shall be as follows:

  • Support the work of the President.
  • Deputise for the President where necessary.
  • Keep up to date with issues of interest to BAME pharmacists.

Honorary Secretary

The duties and responsibilities of the Honorary Secretary shall be as follows:

  • Ensure meetings are effectively organised and minuted.
  • Share a copy of the agenda and minutes with the PDA’s Organising Assistant within two weeks after a meeting has taken place.
  • Liaise with appropriate members of PDA staff to ensure the effective administration of the network.
  • Keep up to date with issues of interest to BAME pharmacists.

If you are interested in standing for any of the above positions, please email the following information to bame@the-pda.org by 5 pm on Friday 21 October 2022.

  • First and second name.
  • Year commenced practice.
  • Qualifications.
  • Previous/current positions held that you feel are relevant to the role (role title, employer/organisation/university, year started/ended).
  • Supporting statement explaining which position(s) you are nominating yourself for and why (up to 250 words).
  • A headshot photo for use in the election process and on the website.

We look forward to receiving your nominations!

LEARN MORE

Lived experience, the importance
of inclusive leadership in the NHS

By Jay Voralia, Associate Director of Medicines Optimisation and Chair of the NHS BAME Group
Having worked in the NHS for over 18 years, my experience of inclusive leadership has been rewarding, challenging, and disappointing. There are three key perspectives that I would like share:
  1. Policies and procedures – how things should be done.
  2. Organisation culture – what is actually being done.
  3. Individuals – who actually does it.
The NHS has been battling with BAME representation in leadership roles for a very long time. My first real experience at Board level was when I joined the NHS Top Talent leadership programme (King’s Fund). The programme provided me with a platform to really experience inclusive leadership at a very senior level. All of the above key elements need to be in place for an organisation to embrace inclusivity.

NHS Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) policies adopted at local level have been relatively good. However, it depends on what is included and excluded in the explicit policies. For example, some organisations include policies of having BAME representation during recruitment and selection for leadership roles. What is frequently not included is the role and responsibility of the BAME member.

Organisation culture has the most impact on how policies are actually adopted by teams. For instance, the emphasis placed on exposing BAME members to development opportunities can be actively encouraged or passively discouraged by managerial bias.

Finally, there are the interactions with individuals. I have personally dealt with BAME members that have had negative experiences with their colleagues. The situation often escalated and results in reputational damage which can take years to change.

In conclusion, I do want to emphasise that there has been a positive sweeping change in the NHS. Organisational culture takes longer to change and change in individuals is much wider than organisations as individuals’ sphere of influence is much broader. The greatest tool that any BAME member has is a belief in themselves and their ability to add value.

PDA BAME Network launches
Anti-Racist Pharmacy Toolkit

In July 2022, the PDA BAME Committee officially launched an Anti-Racist Pharmacy Toolkit. This was created using evidenced-based research to help empower members and pharmacists to address and redress inequality in their workplaces. The toolkit is for active PDA Representatives, members, and other pharmacists. It is used to analyse workplaces and will help create a pharmacy sector that doesn’t just challenge racism but is actively anti-racist.

The PDA’s approach to the toolkit is founded upon 3 things:

  1. Roger Kline’s research. This demonstrates that accountability and debiasing processes are the underpinning factors in ensuring that all staff are treated fairly and not influenced by bias and stereotypes that distort decision making and cause discrimination.
  2. The PDA’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) values. This is evidenced in member representation and educating members on their employment rights, campaigning and lobbying on behalf of their members, challenging employers to treat pharmacists fairly, and empowering members through various PDA EDI Networks to tackle issues around discrimination.
  3. The Trade Union Organising framework. This is a practical approach to support members to come together, assess their employer and decide which areas in their workplace will require work and bring to life the PDA values and theory set out in Roger’s research.
LEARN MORE

Keep up to date with the PDA
BAME Network on social media

Follow the PDA BAME Network on social media by clicking on the icons below.

Please use the hashtag #PDAbame in your posts when discussing any relevant topics and issues, as this will also help you connect with other pharmacists in the network.

VISIT THE BAME SECTION OF THE PDA WEBSITE

 

 

 

 

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